Managing their own programme: a case study of the first graduates of a new kind of doctorate in professional practice

Abstract

This article contributes to current debates about professional doctorates from a lifelong learning perspective, focusing on those who choose to undertake a doctoral programme in mid- or late career and their responses to the challenge of demonstrating their ‘doctorateness’ as evidenced in their previous and continuing professional work. It is based on the first 10 case histories of an extensive grounded theory study of the 150 candidates who have so far presented themselves for the professional doctorate of Middlesex University (UK) and reveals some insights into the pedagogical processes that come into play when people are given centre stage in the design and completion of doctoral programmes based on their own professional work. Central to those processes is the extent to which, in response to that responsibility, candidates successfully demonstrate their professionalism at the highest level within critical academic and professional environments. In accordance with grounded theory we conclude with some tentative propositions about the way in which the academic community might usefully engage in discussion about the style and range of professional doctorates and how they might be developed.