Co-supervision in postgraduate training: Ensuring the right hand knows what the left hand is doing

Elly S Grossman,Nigel J Crowther

doi:10.17159/sajs.2015/20140305

Abstract

South Africa is experiencing a steep rise in postgraduate candidature and a backlog in research training and supervision. Co-supervision is a means to address such challenges. This study investigated how co-supervision could effectively and efficiently be implemented within a Faculty of Health Sciences. Supervisors and postgraduates brainstormed co-supervisory practice to identify: (1) the reasons for co-supervision, (2) what co-supervisors should discuss to facilitate their interactions and (3) how best to initiate the novice supervisor into supervisory practice. Co-supervisors are formally appointed for different reasons and all co-supervisory activities should be directed towards meeting the purpose of that appointment. Points to consider in facilitating a co-supervisor memorandum of understanding and novice supervisor training were discussed. Our findings provide suggestions to develop accountable co-supervisory practices, enhance novice supervisor training and to design discipline-specific best practice policy at institutional level to enable a common understanding of co-supervisory roles and responsibilities. Threats to effective co-supervision identified were the implications of co-supervision in staff promotion, inequitable workload recognition and no official acknowledgement of informal supervisory activities. Unless these issues are addressed, the full potential of co-supervision will remain unrealised. Supervision pedagogy and research teaching is a sophisticated skill worthy of professionalisation.

Highlights

South African academic institutions are struggling to rapidly establish a knowledgeable, qualified supervisory cohort to efficiently and effectively cope with the influx of expected postgraduates
Diminishing supervisory skills consequent to the ageing, experienced supervisory cohort have been well discussed[1] The growing need for supervisors, together with the desire for cross-disciplinary research to maximise innovation for future socioeconomic benefits,[2] means that co-supervision will become the norm as opposed to the traditional apprenticetype supervision[1] to best address the proposed increase in research graduates as per the National Development Plan (NDP): Vision for 20303 and the Health Professionals Council of South Africa's (HPCSA)[4] recent policy
Two Supervisor Support Group focus groups were organised during February and April 2012 and co-supervision brainstormed, from both the co-supervisors and postgraduate perspective

Summary

Introduction

South African academic institutions are struggling to rapidly establish a knowledgeable, qualified supervisory cohort to efficiently and effectively cope with the influx of expected postgraduates. Differences in inter-supervisory expectations, varying departmental norms of how supervision is undertaken, divergent understandings of supervisory tasks and, to tap into the potential supervisory capacity of doctoral graduates outside of tertiary educational institutes, an entire neophyte cohort with no supervisory experience at all could give rise to any number of inconsistent approaches. The Higher Education Qualifications Framework requirements for doctoral degree candidates include: ‘A graduate must be able to supervise and evaluate the research of others in the area of specialisation concerned’[5], in reality, a newly qualified PhD or master’s graduate would find their first process of supervision daunting unless supported by an experienced co-supervisor and mentor.

Methods

Results

Conclusion