A case study approach to supporting change in post- graduate supervision

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Research and Development in Higher Education Vol. 23: Flexible Learning for a Flexible Society

July, 2000, 755 pages
Published by
Lesley Richardson & John Lidstone
ISBN
0908557477
Abstract 

The majority of postgraduate supervisors learn the importance of the supervisory relationship by reflecting on their own, sometimes disappointing, experiences of supervision. The Postgraduate Supervisors' Development Program undertook to interview 30 supervisors at the University of Sydney to provide case studies of good practice for beginning supervisors. This project discovered that the most important ingredient in successful postgraduate supervision was not being a scholar in the field but building an effective professional relationship with the candidate. In many cases this involved modelling good research practices, but in just as many cases it required encouraging the candidate regardless of the supervisor's personal opinions of their work. This paper discusses a project to integrate these case studies into a flexible learning program for postgraduate supervisors. It highlights a number of short case studies of personal experiences with postgraduate supervision.