The Doctoral Journey as an Emotional, Embodied, Political Experience by Rebecca Twinley Gayle Letherby

Author:Rebecca Twinley, Gayle Letherby [Rebecca Twinley, Gayle Letherby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780367352851
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2021-12-29T00:00:00+00:00

Reflections on my own journey to PhD

In 1985, before I even began my own PhD journey, Connell called for academics to think seriously about supervision as a specialised form of advanced teaching: “to try to get people to think in a rounded way about supervision. It’s not just a technical matter. I wanted people to be reflective about what they were doing in supervision” (Connell & Manathunga, 2012, p. 6). I hope in this article to do just that regarding my own practice.

My PhD travels began in Scotland in the role where most of us seem to learn how to supervise, that is as a PhD student working primarily with my principal supervisor, as Hammond et al. (cited in Kiley, 2011, p. 590) found in Australia the “most commonly reported way in which current supervisors learn … is from the way that they themselves were supervised”. My own supervision matched fairly well with certain aspects of what Kiley (2011, p. 587) has char-acterised as the “British (Oxbridge) model of supervision; that is, a substantial one-to-one relationship between candidate and supervisor, and with little in the way of formal coursework”. A system which Brown and Atkins (1991) have noted results in PhD students developing a high level of dependency on a single supervisor.

I had a supervisory team of two, but only ever saw the principal supervisor with the second being reserved for the role as internal examiner. However, I was part of a cohort of students required to participate in elements of practices more akin to practices in the USA and Canada; that is I was required to take three advanced graduate taught courses, attend and present at a regular graduate seminar facilitated by professors, and join the department’s team of teaching assistants to teach tutorials in the large first year survey politics courses. This was a positive experience; although these requirements took time away from data collection and writing they also ameliorated some of the isolation of the PhD experience. Brown and Atkins (1991, p. 126) have written about student isolation and conclude that “[r]ecognition of these dangers has led to recommendations for more opportunities for research students to share, test, and defend their ideas and work”. We did not just share these requirements but also shared offices and our offices were located near to each other. As such, we were also able to share our teaching experiences, our frustrations and elations regarding our research at least in our first year (beyond year one there were no such requirements nor offices). In my current department we (a team of faculty and staff) organise graduate orientation days, introductory social evenings and require all graduate students to complete two semesters of professional development classes. All graduate students have access to a small lounge with computers. These are all attempts not just to integrate the graduate students with the department but also with each other, to develop academic friendships to support them on what can often be an arduous journey. Over the years I have witnessed the development of relationships that continue well beyond graduation.

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