Developing master’s level education students as researchers: mentors’ and mentees’ experiences

ABSTRACT

Mentoring within higher education develops capacity of early-career academic staff and doctoral students. For students in taught Master’s degree programs who may not envision themselves moving on to doctoral studies, research competencies are still needed as they include transferable skills and enable professionals to undertake research within their contexts. Those working within educational settings, for instance, can carry out action research to address issues within their institutions.. This generic qualitative study explored the experiences of mentors and mentees in relation to researcher development of graduate research students in education at a Caribbean university. The study found that mentoring relationships enhanced students’ research capabilities, resulted in students identifying themselves as researchers, and enabled those working within the education sector to translate these research skills into their professional contexts. The findings of the research are useful with respect to fostering a culture of mentorship among academic staff within the discipline of education.

KEYWORDS:

• Mentorship
• research skills
• education
• teachers
• master’s students

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Therese Ferguson

Dr. Therese Ferguson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at The University of the West Indies, Jamaica, specialising in Education for Sustainable Development and Qualitative Research Methods. Dr. Ferguson has worked to support research and writing skills development among postgraduate students through formal course delivery and informal workshop sessions at various higher education institutions where she has worked. Her research interests include qualitative research methods and researcher development. Mrs. Tanneice Ellis is engaged as a Senior Administrative Assistant at the Caribbean School of Media and Communication at The University of the West Indies. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management and Economics, a Post Graduate Diploma in Educational Administration and Master of Arts in Higher Educational Management.

Tanneice Ellis

Mrs. Ellis has a keen interest in the administration and management of programmes designed for the educational development of adult learners and a strong interest in qualitative research. In recent times, Mrs. Ellis has also shown interest in the discourse pertaining to equity and inclusivity in the teaching and learning environment in higher education.