Enhancing co-supervision practice by setting expectations in a structured discussion using a research-informed tool

ABSTRACT

Team or co-supervision of doctoral students has been adopted by many universities in different parts of the world. This study focuses on a key aspect of this supervision model that is both a perceived advantage and a challenge, namely the need for supervisors to work collaboratively with colleagues for the benefit of students. It argues that transparent conversations are essential in co-supervisory teams for ensuring productive working relationships. We surveyed 106 supervisors and interviewed 14 others to find out the main problems in co-supervision and what topics should form discussions at the start of a project. This study introduces a research informed conversational tool that academic developers as well as supervisors can utilise to enhance the quality of co-supervision and overall doctoral supervision satisfaction. The conversational tool incorporates three areas for a structured discussion: co-supervision arrangements, the project and pedagogies of supervision.

KEYWORDS:

• Co-supervision
• doctoral education
• responsibilities
• roles
• workload
• collaboration

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Committee for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching’s University Teaching Development Grant, University of Otago.