Exploring the “How” and “Why” of Student-Supervisor Relationships: Postgraduate Students’ Reflections of Lived Experiences

BY: .

In this opinion piece, we draw from our lived experiences as postgraduate students and contribute our understanding on “how” and “why” student-supervisor relationships should unfold the way we think they should. Although postgraduate student supervision has no one formula, we begin by suggesting that setting out expectations and responsibilities for both the student and the supervisor from the onset of this relationship is crucial to avoiding frustration, conflict and confusion. We then introduce that student-supervisor relationships should be coupled with pedagogies of care which involve the supervisor keenly supporting the student in order to facilitate the academic success of the student. Thereafter, we turn to the heart of the opinion piece where we share our lived experiences as postgraduate students and offer more practical ways of maintaining good and healthy student-supervisor relationships that are based on progress. 

Setting student-supervisor expectations and responsibilities

It is argued that one of the factors causing problems in this learning journey may be conflicting thoughts and ideas between a supervisor and a student if these are not ironed out at the start of the relationship. We, therefore, argue that as a starting point, it is of utmost significance that the needs, expectations and responsibilities of each party are set out at the onset of this relationship between a supervisor and a student.

Moreover, we argue that these can be avoided/minimised if supervisors make it their point to initiate such dialogues with their students in terms of helping them to outline needs, expectations and responsibilities. However, we also acknowledge that these roles may change over time during the course of this relationship. It is, therefore, critical that these roles are revisited and renegotiated from time-to-time.

Pedagogy of care

Constructive relationships between students and their supervisors in Higher Education Institutions of learning can serve as a critical predictor of academic/research engagement and success. Supportive student-supervisor relationships can be initiated in spaces where supervisors respond with respect, empathy and care on their students’ everyday engagements and interactions. This includes actively supporting the student with internal (academic) and external (non-academic) factors that touch their lives on their daily routines of living and interaction.

Furthermore, it is argued that the provision of psychological and non-psychological support in Higher Education can improve students’ ability to engage in academic activities that will enhance their growth (Xerri et al., 2017). Therefore, student-supervisor relationships can be better constructed in spaces where supervisors create room for their students to believe in themselves, at the same time keeping in mind that their supervisors are there to walk the journey with them.

Regular supervision meetings/cohorts

Based on personal lived experiences during the completion of our Master of Education (MEd) degrees in Geography Education (for Zamokuhle) and Teacher Development Studies (for Luthando), respectively, we argue that one of the effective ways of maintaining good student-supervisor relationships and progress is through regular supervision meetings/cohorts. For Zamokuhle, he met with his supervisor and fellow MEd and PhD students under the care of his supervisor once a month under the umbrella of what they termed as MEd/PhD cohort group. In the case of Luthando, he regularly met with his supervisor - together with fellow MEd students - in “critical friends’ teams” (Samaras & Roberts, 2011, p. 43) under the watch of his supervisor each week. Moreover, both of us were given, in our respective supervision groups, a chance by our supervisors to schedule meetings with them anytime we felt like we needed to consult on our research work.

For us, such conversations provided an opportunity to share and discuss progress as well as identify and address challenges and gaps. Furthermore, this allowed us room to exchange ideas with our fellow postgraduate students in our respective groups, in turn allowing them (students) to critique our work. Moreover, such an exercise allowed us the opportunity to have an agreed plan of action post supervision meetings. We, therefore, argue that regular supervision meetings/cohorts are at the heart of students’ development, learning, growth and success.

Although we acknowledge that different supervisors in various fields of specialisation, by nature, use various strategies to offer support, care and guidance to their different postgraduate students. We argue that one or two things can be learnt from our shared personal lived experiences/reflections with our own supervisors in the subject at hand.

Conclusion

In this piece of writing, we have offered our accounts as postgraduate students at a South African university of what effective and engaging student-supervisor relationships should look like in the present time and going forward. We argued that effective student-supervisor relationships in higher learning institutions should be centred, among other things, on the following aspects: setting student-supervisor expectations and responsibilities, pedagogy of care, and regular supervision meetings/cohorts.

If this is to be achieved, both supervisors and postgraduate students must play a critical and equal role in initiating and implementing such practices. Although this is the case, at the same time, we argued that supervisors, as experienced beings in their various fields of specialisation, must be at the forefront of building such effective student-supervisor relationships which are open to be revisited and renegotiated from time to time during the course of the relationship and beyond.

REFERENCES

Samaras, A.P. & Roberts, L. (2011). Flying solo: Teachers take charge of their learning through self-study research. Learning forward, 32 (5), 42-45.

Xerri, M. J., Radford, K., & Shacklock, K. (2017) Student engagement in academic activities: A social support perspective. Higher Education, 75(4), 589-605.

Mr Luthando Molefe is a lecturer in the Discipline of Science Education, within the Cluster of Science and Technology Education at UKZN’s School of Education.

Mr Zamokuhle Magubane is a Writing Place Tutor and PhD candidate in the Discipline of Curriculum Studies within the Education Studies Cluster at UKZN’s School of Education.

Photographs: Supplied

*The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.