Does research degree supervisor training work? The impact of a professional development induction workshop on supervision practice

Supervisor induction and continued professional development programmes constitute good practice and are enshrined in institutional policies and national codes of practice. However, there is little evidence about whether they have an impact on either supervisors’ learning or day-to-day practice. Set in a discussion of previous literature, this article unpacks the concepts ‘impact’ and ‘evaluation’ and assesses the medium- and longer term impact of the University of South Australia's doctoral supervisor induction programme, Supervising@UniSA. It suggests that the workshop leads to the acquisition of understanding and knowledge and, for the majority of attendees, also has an impact on supervisory practice.     

Characteristics of the research supervision of postgraduate teachers’ action research

Today, many institutions of higher education support students in conducting practice-oriented research. This research refers to a broad array of approaches geared toward practitioners’ practice. The supervision of such research is of crucial importance, but little is known about its nature and characteristics. This study examined what research supervisors and postgraduate, in-service teacher students perceive are key elements of successful action research supervision. Four action research supervisors and eight postgraduate students were interviewed. Data were analysed by using theory and empirical data. Findings reveal 24 key elements of action research supervision, which refer to supervisors’ (1) skills in supporting knowledge development through and about action research and creating a supportive environment for developing knowledge, (2) knowledge and expertise in supervising action research, (3) attitude in the supervision of action research and (4) the motives driving supervisors’ actions in the student-supervisor relationship.     

The quasi-experimental attitude of teachers: the development of a questionnaire

This article reports on the development and testing of a questionnaire that can be used to measure the quasi-experimental attitude (QEA) of teachers. This attitude is reflected in the willingness of teachers to assess and organise their core activities (planning, implementing and analysing lessons) by analogy with experiments in the field of research, in order to gain meaningful experiences from this cyclical process, to evaluate critically these experiences and to draw from them conclusions on how to improve lessons in the future. The sample comprised 512 trainee teachers who had already been teaching independently for 15 months following the conclusion of their university studies. The analysis of the questionnaire showed that the reliability of the scale was satisfactory. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the assumption that the quasi-experimental attitude could be modelled in two ways: A first-order model with four intercorrelated factors (meticulous lesson planning, confidence in the predictability of how the lesson will turn out, evidence-based analysis of the lesson and scepticism about mere experience) and a second-order model in which these four factors are loading on the overarching factor QEA. Additionally, the instrument yielded plausible correlations to several validity criteria.     

Novice supervisors’ practices and dilemmatic space in supervision of student research projects

Growing interest in student research projects in higher education has led to an emphasis on research supervision. We focus in this study on novice supervisors’ approaches to research supervision as they explore their practices and experience difficulties supervising medicalstudents. Teacher noticing was used as a sensitising concept and relations with teacher dilemmas were explored in the research supervision context. To provide in-depth insights into supervisors’ practices and pedagogical choices, twelve stimulated recall interviews with supervisors were analysed. The supervisors were involved in individual undergraduate or master degree student research projects at a research-intensive university. Analysis revealed four kinds of dilemmas which may influence research supervision practices, namely questions regarding regulation, student needs, the student-supervisor relationship and supervisors’ professional identity. We explain the relationship between novice supervisors’ practices and dilemmas in detail. Implications are given to enhance initiatives for professional development of supervisors.     

Can research realise a bit of utopia? The impact of action research on the policy of childcare in Flanders

For the past 10 years, there has been ongoing research at the University of Ghent on professionalism in childcare (the 0–3 age group) in the Flemish Community of Belgium. This research has been inspired by the ‘Contesting Early Childhood’ movement, which is based on the premise that pedagogic research can lead to social change. The first studies dealt with the relationship between gender and professionalism (2002–2010). These ‘Men in Childcare’ studies were embedded in a campaign to increase the number of male workers. Between 2005 and 2008 a PhD study focused on the de-professionalisation that has taken place within the Flemish childcare sector. This study, ‘The construction of a new profession’, was part of a large European Social Fund project involving many partners across Europe. This article aims not only to shed light on the results of these studies, but also to delve into the influences that these projects and studies have had on political decision-making through their embedding in large ‘communicative spaces’.     

Creating a ‘third space’ in the context of a university–school partnership: supporting teacher action research and the research preparation of doctoral students

The focus of the Education Works Personalization Project was to facilitate teams of teacher action researchers whose goal was to personalize their teaching with the support of university partners including doctoral students in education. The subsequent apprentice-like research experience within this university–school partnership provided an opportunity to study the ways in which teacher action research could serve as a vehicle for bridging the culture gap between schools and universities. Both the research team experience and the development of the school–university inquiry/knowledge network were initially characterized by undefined roles accompanied by ambiguous expectations. Although the ambiguity proved difficult initially, those who persisted and engaged in new roles ultimately found these emerging inquiry communities generative and valuable. We have come to conceptualize these generative inquiry communities as third spaces and we describe how oppositional categories framed by the cultural differences between schools and universities can work together to generate new knowledge.     

The development of a criterion‐referenced profile: the Hertfordshire English Project

Many developments in profiling are taking place at present and a considerable number use a criterion‐referenced assessment model. This study reports the experiences of a local curriculum development project which has developed an English course and summative profile for lower‐attaining pupils. The way in which criterion‐referenced assessment was incorporated into the development of the profile is described, together with the results of a small‐scale survey of teachers’ views of the use of such a profile. Key issues for those developing such profiles in English and other subjects are identified.     

Facebook for supervision? Research education shaped by the structural properties of a social media space

This study analyses the use of a group space on the social networking site Facebook as a way to facilitate research supervision for teams of learners. Borrowing Lee’s framework for research supervision, the goal was to understand how supervision and learning was achieved in, and shaped by, the properties of a social networking space. For this purpose, the discourse between supervisor and learners was analysed along with the structural properties afforded by the space. Using the empirical findings and further literature, a conceptual framework was developed that illustrates the ways in which functional supervision, enculturation, emancipation, critical thinking and relationship development are achieved and formed by the interplay of the technological, functional, multimodal and the wider sociocultural, political and sociolinguistic structures associated with social media space.     

The private self and literacy, a synopsis Hans Straub traces the development of silent reading and the '''' inner voice''''

In the English language there are many expressions and words that indicate our high valuation of the individual. Any dictionary will give you several pages of words that have ' self ' as a component. Philosophically, self is synonymous with the ego, but encompasses one's nature, one's uniqueness, in short, one's individuality, which has come to be positively valued in Western culture. In fact, the idea of self and being has become interwoven in Western culture. What accounts for the relatively high valuation placed on the self in the West as compared, a lesser valuation of the same in other, more col-lectivistic cultures?     

Turning points in a qualitatively different social space: young adults’ reflections of alternative provision

There is a wealth of evidence suggesting that after being marginalised and excluded from school young people who attend Alternative Provision settings report positive relationships and experiences of learning. There is however very little research which explores the longer term outcomes of attending this sort of provision. Retrospective life history interviews were undertaken with 18 young adults in their early to mid-20s who had attended Alternative Provision in England. Interviews focused on schooling, exclusion, attending Alternative Provision and the impact of this on what they had done since leaving school up to their present situation. Analysis showed that the experience of attending Alternative Provision frequently constituted a turning point in a young person’s life story. This was due to the qualitatively different kind of social space experienced there.     

The exporting and franchising of elite English private schools: the emerging “second wave”

The past decade has seen the emergence, predominantly in Thailand and mainland China, of a form of educational institution that has had little scholarly attention or generic identification. This paper shows how the ad hoc and opportunistic franchising of elite English private schools, beginning with the hyper-capitalist exportation of the Dulwich College “brand” to Phuket in 1996, led to the emergence of a quasi-market involving the “satellite college”. This paper charts the development of this educational experiment and shows how a distinct “second wave” is beginning to appear: The Charities Act of England and Wales 2006 has put pressure on charitable-status elite private schools in England to subsidise places for low-income students. As a result, the satellite college model looks set to appear in a more systematic manner and beyond Asia. This paper discusses this model of hyper-capitalism as it enters a seemingly more problematic and controversial phase of development.     

Changing over a project changing over: a project–research supervision as a conversation

Extracts from the written conversation between research student and supervisor show the nature of educative research supervision. The authors argue that researcher–supervisor relationships are methodological in nature as they shape and influence the people, the project and the field. Such relationships, which construct meanings, are complex. A conversational approach, spoken or written, with its freedom, spaces and power dynamics, provides possibilities for reflexivity and growth for all parties. This conversational freedom is illustrated in the structure of this text, as a dialogue to which the voice of the UK editor of this journal is added, constructing another layer to the conversation. As in conversation, the form and content of the text is messy and open to interpretation, yet its construction reflects the argument presented in the text. Supervision as conversation replaces then subverts the managerialist approach to research supervision and its carefully planned, linear route to a dissertation.     

The Voices at the Turning of the Times——A Comparative Study on Victorian Poems

Victorian age is the age full of fundamental changes in the society.At this turning of times,many poets spoke out their anxiety about this world,like Alfred Tennyson and Matthew Arnold,their poems express their anxiety and helpness about the new world and their sadness and loneliness about the loss of the old world.Certaintly there are also some poets like Thomas Hardy who were more ready to face the new world soberly and accepted the reality directly.Probably they alredy realized the coming of the new world could not be stopped anyway.These are the voices at the turning of the times.The aim of this essay is to find out such voices by doing a comparative study on the three poets and their poems     

The private self and literacy, a synopsis Hans Straub traces the development of silent reading and the ‘ inner voice＇

In the English language there are many expressions and words that indicate our high valuation of the individual. Any dictionary will give you several pages of words that have ‘self‘ as a component. Philosophically, self is synonymous with the ego,but encompasses one‘s nature, one‘s uniqueness, in short,one‘s individuality, which has come to be positively valued in Western culture. In fact, the idea of self and being has become interwoven in Western culture. What accounts for therelatively high valuation placed on the self in the West as compared, a lesser valuation of the same in other, more collectivistic cultures?     

Opportunities for development: the practice of supervision in early years’ provision in England

This article examines how the practice of supervision has developed within a range of early childhood education and care (ECEC) provision in a county in Central England in the United Kingdom. Supervision has been recently introduced as a mandatory requirement for ECEC in England in 2012, and there is limited research looking at the impact of this. The research aimed to examine how supervision is being implemented by ECEC providers. It employed a mixed methods research design including a questionnaire (n?=?38) and three subsequent telephone interviews, and draws out key themes on who is accessing supervision, the level of frequency, the purposes, challenges and enablers of supervision. It highlights the tendency of the managerial function of supervision including safeguarding of children to dominate, and the potential for supervision as a reflective space and as support for staff including managers and leaders to be overlooked.     

The Nurses Memorandum of 1938: a first step in the development of action learning?

This article concerns the origins of the idea of action learning, especially the claim by Revans that his Memorandum on ‘The Entry of Girls into the Nursing Profession’ in Essex hospitals written in 1938 was the first step in the development of action learning. Whilst Revans repeatedly made this claim, there is no evidence in the actual words of the Memorandum to support it, and he never explained the basis for his belief. Why Revans saw this paper as a first step is therefore a mystery. In this paper we examine the circumstances of the production of the Memorandum to find possible answers. After discussing the evidence we conclude that Revans’ claim is based on the ideas and insights which occurred to him in 1938 in his research and thinking, rather than upon what he actually wrote. We also suggest some defining aspects of action learning can be traced back to ideas first stimulated in the research and production of the 1938 Memorandum, including the importance of first-hand knowledge in tackling organisational problems; the limitations of expert knowledge in complex conditions; the impact of hierarchy on the flow of knowledge; the importance of problem ownership in bring about action for improvement and the primacy of learning in the processes of problem-solving and innovation.     

The research of social-design-based maker education: based upon “The old man and the sea” text

Since 2015, the Taiwan government has endeavoured to uphold maker education for all-level schools. In addition to “learning by doing” or “learning through play”, maker education believed to have varied features that set it apart from preceding pedagogical approaches and have possibility to reform learners’ requisite competencies for future. Engaging with “social care” as the mind-set for example, it could drive maker movement towards a value-oriented disposition. This paper discusses the theoretical roots of maker education, collates its beliefs about the whole, and probes the correlation between social design and maker education. We studied how the experimental pedagogy of social-design-based making based on the text of “The Old Man and The Sea” was used at the 2017 New Taipei City Maker Workshop in Taiwan. And we constructed a case study to document its effects within the classroom context. The study revealed that the teaching model of social-design-based maker education would be the sequence as “topic choosing, problem defining, sympathy triggering, conception outputting, prototype making, integrating and sharing”, the proportion of teachers’/students’ roles in maker courses should be in half of the overall lessons, and teachers’ instructions should be concentrated on offering key questions and assisting on integrating learning points mainly.     

Can national research assessment exercises be used locally to inform research strategy development? The description of a methodological approach to the UK RAE 2008 results with a focus on one institution

National mechanisms for comparing the research profiles of higher education institutions (HEIs) have become increasingly common. Probably the best known of these is the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) conducted in the United Kingdom, and used as the basis for the allocation of research funding. Such exercises are expensive. They would have additional value if the data could be used by HEIs to inform the development of their research strategies. In this paper we use publicly available RAE outcome data to demonstrate this potential. We contrast the two units’ research profiles with other units of assessment within the HEI, with other like-units nationally, and finally we examine the relative performance of all the HEI’s units of assessment against their national counter-parts. Finally we discuss the kinds of insights these data may offer in the development of research strategy at the level of the institution, and at the level of the School or Department.     

Promoting and recognising excellence in the supervision of research students: an evidence‐based framework

One issue universities face is the need to demonstrate excellence in postgraduate research supervision at the individual, faculty and university level. While poor supervision might become obvious over time, with grievances, withdrawals and poor completion times and rates, this paper focuses specifically on identifying and demonstrating supervisory excellence. Currently, the amount and range of evidence used to support claims of supervisory excellence tends to be limited, leaving supervisors, faculties and institutions in a position where demonstrating excellence remains difficult. This paper proposes two inter‐dependent ideas which, considered together, help to redress this problem. The first is a ‘map’ for the collection and use of evidence of supervisory excellence. The second is a ‘template’ for a ‘supervisory excellence report’. The ‘map’ details the organisational elements, uses of data, and data types which can be considered. The ‘report’ explains one simple and potent way to organise and present these data for multiple purposes. Together they constitute a much‐needed framework for promoting and recognising excellence in the supervision of research students.     

Online supervision: a theory of supervisors’ strategic communicative influence on student dissertations

Online supervision mainly focuses on written communication and electronic drafts, while offline supervision comprises physical and social clues, verbal communication, and drafts of texts. This article focuses on supervisors’ written online communication about drafts of undergraduate student dissertations. Theoretically, these utterances form part of the communicative exchanges performed in the practice of supervision. This means that supervision is an emergent phenomenon that relates to its past, current, and future states. The setting was a dissertation course within a bachelor programme in behavioural science. The data consists of 423 utterances from four supervisors. The utterances were analysed and categorised, and the results show different qualities and degrees of identifications in the supervisors’ communicated utterances. The study shows that the quality of supervisors’ utterances embraces the difference between the application of comments, points of view, instructions, and questions. This implicates the importance of supervisors’ awareness of the nature and the combination of their utterances if they want to increase the student autonomy when supervising online.