Recruitment and retention of diagnostic radiography academics ...

flexible working conditions, giving them more control over their own time (DH2000). Some years later, the StLaR committee (Butterworth 2004) reinforced theneed for flexible career opportunities for clinicians to pursue their interest in bothteaching and research. For flexible careers in education to become a reality,allowing pay and reward to be equitably attached to education, research andpractice, conditions of employment need to be structured in such a way as totake heed of the StLaR (Butterworth 2004, p16) Human Resource strategy toencourage greater movement between these career options. Equitablecontractual arrangements would offer a realistic pathway for those interested inteaching as a career, making it a viable alternative to the competition offered byindustry in terms of salary and career progression4.3 Retention:As already noted, retention for diagnostic radiographers is problematic, both fromstudents undertaking the initial preparation (35% in some HEIs) as well as forpractitioners (NHS 2008), threatening the numbers of practitioners available topursue a change of career into education. At a time of poor retention in practice(NHS 2008), it is likely that any ‘push’ from practice rather than a ‘pull’ byuniversities will threaten their long term retention in education and adverselyimpact on their student motivation. With a focus on the need for higher levelskills in practice (Leitch Review of Skills 2006) and the opportunity to influencethe NHS Modernization Agenda (DH 2000) and shape the changing face of DR,the importance of skilled educationalists has never been so important. However,once in education, there are a number of issues that prevent their progressionand their subsequent retention. In the present study, the majority of academicstaff were under 50 years of age (n=24) and they will remain so for the next fiveyears (n=18). However, a number described themselves as ‘stuck’ in terms oftheir careers. Having lost their clinical expertise, they felt unable to move out ofeducation and back to either practice or industry. They realized that whateverpromotional opportunities exist eg in management or research necessitates adetachment from students and expressed their dissatisfaction in not being able toprogress their career without the necessary research profile. Academic teamsare small in DR and with large teaching loads. Many described personaldifficulties in learning the craft of teaching, alongside the need to complete anapproved teaching qualification as well as a masters and/or doctoral studies. Asa result they felt frustrated due to the lack of recognition and reward for goodteaching or other roles they had assumed. There was a collective view that theskills of teaching were less valued by the universities than those of research. Insupport of previous work (NHS 2006, Butterworth 2004), this study recommendsthat Universities identify practical mechanisms to reward teaching as well asresearch for those seeking promotion in education (NHS 2006, Butterworth2004).Whilst the majority of education staff in the present study felt satisfied with theirrole, there were a number of challenges. Although the joint appointment of35