Doing the right things right: applying Drucker’s framework for education-focused roles

Globally, education-focused academic roles have become a significant presence in the higher education workforce. Yet despite the increasing prominence, persistent challenges remain, including role ambiguity and limited career progression. In this paper, we argue that a root cause lies in the framing of these roles, where teaching is reduced to delivery, and educators are positioned more akin to manual labourers than knowledge workers. Drawing on Drucker’s framework of knowledge worker productivity, which distinguishes between ‘doing the right things’ (identifying valuable outputs) and ‘doing things right’ (determining how best to do it), we analyse how education-focused roles are often governed through delivery-oriented logics. This framing helps explain why reforms focused on teaching recognition, promotion, or professional development frequently fail to produce substantive change. The paper concludes by proposing principles for reconceptualising education-focused roles as knowledge work, offering an institutionally actionable foundation for future role design, workload allocation, and career pathways.