ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the experiences of university teachers as they cross borders from one teaching context to another. We ask what it is they saw, learned, perceived when their familiar teaching culture collided with another. The stories reveal much about the hidden cultures within institutions, the qualities which foster belonging and self-esteem and the impact of this on growth and self-development as an academic. The moments of collision reveal the differences between rhetoric and practice in university missions, the subtle ways power and hierarchy manifest themselves, different ways university teachers and their workplaces define success and how university teachers decipher what is needed to belong. The concluding section of this chapter suggests a framework for recognising gaps between personal positions and institutional ones, and considering ways of bridging them. Though this approach might not offer answers, it offers options that start with noticing, and recognising, what may seem at first to be hidden and unreachable.
