The lecturer as supervisor

Abstract

This case analysis of supervision outcomes as part of the performance measures of academic faculty is based on a case study of senior faculty at a university in Israel. This is a pioneer study in exploring measures of research outcomes within teaching, i.e., supervision for research purposes. The assumption is that academic teaching consists of guiding students to research, discover, and innovate. The researchers’ point of departure is that these outcomes of the supervisory work have meaning for and impact on the research disciplines in academic institutions in particular and in academia in general. We employed a mixed methods research. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) followed by Structural Equation Analysis (SEM) for goodness of fit. Findings indicate a positive correlation between methods for assessing ability and supervision outcomes, such that the greater the use of methods for assessing ability the higher the supervision outcomes over the years. Practical implications are discussed.