Janne Malfroy

Doctoral supervision, workplace research and changing pedagogic practices

The pressures of new agendas, new students and new degrees are challenging traditional pedagogical frameworks in doctoral education. This article draws on an ethnographic study that examined the changing nature of doctoral supervision and the pedagogic practices that support the doctoral endeavour in programs that explicitly link research with workplace practice. While supervisors and students struggled with uncertainty and confusion, partly due to disjunction in expectations, the creative tensions of doctoral research and the relatively new research territory of the programs, the study found that more flexible processes were emerging in doctoral education. This article examines the increasing move, through the use of research seminars, to more collective models of supervision and collaborative knowledge sharing environments. It is argued that this powerful pedagogic practice, which is often overlooked in the focus on the dyadic relationship of supervision, developed the research capacity of students and provided a forum for imaginative explorations about researching practice.The pressures of new agendas, new students and new degrees are challenging traditional pedagogical frameworks in doctoral education. This article draws on an ethnographic study that examined the changing nature of doctoral supervision and the pedagogic practices that support the doctoral endeavour in programs that explicitly link research with workplace practice. While supervisors and students struggled with uncertainty and confusion, partly due to disjunction in expectations, the creative tensions of doctoral research and the relatively new research territory of the programs, the study found that more flexible processes were emerging in doctoral education. This article examines the increasing move, through the use of research seminars, to more collective models of supervision and collaborative knowledge sharing environments. It is argued that this powerful pedagogic practice, which is often overlooked in the focus on the dyadic relationship of supervision, developed the research capacity of students and ...

Retheorizing doctoral supervision as professional work

A competitive higher education environment marked by increased accountability and quality assurance measures for doctoral study, including the structured training of doctoral supervisors, has highlighted the need to clearly articulate and delineate the work of supervising doctoral students. This article responds to this imperative by examining the question: in the contemporary university, what do doctoral supervisors do and how might their work be theorized? The response draws on life history interviews with doctoral supervisors in five broad disciplines/fields, working in a large metropolitan university in Australia. Based on empirical analyses, doctoral supervision is theorized as professional work that comprises five facets: the learning alliance, habits of mind, scholarly expertise, technê and contextual expertise. The article proposes that this model offers a more precise discourse, language and theory for understanding and preparing for the work of doctoral supervision in the contemporary university.

Knowledge in action: doctoral programmes forging new identities

Pressures to link higher education to the workplace and industry environment have created a radically different climate for postgraduate research education, and, as universities struggle to accommodate new ways of structuring doctoral degrees and new ways of producing knowledge, there are indications that many traditional structures and management processes are under pressure to change. There are also suggestions that the emergence of new degrees could provide opportunities for innovative practices in the design of new curricula, new assessment methods and new types of supervision. As part of an empirical study, this paper will report on two doctoral programmes that explicitly link the theory and scholarship of the academy with the practice and professional knowledge of the workplace and community environment. The paper will explore strategies for managing research in this new environment for doctoral education, investigate the claims about new practice and discuss three aspects pertaining to the development of knowledge and new doctoral identities in these two programmes: context, supervision and pedagogy, and knowledge production.

The impact of university–industry research on doctoral programs and practices

The purpose of the doctorate and the desirable outcomes of doctoral education are the focus of debates in the UK, the USA, Australia and other Organisation for Economic Development countries. Part of that reconceptualisation of the doctorate includes a growing international interest in university–industry research, which, as a consequence, has become one of the emergent features of contemporary doctoral programs. This article, which draws on findings from a research study in an Australian university, focuses on the impact of university–industry research on the process and practice of doctoral supervision, and in particular the pedagogical, epistemological and institutional issues being faced by doctoral supervisors. Doctoral supervisors interviewed were positive about the benefits of university–industry research, but they also identified areas of changing practice and of dissonance. Individual personal skills were an important feature in developing positive collaborative partnerships. Given current national and international priorities for a nexus between university and industry research, this study illustrates the need for a stronger pedagogical, epistemological and institutional framework that is mutually beneficial for both universities and industries in research partnerships.

Conceptualisation of a professional doctorate program: Focusing on practice and change

Professional doctorates are frequently described as research degrees that combine workplace and professional engagement with the scholarly rigour of the university. This paper draws on findings from an empirical study of a professional doctorate program in nursing. During this study, a curriculum model that focuses on the intersecting spheres of university, profession and workplace was used as a prompt in interviews. Although this curriculum model has become a reference point for any discussion about the framework for professional doctorates in Australia, it became clear during the study that the predominant themes in the nursing program were different to those in the model. The disparity between the accepted model and the findings from the nursing program are discussed and an alternative model is offered. In this alternative model, the university retains its central role, combined with the themes of professional practice and change. These themes provide a curriculum framework that reflects the knowledge, experiences and intentions of both the students and the staff. The broader implications of the alternative model are also discussed.

The coordination role in research education: emerging understandings and dilemmas for leadership

Changes in expectations of research education worldwide have seen the rise of new demands beyond supervision and have highlighted the need for academic leadership in research education at a local level. Based on an interview study of those who have taken up local leadership roles in four Australian universities, this paper maps and analyses different dimensions of the emerging leadership role of research education coordination. It argues that while there is increasing clarity of what is required, there are considerable tensions in the nature of the coordination role and how coordination is to be executed. In particular, what leadership roles are appropriate and how can they be positioned effectively within universities? The paper draws on the Integrated Competing Values Framework to focus on the activities of coordination and on ideas of distributed leadership to discuss the leadership that characterises coordination. It is argued that without acknowledgement of the influences that coordinators need to exert and the positioning and support needed to achieve this, the contemporary agenda for research education will not be realised.

The role of research education coordinators in building research cultures in doctoral education

ABSTRACT The development of cultures of support has become important in programmes for the preparation of research students. The paper draws on in-depth interviews with 21 research education coordinators from Australian and UK institutions to identify the strategies that they use to build research cultures and integrate research students into them. Students’ research cultures are not always linked to departmental research cultures more generally. Local contexts and conditions and staff (including supervisors’) attitudes are found to be critical in how research education coordinators respond and what is considered possible in order to ensure that research students are involved in research cultures.

Enhancing access to and retention in the Bachelor of Nursing: a successful alternative.

Abstract This paper describes an innovative program to enhance access to the Bachelor of Nursing (BN) in the form of a nursing entrance test (NET). Discussion will focus on the NET as the means for enhancing access and retention. The results of a recent evaluation of the NET are discussed and used to demonstrate that the NET is an effective tool for the provision of access and retention in the Bachelor of Nursing for students who do not meet standard entry criteria.

The role of institutional learning and teaching grants in developing academic capacity to engage successfully in the scholarship of teaching and learning

ABSTRACT The current focus on identifying criteria for academic teaching practice is influencing performance goals for teaching academics. This has produced a strong imperative to engage with the scholarship of teaching and learning; however, it is not always clear how teaching academics continue to build capacity to do this during their academic career. Drawing on the literature, this paper analyses the outcomes from two years of faculty and institutional teaching grants to gauge their role in generating effective engagement in the scholarship of teaching and learning. The paper identifies some improvements to the grants programs which have contributed to quality outcomes.