Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.3935/rsp.v20i2.1121
Actual Problems of Professional Socialization with the Scientific Novice Program: Cases of Natural and Social Sciences
Marija Brajdić Vuković
; Institut za društvena istraživanja u Zagrebu
Sažetak
Analysis of the scientific novice program has shown that a formal framework and the lack of definition of the policy objectives related to the training of young researchers in Croatia generate aspects of labour insecurity or labour precarity, such as future employment insecurity or inability and lack of opportunity to retain a niche in employment. However, the data on success of scientific novice program show serious deficiencies in professional socialization outcomes that are also pointing out to problems related to lack of skill and knowledge reproduction security within the science and higher education system. This qualitative study investigates what are the main obstacles of successful professional socialization of young researchers in natural and social sciences and analyses their nature together with the circumstances in which those obstacles occur. Analyses of the data gathered from the interviews with 40 young researchers from different fields of natural and social sciences have shown that existing serious obstacles and problems related to professional socialization are more related to the practical everyday functioning of the scientific novice program than to its formal framework. As most prominent obstacles respondents from both disciplines have recognized teaching burden and excessive workload related to commercial projects, problems related to formal supervision and/or mentorship, obstacles related to the lack of financial support of research projects, shortage of project staff and lack of technical personnel, together with the problems related to dominant values of domestic academic community that is often described as generation gap between younger and older researchers. Therefore, despite the fact that scientific novice program can be seen as somewhat more favourable framework for young researchers' socialization compared to international experiences, practical everyday functioning often makes research and especially disciplinary socialization impossible, and contradiction between formal framework and practical functioning of scientific novice program that exists on all levels of young researchers professional socialization is described. In conclusion, research findings on obstacles of young researcher socialization are commented within the context of recent science policy changes that are further deepening precarity of labour of young researchers, and, on the other hand, are not solving issues described in this study and related to the process of professional socialization, but are making them potentially even more profound.
Ključne riječi
scientific novice program; young researchers; natural sciences; social sciences; research socialization; labour precarity; science policy
Hrčak ID:
106826
URI
Datum izdavanja:
31.7.2013.
Posjeta: 2.078 *