A postgraduate supervisor is a combination of an academic guide, a project advisor, a quality assurer and a pastoral supporter (Smith, 2013). In my experience, I aspire to embrace all four roles. I have graduated 56 postgraduate students so far, the majority at Masters and Honours levels. Over time, I have realised that I have used various supervision models. I have solely supervised two PhD studies and five others with colleagues, and currently, I am guiding eight doctoral students through their studies alone and cosupervising three others. I mention this because, despite critiques of the apprenticeship model of supervision (see McKenna, 2017; Nkoane, 2014), I still find significant value in it. The apprenticeship model, also known as the one-on-one model, the ‘Oxbridge model’, and the ‘tutorship’ model (see Kiley, 2017; Dominguez-Whitehead & Maringe, 2020), considers a candidate having one supervisor who guides them through the entire doctoral journey and on, occasion brings in a co-supervisor to plug an expertise gap if needed. I have a large supervision load, but I enjoy working with the students and making time for feedback. In my discipline, there is an informal term called ‘coffee diplomacy’, and it refers to how the real diplomatic work takes place in the corridors, away from the conventional workspace, during coffee breaks and usually with a cup of coffee in hand. In my case, I can speak of coffee ‘supervision’ as most of my supervision occurs in coffee shops, over breakfast or lunch in more informal environments. I have found that my students prefer this more relaxed atmosphere. I remember how I felt as a student, and I bring that into my supervision style because a student can feel more like a researcher of their subject than a student sitting in a lecturer’s office. I aim to provide the researchers/students with disciplinary and methodological guidance, a safe space to fail and to improve, constructive and positive reinforcement and enthusiasm. I like giving detailed feedback in my supervision, but I adjust my style depending on the type of researcher or student. Successful supervision of postgraduate students requires higher order thinking and deep approaches to teaching and learning, and this often poses challenges to both students and supervisors (de Lange et al., 2011). Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching Innovation Projects 2024 30
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