RESEARCH ON THE IDENTITY OF PROFESSIONAL DOCTORATE STUDENTS
LORD, J; PARR, E; RAYNER, S; and SHARKEY, R
I'm very lucky to have some committed, thoughtful and insightful colleagues and friends; we've been doing this research for some time now - here is the extended abstract we submitted to the UKCGE conference in Cardiff April 2014.
An investigation into the development of professional doctorate student identities
The authors of this paper are current professional doctorate students at the University of Manchester. As we have progressed through the programme, we have experienced significant changes in our professional identities. We aim through this enquiry to conceptualize those changes, to understand better the symbiotic relationship between our identities as researchers and as practitioners, and to contribute our findings to the University's review of the EdD programme.
This study builds on previous work on the development of professional identity and also on literatures concerning the fluidity and hybridity of identity to conceptualize the symbiotic relationship between our lives as professionals and as researchers. An understanding of this relationship and of the processes which have been and are involved in the shaping of our identities as researchers and as professionals is empowering for us as individuals and useful for those involved in facilitating the learning of doctoral students.
Our key research question is:- ‘How are the identities of professional doctorate students shaped by their pedagogic, discursive and social experiences?’ Specifically:
1. How significant is each of the range of activities that form the Manchester EdD programme in supporting students’ academic and professional development?
2. What is students’ experience of the “peer support network” that is one of the stated aims of the programme?
3. How might the programme be reviewed so that it is more effective in meeting the needs of a diverse cohort of students?
The key themes are identified through participants’ reflections and further investigated in semi-structured interviews, a reflective card sorting task and a focus group, using a narrative methodology.
Our findings contribute both to the review of the programme and to our knowledge about how professional identities are understood and articulated. From the first phase of data collection we learn that most of the activities that constitute the "taught" programme at the Manchester Institute of Education are considered to be important to most participants in the development of their identity both as practitioners and as researchers. Some activities are explicit components of the programme, others are introduced - with varying degrees of emphasis and encouragement from the supervisory team - as aspects of "what it means to be a doctoral student". The most significant influences on identity development are perceived by participants to be the taught programme, the one-to-one relationship with supervisors, and what participants understand by "engagement beyond the local research community". Taught sessions are particularly valued when they invite active participation and critical thinking from students. The use of communication technology and online learning, however, is almost unanimously found to have been of little or no significance and is cited as a cause of some frustration.
Drawing on a conceptual framework based on the work of Wenger, we elicit a range of responses from participants as they reflect on the interplay of influences on their identity. We find that participants relate strongly to one or more of the modes of identification in ‘landscapes of practice’ (engagement, imagination and alignment) when positioning learning (Wenger, 2010). This is to say that learning is deeply located in the relationship between the individual and their practices both within the EdD community and across its boundaries. However, where participants also relate less strongly to a feature, it is for some students because they do not regard it as an important component of their developing identity. Others believe that they have not yet reached that stage as doctoral students. We shall explore this in further research. On the whole, participants resist any claim that the "landscape" represents a hierarchy or progression; rather, these features form a three-dimensional conceptual map where interconnections between modes of identification are linked in multiple and complex ways. This reiterates Wenger's idea that imagination, alignment and engagement all interact both within practices and across the boundaries between them.
We have also found the work of Margaret Archer (e.g. 2009) useful in considering the data from our participants. Part of the identity work which our participants do concerns negotiating the rather unclear links and interplay between agency and structure; an area which is not yet clearly problematized in the field of education. We suggest that many of our participants engage in one of Archer’s ideal modes of reflexivity and are meta-reflexives, using their internal conversations and reflexivity to guide their actions; their ideas and commitments at one moment in time are used in considering the sifting options available, hence changing and conditioning the kind of people they become over time.
Our contribution through this paper is to examine the relationship between the espoused aims of a programme and how this interplays with the professional learning and agency of students. Importantly we show the complexity and non-linearity of learning, and how the bespoke approach to research design and the writing of research papers enables and supports this.
The next stage of our work will involve the staff team of the EdD as we ask them to engage with our participants’ ideas and reflections about the programme and its impact on identity, and to provide their own reflections about this process in relation to the stated aims of the programme.
The findings from this study can benefit both doctoral researchers and those who facilitate their learning. They also contribute to knowledge about the range of global approaches to professional and practice-led doctorates (e.g. Bourner et al., 2001) . Our research also forms the basis of a longer-term study of a cohort of doctoral researchers through and beyond their doctoral studies.
References
Archer, M. S. (ed.) (2009). Conversations about reflexivity. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge
Bourner, T., Bowden, R. & Laing, S. (2001). Professional Doctorates in England. Studies in Higher Education, 26, 65-83.
Wenger, E. (2010). Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems: the Career of a Concept. In: Blackmore, C. (ed.) Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice. London: Springer
An investigation into the development of professional doctorate student identities
The authors of this paper are current professional doctorate students at the University of Manchester. As we have progressed through the programme, we have experienced significant changes in our professional identities. We aim through this enquiry to conceptualize those changes, to understand better the symbiotic relationship between our identities as researchers and as practitioners, and to contribute our findings to the University's review of the EdD programme.
This study builds on previous work on the development of professional identity and also on literatures concerning the fluidity and hybridity of identity to conceptualize the symbiotic relationship between our lives as professionals and as researchers. An understanding of this relationship and of the processes which have been and are involved in the shaping of our identities as researchers and as professionals is empowering for us as individuals and useful for those involved in facilitating the learning of doctoral students.
Our key research question is:- ‘How are the identities of professional doctorate students shaped by their pedagogic, discursive and social experiences?’ Specifically:
1. How significant is each of the range of activities that form the Manchester EdD programme in supporting students’ academic and professional development?
2. What is students’ experience of the “peer support network” that is one of the stated aims of the programme?
3. How might the programme be reviewed so that it is more effective in meeting the needs of a diverse cohort of students?
The key themes are identified through participants’ reflections and further investigated in semi-structured interviews, a reflective card sorting task and a focus group, using a narrative methodology.
Our findings contribute both to the review of the programme and to our knowledge about how professional identities are understood and articulated. From the first phase of data collection we learn that most of the activities that constitute the "taught" programme at the Manchester Institute of Education are considered to be important to most participants in the development of their identity both as practitioners and as researchers. Some activities are explicit components of the programme, others are introduced - with varying degrees of emphasis and encouragement from the supervisory team - as aspects of "what it means to be a doctoral student". The most significant influences on identity development are perceived by participants to be the taught programme, the one-to-one relationship with supervisors, and what participants understand by "engagement beyond the local research community". Taught sessions are particularly valued when they invite active participation and critical thinking from students. The use of communication technology and online learning, however, is almost unanimously found to have been of little or no significance and is cited as a cause of some frustration.
Drawing on a conceptual framework based on the work of Wenger, we elicit a range of responses from participants as they reflect on the interplay of influences on their identity. We find that participants relate strongly to one or more of the modes of identification in ‘landscapes of practice’ (engagement, imagination and alignment) when positioning learning (Wenger, 2010). This is to say that learning is deeply located in the relationship between the individual and their practices both within the EdD community and across its boundaries. However, where participants also relate less strongly to a feature, it is for some students because they do not regard it as an important component of their developing identity. Others believe that they have not yet reached that stage as doctoral students. We shall explore this in further research. On the whole, participants resist any claim that the "landscape" represents a hierarchy or progression; rather, these features form a three-dimensional conceptual map where interconnections between modes of identification are linked in multiple and complex ways. This reiterates Wenger's idea that imagination, alignment and engagement all interact both within practices and across the boundaries between them.
We have also found the work of Margaret Archer (e.g. 2009) useful in considering the data from our participants. Part of the identity work which our participants do concerns negotiating the rather unclear links and interplay between agency and structure; an area which is not yet clearly problematized in the field of education. We suggest that many of our participants engage in one of Archer’s ideal modes of reflexivity and are meta-reflexives, using their internal conversations and reflexivity to guide their actions; their ideas and commitments at one moment in time are used in considering the sifting options available, hence changing and conditioning the kind of people they become over time.
Our contribution through this paper is to examine the relationship between the espoused aims of a programme and how this interplays with the professional learning and agency of students. Importantly we show the complexity and non-linearity of learning, and how the bespoke approach to research design and the writing of research papers enables and supports this.
The next stage of our work will involve the staff team of the EdD as we ask them to engage with our participants’ ideas and reflections about the programme and its impact on identity, and to provide their own reflections about this process in relation to the stated aims of the programme.
The findings from this study can benefit both doctoral researchers and those who facilitate their learning. They also contribute to knowledge about the range of global approaches to professional and practice-led doctorates (e.g. Bourner et al., 2001) . Our research also forms the basis of a longer-term study of a cohort of doctoral researchers through and beyond their doctoral studies.
References
Archer, M. S. (ed.) (2009). Conversations about reflexivity. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge
Bourner, T., Bowden, R. & Laing, S. (2001). Professional Doctorates in England. Studies in Higher Education, 26, 65-83.
Wenger, E. (2010). Communities of Practice and Social Learning Systems: the Career of a Concept. In: Blackmore, C. (ed.) Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice. London: Springer