Supervisory Power and Postgraduate Supervision

Armitage, Andrew

doi:10.3794/ijme.62.179

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Supervision requires more than just academic and research skills from the supervisors (Lessing, 2011). The power imbalance between supervisors and students (Manathunga, 2007;Armitage, 2007) means students are not well positioned to drive any required change. Remediation is consequently the responsibility of those providing the undergraduate thesis supervision.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pedagogical-Publication Tensions in Undergraduate Engineering Thesis Supervision

Stappenbelt¹,

Basu²

2021

AJEE

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In light of the assessment criteria for the doctor of philosophy and masters by research degrees, postgraduate thesis supervision can reasonably be categorised as predominantly research output focussed. This goal is naturally congruent with the publication agenda driving much academic staff activity in the modern ‘publish or perish’ university culture. In contrast, due to the lack of student research experience, the undergraduate thesis is necessarily focussed primarily on the development of research skills (i.e. it is process not output oriented). Undergraduate thesis supervision requires more than just research skills from supervising staff. The lessons learnt from postgraduate research supervision are therefore not always directly transferable to undergraduate thesis supervision. In contrast to the vast body of work in the field of doctoral research supervision, there exists a dearth of literature on undergraduate dissertation supervision. The present study examined the alignment of university, supervisor and student expectations regarding responsibilities in the undergraduate engineering thesis. University expectations, having undergone rigorous review, form the sound pedagogical practice baseline that should be applied to undergraduate supervision. Expectations of academic staff supervisors and thesis students were obtained through the use of survey tools. The surveys used in the present study were adapted from the Role Perceptions Rating Scale (RPRS). Alignment between student and university expectations regarding undergraduate thesis responsibilities in the present study was generally poor. The discrepancy between supervisor and university expectations was even greater, with academic staff generally alarmingly assuming the bulk of the responsibility for many core thesis tasks. The main driver identified for this behaviour (i.e. the supervisor expectations that undergraduate thesis research would contribute to publications) was investigated through post-survey discussions and interviews. Taking primary responsibility for core thesis tasks away from the student, although improving the likelihood of successful research output, diminishes the ability for an accurate assessment of adequate academic performance. The learning that is intended to result from the undergraduate thesis is devalued when research outcomes are prioritised over research process.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pedagogical-Publication Tensions in Undergraduate Engineering Thesis Supervision

Stappenbelt¹,

Basu²

2021

AJEE

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show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student-supervisor-university expectation alignment in the undergraduate engineering thesis

Stappenbelt

Basu

2019

J. Technol. Sci. Educ.

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Given the lack of student research experience, the undergraduate thesis is necessarily focussed primarily on development of research skills (i.e. it is process oriented). Since postgraduate supervision is research output focussed, the lessons learnt from this field are not always directly transferable. In contrast to the vast body of work in the field of doctoral research supervision, there exists a dearth of literature on undergraduate dissertation supervision. To address this shortcoming, the present study examined the alignment of university, supervisor and student expectations regarding responsibilities in the undergraduate engineering thesis. University expectations, having undergone rigorous review, outline the sound pedagogical practice that should be applied to undergraduate supervision. Expectations of academic staff supervisors and thesis students were obtained through the use of survey tools and post-survey discussions. The surveys used in the present study were adapted from the Role Perceptions Rating Scale (RPRS). Alignment between student and university expectations regarding undergraduate thesis responsibilities in the present study was generally poor. The discrepancy between supervisor and university expectations was even greater, with academic staff generally assuming the bulk of the responsibility for many core thesis tasks. Post-survey discussion indicated that the driver for this behaviour were supervisor expectations that that undergraduate thesis research would contribute to publications. Taking primary responsibility for core thesis tasks away from the student, although improving the likelihood of successful research output, diminishes the ability for an accurate assessment of adequate academic performance. The learning that is intended to result from the undergraduate thesis is devalued when research outcomes are prioritised over research process.

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“…Both the processes and the methods used are determined by supervisory styles. Armitage (2007) identified these styles as power-centred or facilitation-centred, whilst Rau (2008) coined them as push or pull (power-centred) or allow (facilitation-centred).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empowering and disempowering students in student– supervisor relationships

Schulze

2012

Koers

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In South Africa, the issue of empowerment or disempowerment in student-supervisor relationships has not been adequately addressed. Research for this article therefore aimed at determining how students are empowered or disempowered in their relationships with their supervisors. The conceptual framework for the research comprised social constructivism, critical pedagogy and theory on the empowerment of students. In the phenomenological case study, 15 master's and doctoral students with 9 different supervisors from one college at the University of South Africa, and who had recently graduated, were purposefully selected for interviews. The findings of the study revealed that the students were not always empowered through sustained two-way communication in a supportive environment. In order to empower students, supervisory styles need to change from power-centred to facilitationcentred supervision. The study also showed that many supervisors found it difficult to adopt this style in a distance-education environment. The study is significant for generating a model that illustrates the interaction between various forces related to supervisory practices. Some recommendations for improvement were made.

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Supervisory Power and Postgraduate Supervision

Cited by 11 publications

References 15 publications

Pedagogical-Publication Tensions in Undergraduate Engineering Thesis Supervision

Pedagogical-Publication Tensions in Undergraduate Engineering Thesis Supervision

Student-supervisor-university expectation alignment in the undergraduate engineering thesis

Empowering and disempowering students in student– supervisor relationships

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