Recruitment and retention of diagnostic radiography academics ...

two employers for those in lecturer-practitioner roles. Participants in allthree organisations recognised the strong link between scholarly outputand doctoral studies as a requirement for their promotion, and, with such asmall team and high teaching load, trying to balance teaching with theirongoing studies and need to publish was a constant frustration. With sofew in senior academic roles, lack of promotional opportunities made themfeel undervalued as a professional group as compared with otherprofessionals in their departments. Nevertheless, they all sought to retaintheir links with practice which gave them a sense of satisfaction in theirrole.ConclusionIn conclusion, this small scale and time limited study focused on diagnosticradiographer academics in south-west England and reinforced other previousstudies in support of issues related to the recruitment and retention of academicstaff. In spite of the different expectations for entry, from the two types ofuniversities under study, it seemed unclear to practitioners exactly what wasrequired of them, either for opportunities to teach or to make a career move. Bothdepartments were prepared to be creative and pragmatic in their approach torecruitment, but recognised the long career trajectory ahead of them until theycompleted additional studies and gained some experience in education. Theyappreciated the need for flexible career opportunities to enable them to moveseamlessly from practice to education and careers advice early on to enable newqualified practitioners to map out their careers knowledgeable about theiroptions. Retaining academic staff can be facilitated by a well structuredprobationary period early on in their education career, with job security as anoutcome. They need support in their autonomy, diversification in theopportunities available to them to avoid feeling ‘stuck’ and supported in theireducation development allowing them to progress. Equitable contractualarrangements between education, research and practice would offer realopportunities for practitioners to succeed, without financial penalties.Recommendations:1. Greater transparency of opportunities for experienced DR practitioners to‘taste’ the experience of teaching with clarity in the process of advertisingjob vacancies to encourage them to move into a career in education.2. Early careers advice through a recruitment and awareness campaign toidentify options and prepare for their career trajectories3. A clearly defined career pathway for those DR wishing to teach, with arealistic probationary period which offers clarity of purpose, a structuredprogramme of support and some guarantee of employment as anoutcome.4. Education and practice to work together to support funding for scholarshipopportunities for practitioners to progress their academic qualifications7