ABSTRACT
This article was categorised in the introductory chapter as adopting a conceptual approach to the analysis of academic work. It makes use of 31 interviews with academic developers working in UK higher education institutions, a group the author describes as ‘a fragmented community of practice’. While extracts from these interviews are used as illustrations, the focus of the article is, however, on identifying and explicating different models and theories of, and orientations towards, academic development. That is why I have characterised it as a conceptual piece, rather than an example of an interview-based piece of research. It is relatively uncommon, in the higher education literature, to find this level of engagement with concepts and theories.
