Doctoral rhythms within an EdD: the case of group supervision

This paper explores the application and use of group supervision with doctoral candidates studying a professional doctorate, the EdD, at a teaching intensive university. Group supervision is applied as a pedagogical strategy during the module stage of the award with candidates who were advanced practitioners in their fields with several working at the Post’92 university in question. Group supervision is an emergent idea has not been well described in the literature either as a concept or a practice. This paper aims to contribute to understandings of group supervision and its potential value as a doctoral learning approach. Rhythmanalysis is used to explore students’ experiences of group supervision particularly the advantages for advanced professionals from education who are at an early stage in their research career. The paper highlights the importance of the exploration and production of ideas within the group supervision process such as the containing of anxiety, development of identities, grappling with theories and methodologies and the value of peer learning and mattering. Group supervision itself could also be described as a meta-supervision approach with the supervisor stepping in and out of the doctoral learning to articulate and justify what was happening in relation to future learning demands.