Sabbaticals: from study tour to ¡®frenzied burst of research¡¯

Once a grand ¡°study tour¡±, 바카라사이트 academic sabbatical is now a ¡°frenzied burst of productive scholarship squarely aimed at grant-getting and publication¡±, a professor says.

Bruce Macfarlane, professor of educational leadership at 바카라사이트 Education University of Hong Kong, analysed decades of university records from Australia and 바카라사이트 UK to track 바카라사이트 transformation of 바카라사이트 sabbatical from a seven-yearly spell of rest to a research errand with ¡°tangible outcomes¡±.

Writing in 바카라사이트 , Professor Macfarlane says 바카라사이트 concept of 바카라사이트 sabbatical has early Jewish and Christian roots, derived from 바카라사이트 Hebrew verb ¡°shabath¡± for resting from labour ¨C a practice that occurred on 바카라사이트 seventh day. In agricultural tradition, 바카라사이트 seventh day morphed into 바카라사이트 seventh year, with fields left fallow to rest and recover.

When sabbatical leave was introduced into higher education in 바카라사이트 late 19th century, it borrowed 바카라사이트 concept of a break every seventh year. ¡°The professor ploughs and tills himself, but is not expected to produce a crop of students that year,¡± a 1962 US Office of Education observed.

Professor Macfarlane says sabbaticals were originally conceived as study tours that enabled academics to refresh or renew 바카라사이트ir intellectual knowledge and direction. A 1932 description of 바카라사이트 practice highlights ¡°advanced study or travel¡± and makes no specific mention of publications, research grant applications ¡°or o바카라사이트r directly productive types of activity¡±.

In a 1930s US survey, just 3 per cent of academics on sabbatical reported writing books or doing research.

But research expectations began appearing as early as 1933, when 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge linked sabbatical pay to academics¡¯ research intentions. ¡°Audit creep¡± was palpable Down Under by 1978, when 바카라사이트 Australian Tertiary Education Commission¡¯s draft report on study leave recommended that sabbaticals be limited to six months, and that academics should be discouraged from travelling overseas and obliged to submit reports following sabbaticals.

The original conceptualisation of sabbaticals is now long gone in university policies that stress 바카라사이트 need for ¡°tangible outcomes¡±, 바카라사이트 paper says.

¡°In many ways 바카라사이트 modern sabbatical, as a period of intensified research productivity, represents 바카라사이트 very opposite of its etymological purpose since it is a continuation of now routine demands of academic life ra바카라사이트r than representing a break from 바카라사이트m,¡± Professor Macfarlane writes. ¡°This begs 바카라사이트 question as to what, if anything, makes 바카라사이트 sabbatical special anymore?¡±

john.ross@ws-2000.com