Reflection of experiences with academic supervisors, supervisees and issues of power

  • O. I. Odularu Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha
  • J. O. Akande Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha
Keywords: academia, teaching experience, Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs), supervisee, supervisor

Abstract

Academic supervision is essential for developing students’ careers and educational advancement. The systematic review approach was chosen for the methodology of this study. It has been observed in the literature that there are positive and negative experiences between supervisees and their supervisors. This led to the research gap in the study, which stated that supervisors and their supervisees are inadequately prepared for their roles. The study addressed these gaps through a systematic review of the article sub-topics. The conceptual model was adopted for this article, and it articulates how supervisors can exhibit their dispositional qualities. Additionally, this article recommends enhancing creative and innovative research to intensify a sense of autonomy and periodically updating research instructions on actualising the vision and mission statements of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). The study further recommends that training initiatives for supervisors should be encouraged in HEIs through academic research groups, among others.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

O. I. Odularu, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha

Department of Social Sciences

 

J. O. Akande, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha

Department of Accounting and Taxation

References

Alam, Firoz, Quamrul Alam, and Mohammad Golam Rasul. 2013. “A pilot study on postgraduate supervision.” Procedia Engineering 56: 875‒881.

Al-Rahmi, W., M. S. Othman, and L. M. Yusuf. 2015. “The role of social media for collaborative learning to improve academic performance of students and researchers in Malaysian higher education.” The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning 16(4).

Andersen, A. S. and S. Dupont. 2015. “Supervising projects.” In The Roskilde Model: Problem-oriented learning and project work, 121‒139. Springer, Cham.

Andriopoulou, P. and A. Prowse. 2020. “Towards an effective supervisory relationship in research degree supervision: Insights from attachment theory.” Teaching in Higher Education 25(5): 648‒661.

Aspland, T. and T. O’Donoghue. 2017. “Quality in supervising overseas students?” In Quality in postgraduate education, 59‒76. Routledge.

Azure, J. A. 2016. “Students’ perspective of effective supervision of graduate programmes in Ghana.” American Journal of Educational Research 4(2): 163‒169.

Bacchus, N. and A. Weideman. 2016. “The experience of postgraduate supervision in South Africa: The challenges and opportunities.” South African Journal of Higher Education 30(1): 82‒98.

Bastalich, W. 2017. “Content and context in knowledge production: A critical review of doctoral supervision literature.” Studies in Higher education 42(7): 1145‒1157

Baydarova, I., H. E. Collins, and I. A. Saadi. 2017. “Alignment Of Doctoral Student And Supervisor Expectations In Malaysia.” International Journal of Doctoral Studies 16(1).

Blair, E., D. Watson, and S. Raturi. (Ed.). 2020. Graduate research supervision in the developing world: Policies, pedagogies, and practices. Routledge.

Bøgelund, P. 2015. “How supervisors perceive PhD supervision ‒ And how they practice it.” International Journal of Doctoral Studies 10: 39‒55.

Buirski, N. 2022. “‘Ways of being’: A model for supportive doctoral supervisory relationships and supervision.” Higher Education Research & Development 41(5): 1387‒1401.

Cekiso, M., B. Tshotsho, R. Masha, and T. Saziwa. 2019. “Supervision experiences of postgraduate research students at one South African higher education institution.” South African Journal of Higher Education 33(3): 8‒25.

David, O. A. 2020. “‘To Be or Not to Be?’ The Effect of Supervisor-Supervisee Relations on Students’ Completion of Doctoral Studies.” World Journal of Education 10(1): 23‒29.

Dladla, N. and S. Ndlovu. 2019. “Postgraduate supervision practices in South African universities: A review of the literature.” South African Journal of Higher Education 33(2): 1‒13.

Doyle, K. A. and L. Welfare. 2022. “Modeled Wellness: How Perceived Supervisor Wellness Explains Supervisee Personal Wellness.” Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision 15(1): 8.

Drinane, J. M., M. M. Wilcox, L. Cabrera, and S. W. Black. 2022. “To conceal or not to conceal: Supervisee and client identity processes in clinical supervision.” Psychotherapy 58(4): 429.

Erichsen, E. A., D. U. Bolliger, and C. Halupa. 2014. “Student satisfaction with graduate supervision in doctoral programs primarily delivered in distance education settings.” Studies in Higher Education 39(2): 321‒338.

Ghani, F. 2020. “Remote teaching and supervision of graduate scholars in the unprecedented and testing times.” Journal of the Pakistan Dental Association 29(0): 36‒s42.

Gordon, S. P. 2019. “Educational Supervision: Reflections on Its Past, Present, and Future.” Journal of Educational Supervision 2(2): 27‒52.

Gottlieb, N. 2017. “Supervising the writing of a thesis.” In Quality in postgraduate education, 110‒119. Routledge.

Grant, B. M. 2010. “Improvising together: The play of dialogue in humanities supervision.” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 9(3): 271‒288.

Graves, N. 1997. Problems of supervision. In Working for a doctorate, 86‒105. Routledge.

Haque, Armanul, Md, Nazmul Hasan, and Farzana Islam Any. 2022. “Library services during COVID-19 pandemic: A bibliometric analysis and knowledge mapping.” Library Philosophy and Practice: 1‒27.

Harrison, S. and C. Grant. 2015. “Exploring of new models of research pedagogy: Time to let go of master-apprentice style supervision?” Teaching in Higher Education 20(5): 556‒566.

Henderson, P. 2018. A Different Wisdom: Reflections on Supervision Practice: Guide to Supervision. Routledge.

Hibbert, K., L. Lingard, M. Vanstone, E. A. Kinsella, P. McKenzie, A. Pitman, and T. D. Wilson. 2014. “The quest for effective interdisciplinary graduate supervision: A critical narrative analysis.” Canadian Journal of Higher Education 44(2): 85.

Hooley, E. M. 2019. “Power, diversity, and relational process within supervision.” Training and Education in Professional Psychology 13(3): 212.

Hussain, A. 2011. “Supervision and evaluation of research projects of graduate students ‒ Realities and requirements.” Journal of Quality & Technology Management 7(1): 123‒136.

Ismail, Affero, Norhasni Zainal Abiddin, and Aminuddin Hassan. 2011. “Improving the Development of Postgraduates' Research and Supervision.” International Education Studies 4(1): 78‒89.

Ives, G. and G. Rowley. 2005. “Supervisor selection or allocation and continuity of supervision. Ph.D. students’ progress and outcomes.” Studies in Higher Education 30(5): 535‒555.

Kemmis, S. and K. Mahon. 2017. “Practice architectures of university education.” Practice theory perspectives on pedagogy and education: Praxis, diversity and contestation, 107‒141.

Kiley, M. 2017. “Reflections on change in doctoral education: An Australian case study.” Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education 8(2): 78‒87.

Ladany, N., Y. Mori, and K. E. Mehr. 2013. “Effective and ineffective supervision.” The Counseling Psychologist 41(1): 28‒47.

Le, Q. 2012. “E‐Portfolio for enhancing graduate research supervision.” Quality Assurance in Education 20: 54‒65.

Lee, I. 2010. “Writing teacher education and teacher learning: Testimonies of four EFL teachers.” Journal of Second Language Writing 19(3): 143‒157.

Lekalakala-Mokgele, M. and M. Nkopane. 2016. “A critical examination of postgraduate supervision practices in South African universities.” South African Journal of Higher Education 30(3): 1‒13.

Lupanda, I. 2020. “The Impact Of The Fourth Industrial Revolution On Higher Learning Institutions.” (Accessed 5 October 2022).

Madikizela, P. 2017. “A review of postgraduate supervision practices in South African universities.” South African Journal of Higher Education 31(4): 56‒69.

Madikizela-Madiya, N. and J. M. Atwebembeire. 2020. “Colleague postgraduate supervision and the production of space in higher education: A duo-ethnographic analysis.” Qualitative Research Journal 21(2): 166‒176.

Maher, M. A., J. A. Gilmore, D. F. Feldon, and T. E. Davis. 2013. “Cognitive apprenticeship and the supervision of science and engineering research assistants.” Journal of Research Practice 9(2): M5‒M5.

Mansell, Ian, Glynis Bennett, Colin Torrance, and Gavin Fairbairn. 2002. “The role of the nurse lecturer in the supervision of students' essays, projects and assignments: Results of an all Wales questionnaire survey.” Nurse Education Today 22(7): 511‒517.

Maor, Dorit, Jason D. Ensor, and Barry J. Fraser. 2016. “Doctoral supervision in virtual spaces: A review of research of web-based tools to develop collaborative supervision.” Higher Education Research & Development 35(1): 172‒188.

Masek, A. and M. A. Alias. 2020. “Review of effective doctoral supervision: What is it and how can we achieve it.” Universal Journal of Educational Research 8(6): 2493‒2500.

Mastoras, S. M. and J. J. Andrews. 2011. “The supervisee experience of group supervision: Implications for research and practice.” Training and Education in Professional Psychology 5(2): 102.

McAlpine, L. and M. McKinnon. 2013. “Supervision – the most variable of variables: Student perspectives.” Studies in Continuing Education 35(3): 265‒280.

McCulloch, Alistair, Vijay Kumar, Susan van Schalkwyk, and Gina Wisker. 2016. “Excellence in doctoral supervision: An examination of authoritative sources across four countries in search of performance higher than competence.” Quality in Higher Education 22(1): 64‒77.

Mkhize, N. and J. Mouton. 2018. “The challenges and opportunities of postgraduate supervision in South Africa: A review of the literature.” South African Journal of Higher Education 32(4): 1‒17.

Muthanna, A. and A. Alduais. 2021. “A thematic review on research integrity and supervision: Relationships, Crises and Critical Messages.” Journal of Academic Ethics 19: 95‒113.

Ndayambaje, I. 2018. “Effect of supervision on timely completion of PhD Programme.” Rwandan Journal of Education 4(2): 57‒70.

Parry, S. 2007. Disciplines and doctorates. Springer.

Pinto, S. and M. H. Araújo e Sá. 2020. “Researching across languages and cultures: A study with doctoral students and supervisors at a Portuguese University.” European Journal of Higher Education 10(3): 276‒293.

Roach, A., B. K. Christensen, and E. Rieger. 2019. “The essential ingredients of research supervision: A discrete-choice experiment.” Journal of Educational Psychology 111(7): 1243.

Roberts, N. and D. Watson. 2016. “Re-imagining graduate supervision.” The Caribbean Teaching Scholar 6: 27‒42.

Saleem, Tooba and Nasir Mehmood. 2018. “Assessing the Quality of Supervision Experiences in the Different Research Stages at Postgraduate Level.” Journal of Education and Educational Development 5(2): 8‒27

Sheu, Leslie, Jennifer R. Kogan, and Karen E. Hauer. 2017. “How supervisor experience influences trust, supervision, and trainee learning: A qualitative study.” Academic Medicine 92(9): 1320‒1327.

Siegel, D. J. 2010. The mindful therapist: A clinician’s guide to mindsight and neural integration. W W Norton & Co.

Sikandar, Aliya and Nasreen Hussain. 2018. “Power and Hegemony in Research Supervision: A Critical Discourse Analysis.” Journal of Education and Educational Development 5(2): 75‒91.

Stewart, T. T. and G. McClure. 2013. “Freire, Bakhtin, and collaborative pedagogy: A dialogue with students and mentors.” International Journal for Dialogical Science 7(1): 91‒108.

Tahir, I. M., N. A. Ghani, E. S. E. Atek, and Z. A. Manaf. 2012. “Effective supervision from research students' perspective.” International Journal of Education 4(2): 211.

Taylor, S. 2014. “Towards a framework for the professional development of doctoral supervisors.” SDF Digest 2: 74‒87.

Thompson, David R., Sandy Kirkman, Roger Watson, and Simon Stewart. 2005. “Improving research supervision in nursing.” Nurse Education Today 25(4): 283‒290.

Van Rooij, E., M. Fokkens-Bruinsma, and E. Jansen. 2021. “Factors that influence PhD candidates’ success: the importance of PhD project characteristics.” Studies in Continuing Education 43(1): 48‒67.

Wanyama, S. B. and S. Eyamu. 2021. “Perceived organizational support, graduate research supervision and research completion rate.” Employee Relations: The International Journal 43(6): 1414‒1430.

Watson, D. and E. Blair. 2018. Reimagining graduate supervision in developing contexts: A focus on regional universities. Routledge.

Wisker, G. 2012. The good supervisor: Supervising postgraduate and undergraduate research for doctoral theses and dissertations. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Wisker, G. and S. Claesson. 2013. “The impact of cross-disciplinary culture on student-supervisor perceptions.” International Journal of Doctoral Studies 8: 21.

Xu, E., X. Huang, C. K. Lam, and Q. Miao. 2012. “Abusive supervision and work behaviors: The mediating role of LMX.” Journal of Organizational Behavior 33(4): 531‒543.

Xue, T. X., A. B. Xie, and Y. G. Qi. (Ed.). 2001. The Science of Graduate Education. (In Chinese.) Guiling Normal University Press.

Zhou, G. L., J. F. Mo, Q. Liu, and C. H. Wang. 2010. The Quality Investigation of the PhD Candidate Education in China. (In Chinese.) Beijing. Social Science Academic Press.

Zhou, Lian. 2016. “Abusive supervision and work performance: The moderating role of abusive supervision variability.” Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal 44(7): 1089‒1098.

Published
2024-04-13
How to Cite
Odularu, O. I., and J. O. Akande. 2024. “Reflection of Experiences With Academic Supervisors, Supervisees and Issues of Power”. South African Journal of Higher Education 38 (2), 254-73. https://doi.org/10.20853/38-2-5706.
Section
General Articles