Supervisor training is best delivered by

Eclectic learning, formal opportunities (workshops, courses, seminars), with action research projects on supervisory practices, communities of practice (Huet and Casanova, 2021)

A framework for continual improvement

Using heutagogy as a framework for delivering cross-institutional mechanisms for engaging with PD, reflecting on practices, and developing a community of practice. Heutagogy is an ideal framework to consider this training- reliant as it is on autonomy and competence. There is an intrinsic motivation to learn and improve cf. first picture...and provides a structured pathway for learners to chart their individual journey (in a community of learners).

Online platform appropriate (adult learners to continue education; Moore 2020). Vigorous engagement with literature + communities of practice needed (Huet & Casanova 2021) and it should be cross-disciplinary (Guerin et al 2014). Self-reflection has been shown to lead to the largest behaviour change in supervisor practice (Kandlbinder, 2005).

This proposal

Online community. 6 week course, weekly sessions. Structured section at the beginning (to spark conversation), break out groups (with facilitator) in areas of interest. Reflective statements (paragraph or so) after each week to be posted to group website.

Suggest self-sorting into areas of interest following a list of 'provocative statements'. Ecology of Resources around ares of interest.

Functional: "I organise regular pair or small group meetings with a supervisor where students present findings."

Enculturation: "I believe they need to get in the lab straightaway, they learn more by doing practical work and then they will appreciate the literature."

Critical thinking: "They need to explain to me: 'why, what and how'."

Emancipation: "I act as a bridge between the knowledge and the student and eventually they don't need me."

Relationship development. "My supervisors are lifelong friends. I am still angry with the student who passed and dropped of the end of the earth after five years of working together."

Blaschke, L. M., & Hase, S. (2015). Heutagogy, Technology, and Lifelong Learning for Professional and Part-Time Learners. In A. Dailey-Hebert & K. S. Dennis (Eds.), Transformative Perspectives and Processes in Higher Education (pp. 75–94). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09247-8_5

Huet, I., & Casanova, D. (2021). Exploring the professional development of doctoral supervisors through workplace learning: A literature review. Higher Education Research & Development, 0(0), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2021.1877629

Laurillard, D. (2016). The educational problem that MOOCs could solve: Professional development for teachers of disadvantaged students. Research in Learning Technology, 24. https://doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v24.29369

Lee, A. (2007). Developing effective supervisors: Concepts of research supervision. Information Services, 21. https://doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v21i4.25690

Lee, A. (2008). How are doctoral students supervised? Concepts of doctoral research supervision. Studies in Higher Education, 33(3), 267–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070802049202

Lee, A. (2018). How can we develop supervisors for the modern doctorate? Studies in Higher Education, 43(5), 878–890. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2018.1438116

Mainhard, T., van der Rijst, R., van Tartwijk, J., & Wubbels, T. (2009). A model for the supervisor–doctoral student relationship. Higher Education, 58(3), 359–373. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-009-9199-8

Moore, R. L. (2020). Developing lifelong learning with heutagogy: Contexts, critiques, and challenges. Distance Education, 41(3), 381–401. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2020.1766949

Turner, G. (2015). Learning to supervise: Four journeys. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 52(1), 86–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703297.2014.981840