Creating Postgraduate Collaborations › Forums › CPC Supervision Development Course › Module 1 › Module 1, Session 2: Supervision with a humanizing pedagogy
Tagged: humanising pedagogy
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Work through the PowerPoint “Supervision with a humanizing pedagogy”. Once you have looked through it, post a message, sharing your thoughts on it.
Quite an interesting read! As supervisors, it is important to decolonize the disciplinary contexts to ensure social inclusion. This will make flexible a variety of ways of thinking to strengthen powerful knowledge. The P/G supervision will surely be an enjoyable knowledge generating process.
In my view students who are exceptional in undergraduate studies in terms of performance, passion and determination tend to have an easier time during their postgraduate studies. However, they must also be willing to learn and to read widely. Deliberate and consistent reading familiarizes them to academic writing. Most of the postgraduate students in their formative stages of study lack writing skills. But I have observed a marked improvement over time in this ‘new world’ of knowledge.
Gender, funding and geography limits students in accessing p/g studies. Dealing with students as individuals with different backgrounds can be daunting since supervisors view them as just students in general. Failure to recognize these differences can lead to conflict during supervision. For example, if you come from a partriachal society yet you are a female supervisor. Dealing with male students can be challenging since they typically do not take orders from women. A supervisor must take these factors into consideration and look for ways to impart knowledge and maintain healthy intelectual discourseA purposive and deliberate pursuit of the concept of social inclusion (with regard to postgraduate studies); to understand its building blocks, practices and interaction/contribution of key players (Student, supervisor and academic environment -within the institution and the country) has the potential to transform the “process” of inducting the postgraduate students to the “community on knowledge”. This would make the whole experience enjoyable, worthwhile and fruitful. The assumptions in the current approach (in most scenarios/institutions) is that anyone with PhD has the requisite skills to guide the “process”. The factors and dynamics that contribute positively towards social inclusion have not been given the weight they deserve. These are fundamental skills that each stakeholder (Student/Supervisor/institution) needs for the process to work and yield the desired outcomes. Given the influencing clout that the supervisor(s) wields, an indepth understanding of their (supervisor) role in positively contributing to social inclusion at postgraduate level is a critical but largely missing component in the current approach.
A purposive and deliberate pursuit of the concept of social inclusion (with regard to postgraduate studies); to understand its building blocks, practices and interaction/contribution of key players (Student, supervisor and academic environment -within the institution and the country) has the potential to transform the “process” of inducting the postgraduate students to the “community of knowledge”. This would make the whole experience enjoyable, worthwhile and fruitful. The assumptions in the current approach (in most scenarios/institutions) is that anyone with PhD has the requisite skills to guide the “process”. The factors and dynamics that contribute positively towards social inclusion have not been given the weight they deserve. These are fundamental skills that each stakeholder (Student/Supervisor/institution) needs for the process to work and yield the desired outcomes. Given the influencing clout that the supervisor(s) wields, an indepth understanding of their (supervisor) role in positively contributing to social inclusion at postgraduate level is a critical but largely missing component in the current approach.
Postgraduate studies is a calling. It requires resilience and focus and so it is for those who are willing to walk the difficult path. I have noted that there tends to a geographical bias in numbers-majority are urban dwellers or people living in the vicinity of the university since postgrads are not full-time and residential.
The people who register for PG are varied but those with the biggest challenge are young couples with children; balancing parenthood and education can be quite a challenge. Then there are those people who are “allergic” to the library! They will take an eternity to conceptualise their research problem. But the biggest factor is not having anticipated the rigours of PG studies-creating knowledge in a formalised environment, learning to ask before it is too late, dedicating time for study work and getting the hand of getting information from data sources etc.
Social exclusion then creeps in and apart from gender, language, funding, geography and previous education experience there are other issues such as
-Attitude (of the student towards the supervisor and verse versa)
-Keeping up with agreed schedules failing which s/he gets abandoned
-Communication skills to ensure that the team understand each other hence no unnecessary friction
-Age of student (older students may be set in their ways hence have a lot of unlearning to doIn Urban and Regional Planning as a discipline the tendency has been to use Eurocentric approaches in “being-thinking-knowing”. Most supervisors have been schooled in this way and hence they want to mould their students using the same methodologies. Participatory Learning and Action is an approach that we are now emphasising to enable the students be more flexible in their studies. Use of Key Informants allows for perspectives that may not be in conventional literature and also allows for use of knowledge created by those who are not necessarily academia. It creates a more holistic view of reality of knowledge
If the supervisor is able to appreciate these issues I have noted above they should be able to understand the students worldview/experience and walk with them through the journey of postgraduate studies
Postgraduate studies is a calling. It requires resilience and focus and so it is for those who are willing to walk the difficult path. I have noted that there tends to a geographical bias in numbers-majority are urban dwellers or people living in the vicinity of the university since postgrads are not full-time and residential.
The people who register for PG are varied but those with the biggest challenge are young couples with children; balancing parenthood and education can be quite a challenge. Then there are those people who are “allergic” to the library! They will take an eternity to conceptualise their research problem. But the biggest factor is not having anticipated the rigours of PG studies-creating knowledge in a formalised environment, learning to ask before it is too late, dedicating time for study work and getting the hand of getting information from data sources etc.
Social exclusion then creeps in and apart from gender, language, funding, geography and previous education experience there are other issues such as
-Attitude (of the student towards the supervisor and verse versa)
-Keeping up with agreed schedules failing which s/he gets abandoned
-Communication skills to ensure that the team understand each other hence no unnecessary friction
-Age of student (older students may be set in their ways hence have a lot of unlearning to doIn Urban and Regional Planning as a discipline the tendency has been to use Eurocentric approaches in “being-thinking-knowing”. Most supervisors have been schooled in this way and hence they want to mould their students using the same methodologies. Participatory Learning and Action is an approach that we are now emphasising to enable the students be more flexible in their studies. Use of Key Informants allows for perspectives that may not be in conventional literature and also allows for use of knowledge created by those who are not necessarily academia. It creates a more holistic view of reality of knowledge
If the supervisor is able to appreciate these issues I have noted above they should be able to understand the students worldview/experience and walk with them through the journey of postgraduate studies
The PPT presentation is thought-provoking. The presenter proves that expectations that we may have on what a p/g student should do and what they shouldn’t do may be the beginning point of a flawed supervision process. This is supported by the arguments around boxing the students to be, think and know in certain ways. This for me just limits the creativity and innovation abilities of the student. It is no wonder that some, who are unable to fit within this curved-out caves and boxes just quit. But the question here is how to balance the freedom given to a student who wants to think freely and innovate with the need to mentor them in line with certain principles, methodologies and theoretical underpinnings that speak to they work. I guess this is where the expertise of a supervisor comes in, not to limit the student, but allow them to fly and follow the radder.
The PPT presentation is thought-provoking. The presenter proves that expectations that we may have on what a p/g student should do and what they shouldn’t do may be the beginning point of a flawed supervision process. This is supported by the arguments around boxing the students to be, think and know in certain ways. This for me just limits the creativity and innovation abilities of the student. It is no wonder that some, who are unable to fit within this curved-out caves and boxes just quit. But the question here is how to balance the freedom given to a student who wants to think freely and innovate with the need to mentor them in line with certain principles, methodologies and theoretical underpinnings that speak to they work. I guess this is where the expertise of a supervisor comes in, not to limit the student, but allow them to fly and follow the radder.
One of our most common predilections is to attribute the ability to learn to factors inherent to the individual. Someone was talking yesterday about personality coming into the equation and extroverted students seemingly being able to do better in difficult circumstances. If we think about so called ‘extroversion’ though, how much is socially conditioned? Are women conditioned to be less assertive, less ‘out there’ than men? Are other social groups conditioned in the same way? Is it the individual characteristics of the student that make a difference or is it social context?
I think we should always be careful of attributing the ability to do something to factors inherent to the individual. If we say a student lacks ‘motivation’ or ‘drive’, for example, is it the case that something is missing from their individual make up or that we don’t recognise the way that the demonstrate their motivation because they are ‘different’?
If you say postgraduate studies ‘requires resilience and focus and so it is for those who are willing to walk the difficult path’ are you sure you are recognising the resilience that is being demonstrated, the focus that is there but which is different to what you are used to? Are you really sure that students aren’t ‘walking the difficult path’ even though they do not seem to be making progress?
The Powerpoint on social inclusion points to the need always to consider the social context, to consider which ‘ways of being’ are privileged in certain spaces and how others may not ‘fit in’ not because there is anything wrong with them but just because they are not familiar to us. The next step is to think about how we can make the space of postgraduate learning open to everyone.
The presentation got me reflecting deeply on my supervision practice.It made me remember vividly how in the course of my post graduate studies in Psychology, I ventures into a different degree course in Human Resource Management. It actually took me almost 6 months to change my thinking from that of a Psychologist to a Human Resource Manager. I almost gave up, but took the efforts of a close friend to keep me on track.
In the same way, p/g students came to the university, some having left u/g training 5,10,15 years prior and therefore may have a different kind of of being, thinking and knowledge as we expect them. Therefore, my greatest take away from this presentation is the definition of supervision, which is “a process of inducting students into the new world of knowledge community they are seeking to join”. This blew my mind in the knowledge that for me to have celebrated successful supervision,it must be determined by how I make the ‘ways of operating in the new world (of research and academia) clear to the students and the students can comfortably walk in these ways”.
There are various issues that affect effective supervision. In my opinion sometimes there is an element of trying to create “a small you” during supervision. Some supervisors tend to want students to follow all what they want which leads to “boxing” the students thinking.As a novice supervisor, I think students should be given the opportunity to think outside the box and obviously within the confines of what is being researched. Normally when something is outside the supervisors comfort zone, that idea is normally eliminated without thinking it through properly. I personally enjoyed being supervised during my masters studies. My supervisor gave me room to think widely but within the confines of the topic and taking cognizance of time. Sometimes a student background plays a crucial role during P/G studies especially if a student is coming from a disciple where he/she was not exposed to research (this was my challenge – I was exposed to research for the first time during my masters degree). I am an external auditor by profession.Knowledge production is very interesting especially when the supervisor and the student are working “hand in glove”.The concept of group supervision is something that is very interesting as well.
Students admitted to pursue postgraduate programmes represent a range of diversity, including, social status, economic status, ethnicity, religion, age, gender , nationality, culture, experience and ability, spatial set-ups, part-time, full-time, residents, non-residents . Some are under pressure from their job, families, responsibilities, time, resources, access to information, funding etc. Students bring with them these diverse characteristics, which may affect their productive capacity, access to resources and ability to participate actively in their leaning process, particularly in the unfamiliar knowledge community, which they often find themselves in. Such heterogeneous student group places huge mandate on supervisors in terms of how to respond to students´ needs and to support their learning in the best way and remove any elements likely to enhance exclusions. Although social exclusion can occur in different sites and spaces in the process of studying, knowledge power relations during learning/teaching and supervising can shape these spaces and boundaries of participating spaces. Consequently as supervisors and teachers, it is necessary to use humanizing pedagogy in the supervision process-as we travel and navigate students through the unfamiliar territory- the knowledge community. From my understating, humanizing pedagogy is basically a student-centred approach, whereby the supervisor guides and supports the student into participating in the learning process of creating (co-creating) knowledge, appreciating their potential as researchers and build their own pathways. The approach is essential in diffusing any fears of operating in a new/unfamiliar learning setting as well as in creating confidence and trust between the supervisor and the student. Embracing humanizing pedagogy approach in supervision, will require supervisors to appreciate diversity, promote social cohesion and integration, establish effective professional interrelationship with the student, enhance collaborative engagement, use humanizing communication style effectively balance various roles as an expert, mentor and coach, and in making unfamiliar experience a familiar one.
This is great! supporting students to unleash their potential and create their own intellectual identify within the community of knowledge irrespective of backgrounds is essential
The comments so far point to a need for a creative or is it an innovative way of looking at the phenomenon of postgraduate education. For example, on account of the myriad issues that influence what goes on in postgraduate education, should this exercise be left to chance as the case appears to be in many parts of the world? I am trying to bring out the idea that institutions should not leave postgraduate supervision matters to ‘life will take its own course’! Those who get into postgraduate studies must go beyond the basic institutional requirements! Who becomes a supervisor must go beyond the fact that one meets the threshold requirements! In this regard, and I am glad what we are going through in this project is part of the needed formalisation of the postgraduate education processes, it ought to become mandatory very soon that all those involved in postgraduate studies, be it students or supervisors, require formal transitional induction, if not training! I am aware that in some parts of the world my suggestion already is in practice, but broadly, at global level, we need some standardised ways through which stakeholders of the postgraduate studies need to be initiated!
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