Silence is golden: using ‘safe words’ to promote research student ownership in supervisory meetings

Clements, Andrew James; Kinman, Gail

dc.contributor.author	Clements, Andrew James	en
dc.contributor.author	Kinman, Gail	en
dc.date.accessioned	2017-03-17T10:01:20Z
dc.date.available	2017-03-17T10:01:20Z
dc.date.issued	2017-03
dc.identifier.citation	Clements, A.J., Kinman, G.(2017) 'Silence is golden: using ‘safe words’ to promote research student ownership in supervisory meetings'. Journal of pedagogic development 7 (1) 3-7	en
dc.identifier.issn	2047-3265
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10547/622065
dc.description.abstract	The quality of supervisory relationships has a significant impact on research students’ ability to successfully attain their goals. One risk factor is contrasting expectations of the role of the supervisory team. We report a case where we became aware firstly, that a student may have different expectations to us (as supervisors) relating to the level of independence that we expected from them and secondly, that we had unwittingly enabled a passive approach which masked the student’s ability. We subsequently describe a strategy we developed, based on the use of ‘safe words,’ for ensuring that the student’s contributions took centre stage during supervisory meetings. Also considered is how this practice allowed us to make a more accurate assessment of their abilities as well as enabling us to form recommendations to help the student develop their ideas more independently.
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.publisher	University of Bedfordshire	en
dc.relation.url	https://journals.beds.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/jpd/issue/viewIssue/29/7	en
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/	*
dc.subject	autonomy	en
dc.subject	supervision	en
dc.subject	supervisory relationships	en
dc.subject	learner independence	en
dc.subject	safe words	en
dc.title	Silence is golden: using ‘safe words’ to promote research student ownership in supervisory meetings	en
dc.type	Article	en
dc.contributor.department	University of Bedfordshire	en
dc.identifier.journal	Journal of pedagogic development	en
html.description.abstract	The quality of supervisory relationships has a significant impact on research students’ ability to successfully attain their goals. One risk factor is contrasting expectations of the role of the supervisory team. We report a case where we became aware firstly, that a student may have different expectations to us (as supervisors) relating to the level of independence that we expected from them and secondly, that we had unwittingly enabled a passive approach which masked the student’s ability. We subsequently describe a strategy we developed, based on the use of ‘safe words,’ for ensuring that the student’s contributions took centre stage during supervisory meetings. Also considered is how this practice allowed us to make a more accurate assessment of their abilities as well as enabling us to form recommendations to help the student develop their ideas more independently.