After many years as supervisor and promoter of numerous theses Prof Yusef Waghid, Distinguished professor in the Department of Education Policy Studies at Stellenbosch University has penned down what he has learnt about the process of doctoral supervision.
At the launch of his latest book Dancing with doctoral encounters: Democratic education in motion Prof Waghid explained why he chose to approach the subject as he did, likening his supervision of candidates – each with their own ideas – and their unique relationships to a dance.
"There is no blueprint for doctoral supervision and I didn't want to produce a recipe," he said. "I wanted to discuss my encounters with students and share what I know about doctoral supervision.
"All students are different. They think differently, approach things differently. How could one produce one guide for diverse students?" he asked.
Some of the students Prof Waghid has supervised and who feature in this book are Dr Nuraan Davids, lecturer in the Department of Education Policy Studies, Prof Berté van Wyk, chair of the Department of Education Policy Studies, Dr Beryl Botman, wife of the late rector Prof Russel Botman and Prof Jerome Slamat, Executive Manager: Rectorate at SU.
Prof Waghid explains in the preface of the book that his "understanding of an encounter is one whereby students and academics connect with and experience one another with their otherness – that is, their differences, similarities, points of agreement, attachment and detachment from social, professional, and cultural views."
In the book's foreword Prof Christine Mayer of the Faculty of Education at Hamburg University in Germany points out that the term encounter also takes "into consideration the influence and intellectual profit that the candidates and their 'doctoral journeys' offer for the scholarly growth and endeavours of their promoter" implying that doctoral supervision is not a one-way process.
"With this endeavour to explore doctoral supervisions as a democratic encounter, the author leaves the well-worn path of traditional guides for doctoral students," she continues.
"This book not only provides useful theoretical understanding of a neglected field of pedagogical practice in higher education, it also offers useful impulses, guidance and challenges for those seeking to better promote doctoral students and candidates."
According to Prof Waghid the book could not have come at a more appropriate time.
He writes in his foreword that it allows him "to sit back and do some serious introspection on the pedagogical work I have been engaged with and for which I have been rewarded in several ways: emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually."
