Excellence in teaching
Professor Patricia Crawford of the Department of History won an Excellence in Postgraduate Supervision Award in 1994. The award represents a joint effort by the Postgraduate Students' Association, the Guild and the University in recognising excellence in postgraduate supervision. Professor Crawford has worked at UWA for over 30 years and specialises in 16th and 17th century English history and in feminist history.
A supervisor needs to have a flexible model of working with postgraduate students: one approach does not suit all students. At the outset, I think it is important to clarify mutual expectations, and to negotiate, so that student and supervisor are clear about what each expects of the other. For example, I say to my students that I expect to meet with them regularly, but that the timing and duration of meetings may vary over the three years of a PhD. At the early stages, we may meet weekly; later, when students are writing up completed chapters, fortnightly or even monthly meetings are preferable. Students can expect of me that I will assist them to complete their theses by the due date; to help them to plan the work overall, apportion time and help them to monitor progress. I will endeavour to read any drafts promptly, and to make constructive comments on their work. I encourage them to see the research and writing as closely related, and to write about their own ideas and questions. Nothing is more disheartening than the sight of two years' of notes, and no thesis drafts. I am also interested in students' career development, advising them about useful skills they should acquire, teaching employment which may assist their careers, and valuable academic paper giving and publication. I try to help each student to focus on successful completion within three years of a PhD: too many students find that the scholarship runs out before the thesis is complete, and they are forced to seek employment, which delays completion even further. I believe that supervisors have a duty to insist upon completion within the scholarship funding to students, and to help them to monitor their progress. If things are not working too well, a supervisor should be prepared to think of other ways in which the student may find support. In the end, the thesis belongs to the student, and successful completion is the responsibility of the student. Supervision in history is a process of dialogue: one that can be enormously rewarding for both student and supervisor. |
Postgraduate supervision in the Arts Faculty is very different from that in the Sciences. In the Sciences, students work on projects which may not be of their own devising; supervisors are closely involved with each day's research; writing up takes place in the last few months. In the Social Sciences and Humanities, students usually choose and develop their own thesis topics; they work largely independently; and writing is part of the project from the first few months onwards.