Module 1, Session 2: Variables and dynamics in the supervision process

[Lydia]

#2340

How gender, Race, social status, age and personality influence the supervision process:

During my masters program, one of my supervisors was an Emeritus Professor from an American University who was part of a consortium of Universitys’ faculty offering support for a new post graduate program in my University.
Being Kenyan and Interacting with an American Professor with vast experience in my area of study was extremely enriching and I considered myself ‘lucky’ to have got such a rare opportunity.
However, my second younger supervisor was not quite prepared to work with the ‘old white lady’ and I was caught up between a hard place and a rock. The tension between the two almost costed my dream of graduating necessitating my written request for a third supervisor to break the stalemate.
I realized that different races perceive positive supervison attitudes differently and the variations in experiences with supervison can be very vast.
If the supervisors are not prepared to co supervise and deliberately address their varied perspectives in the context of supervision, the adjustment required can be both emotionally and psychologically straining to both the supervisors and the supervisees.

On the flip side, racism and oppression can affect the quality of work produced as the student fears asking questions or seek direction for fear of prejudice from either of the supervisors. But lackily I nailed the difficulty, graduating and publishing my work in a peer reviewed journal! I thought I would die at the end of it. But,I am still here, Thank God.

[Moses Mwangi]

#2381

The Kenyan postgraduate supervision environment has been confronting a drastically changing learning and teaching environment, characterized by increased demand, complex career expectations from the market and students and a sense of faster completion rate, than ever before. Some of the students belong to established careers and the clamor for postgraduate training is driven more by need for more advanced papers. Each postgraduate student has a unique background and exposure to academic work, abilities, preferences, expectations as well as approaches to research work. I have found some postgraduate students having the habit of trying to force in recognition of their status in society in the process of being taught and supervised. A common characteristic is that of the students trying to have their preferred time managing the training as opposed to the set learning one, citing the societal demands on them! To bring the student down to actual realities demands some effective negotiations and navigations to make the student appreciate that the status aspect and the postgraduate studies have different settings and, as such must be totally separated if quality is to be achieved. As a supervisor, this has called for appreciation of the individual student’s views of postgraduate learning and consequently assisting to adjust expectations on the part of the student in conformity with the set specific measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound requisites of the post graduate undertaking. As such, the person is guided to achieve higher standards than they may have ever anticipated, inspite of the positions (status) they hold in the society. The approach has proven to be part of an effective way of mentoring students into focused scholars as well as reliable future supervisors and teachers.

[Jethro]

#2382

The issue of gender and social background is crucial for successful completion of the research project. Students come from different background and are of different gender which should be considered in designing the best possible supervision management plan. Assuming that all students are the same is suicidal as it can lead to unnecessary frustration and unrealistic expectations

[Moses Mwangi]

#2383

University postgraduate supervisors take full cognizance that students mentoring is critical but enjoys a mixed reputation in the various faculties. Some faculty members perceive mentoring as a role for other people. Agreeably, the lack of, or inadequate mentoring contributes to exclusion in postgraduate studies, particularly the female gender. Most universities in Kenya have no tradition of mentoring, and faculty members tend to be overworked and have little time to give personal attention to students. Many seek additional employment outside the university in order to make ends meet. The small number of female academics means that there are few female role models for students. At the same time male academics may often hesitate to mentor or work collaboratively with female colleagues and students for fear of being seen as having sexual relationships with them. In some cases, senior male members are reluctant to act as mentors for junior women in the faculty. In the absence of a mentoring culture in the universities, some consider it inappropriate for an older man to mentor young women. This contributes to women having fewer contacts than men from within and without their institutions. In part, this makes them less likely to be exposed to appropriate further training or conferences and, thus end up having fewer ties to other professionals working in own areas of interest. Feedback from former female postgraduate students indicate that although mentoring is an important mechanism for introducing students and faculty members into academic life, it can have a deleterious effects for women if the culture into which they are being mentored is unremittingly patriarchal.

[Moses Mwangi]

#2534

The Kenyan postgraduate supervision environment has been confronting a drastically changing learning and teaching environment, characterized by increased demand, complex career expectations from the market and students and a sense of faster completion rate, than ever before. Some of the students belong to established careers and the clamor for postgraduate training is driven more by need for more advanced papers. Each postgraduate student has a unique background and exposure to academic work, abilities, preferences, expectations as well as approaches to research work. I have found some postgraduate students having the habit of trying to force in recognition of their status in society in the process of being taught and supervised. A common characteristic is that of the students trying to have their preferred time managing the training as opposed to the set learning one, citing the societal demands on them! To bring the student down to actual realities demands some effective negotiations and navigations to make the student appreciate that the status aspect and the postgraduate studies have different settings and, as such must be totally separated if quality is to be achieved. As a supervisor, this has called for appreciation of the individual student’s views of postgraduate learning and consequently assisting to adjust expectations on the part of the student in conformity with the set specific measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound requisites of the post graduate undertaking. As such, the person is guided to achieve higher standards than they may have ever anticipated, inspite of the positions (status) they hold in the society. The approach has proven to be part of an effective way of mentoring students into focused scholars as well as reliable future supervisors and teachers.

[Mmaphuti]

#2815

Communication style
It is important for both supervisor and supervisee to know the communication to be used in the research project journey. For example if a supervisor in the comments put question mark and no further explanation it puts a student in a predicament of understanding what that question mark really means. So, clear communication style is crucial, including mode of communications.
Topic/field
Its ideal to be supervised by someone who knows or expert in the field you are studying i was fortunate as both my supervisors in masters and doctoral have knowledge relating to my topic and were able to guide accordingly.

Race
In both my masters and doctoral studies i was supervised by white lectures and did not observe any discrimination and was treated as a student not based on my skin color

Religion/culture
Yes different cultures play important part in research. I say this based on the research topics, sometimes to be supervised by someone who don’t know or understand your culture, if you have a topic which incorporates your cultural aspects may be difficult for your supervisor to understand and guide you appropriately. Or sometimes have different perspectives on certain areas in the topic

[Kirstin]

#2820

The two dynamics of supervision that stood out for me when reflecting on my own supervision experience is gender, personality and communication style. I did my PhD in an international context, and so did not have the immediate support base that I would have liked. I am also a quieter, more reserved person that prefers to get a ‘lie of the land’ before asserting myself in a new context. The international context where I found myself had different social norms around communication style (I found peers much more forward and domineering), and I was expected (and told) that I had to assert my voice or be excluded from the team. This was a really hard learning curve for me, as it went against my personality type and the way I usually interact in professional spaces. In the end, I think the steep learning curve was beneficial, but it came at quite a significant emotional cost in the first few weeks of adapting to a new country, new colleagues, and to doing a PhD.

In terms of what I expect of my students – I expect them to have agency. I expect them to be able to ask questions when they are lost, to try things out, to practice, to push for their own success, to set their own deadlines. I find it challenging to have to follow-up on students to submit writing, to ask for meetings. I much prefer it when they willingly give over writing and when they follow-up on their own deadlines. I think these expectations stem from my own experience and personality type, and now I just kind of expect it out of others. I am learning to keep reminding myself that not everyone has the same amount of agency or understanding of what is expected/appropriate in a supervisory relationship – I think this ties in with a humanising perspective. I need to see people in their own way, and not to assume one student will be like me, or be like the next student I have. Everyone brings with them particular ways of knowing that need to be acknowledge and built on in specific ways that work for the individual. I know this in theory, but I need to remember to enact it in practice each time I interact with a student.

[George]

#2831

Gender- There are a couple of instances when the female student goes into a crying session throwing the male supervisor completely off. (I had to call a female colleague to handle the crying before we proceeded. It turns out that the spouse was putting pressure on the wife to finish fast!)

Socioeconomic class- postgraduate is expensive! Speed may be determined by capacity to spend e.g. on field work, printing… Students with resources may be able to therefore work faster

Communication style- There are students who take eons to respond to comments and want instant feedback once they submit

Status- there are instances where students in “positions” such as a politician or administrator get into the postgraduate program and find it difficult to ‘take instructions’ from the supervisor. Often we end up with a stalemate

Knowledge- the most challenging student is one who believes they are more knowledgeable than the supervisor and are going through the motions of the program just to get the certificate. Very difficult to give suggestions to such persons. I have known supervisors who abandon the student at the Viva Voce

Topic/Field -new fields are always emerging and supervisors need to accept that the candidate may be more at ease in it since they are doing current research. One needs to look for a co-supervisor who is able to appreciate such novel research fields

Personality – this often happens when the a supervisor has been ‘imposed’ on a student or the student and supervisor have very different ways of approaching issues. It needs to be resolved early otherwise the student gets stuck in a rut

Nationality- we tend to have stereotypes. This may affect how we relate to each other e.g They are too slow; too arrogant; etc.This thus affects cross-border supervsion

Religion/Culture-I was once made to take on a student because he could not take instructions from the female supervisor. It was not overt. There are also students who will not work on Friday, Saturday or Sunday sincethese are days of worship which may rub some supervisors the wrong way

Age- This is an interesting issue especially when the students are advanced in age and the supervisor is pretty young! One may observe the supervisor pussy-footing around the student when giving comments

Language- different regions/people have different ways of language use. I remember the first time I was given direction in South Africa I was told “walk straight down until the first robot…” I never saw the “robot” but I was to learn later that these were Traffic Lights! And there are many other examples. The student and supervisor may not be communicating because of how they use language (especially if the language of instruction is a second language)

[Tom]

#2872

I take it that “gender” in this list also subsumes “sexuality.” In my country a lot is said about the sexual harassment of graduate students by their supervisors. Also discussed, though to a far lesser degree, is the equally unfair assistance given to graduate students by their supervisors as reward for “sexual cooperation.” It is alleged that in its most extreme this extra investment in the supervision process takes the form of the writing of the thesis by the supervisor. Related to all this is the supposedly safe but nonetheless sexist supervision that gives advantage to students of the supervisor’s gender. Extra meetings with such students do not, after all, attract suspicions of wrong doing.

[Rendani Mercy Makhwathana]

#2919

gender plays a role. some male supervisors look down on women. as a result males dominate the academic world. as a woman one has to push and work hard for recognition of one’s worth.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 8 months ago by Rendani Mercy Makhwathana.

[Kelly]

#3176

The issue of gender during my time was an issue of concern. I was having primary-school going children. They needed my attention in terms of assisting with homework and also teaching them how to wash dishes and pick up toys after use. My work station was far and the roles were new as a result of rationalization of colleges of education. New roles meant too much days of not doing my studies.

[Theodora]

#3260

I was fortunate not to have had any of the dynamics or variables mentioned affecting me when I was being supervised. I had a male supervisor who was very supportive with my studies. He made sure I got the bursary I needed for my studies. He was also a great mentor to me. Never did he make me feel incapable. He always encouraged me and told me that I could do it. When my work came back from external examination, some of the comments made me feel so bad about but he told me to take time and read over, give myself some break, think through the comments and consider revising the ones I can based on recommendations and provide justification for the ones that I cannot. Overall, I had a good supervision experience for which I am grateful.

[Joram]

#3403

All these dynamics do impact on the supervision.The question of race came in during my MPhil supervision as an international student in Britain. There was often the reminder by my supervisors that i needed to “write well’ and be ‘audible’. This was a masked reminder that I was not a native speaker,was not good in English and I had to proof myself.Age was a dynamic in PhD supervision. My supervisor had taught me at undergraduate and his reference to me as ‘a young turk’ was both an encouragement that I had the ability but was in a different age bracket.

[Nosiphiwe]

#3529

Being a female, young, and black.
Being young and female is challenging for example when you supervise the people that you are almost the same age as the students fail to draw the line between the supervisor and the student. One fails to have an authoritative voice. There are very few young female black south African academic in my field and because of that the field becomes cold and isolated.

[Author]

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