Teaching and learning in the supervision of Mäori doctoral students

Research project fact sheet

 Principal investigators

  • Associate Professor Elizabeth McKinley, Ngäti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa/Kaitahu (The University of Auckland)

  • Dr Barbara Grant (The University of Auckland)

Associate investigators

  • Professor Sue Middleton (Waikato University)

  • Dr Kathie Irwin, Rakaipaaka, Ngati Kahungunu, Ngati Porou (Te Puni Kōkiri)

  • Emeritus Professor Les R. Tumoana Williams, Rongowhakaata, Ngäti Maru (Ngä Pae o Te Märamatanga)

 Acknowledgments

Advisory Group:

  • Assoc Prof Pare Keiha (AUT University)
  • Matiu Ratima (The University of Auckland)
  • Dr Adreanne Ormond (Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga)

Contact People
Liz McKinley, e.mckinley@auckland.ac.nz
Barbara Grant, bm.grant@auckland.ac.nz 

Focus of research

The primary goal for the research was to enhance our understanding of the supervision of Mäori doctoral candidates (from both students’ and supervisors’ perspectives) so as to improve outcomes for those candidates and their institutions. The research questions were:

  • How do Mäori doctoral students and their supervisors work together as teachers and learners in supervision?
  • How can supervision capability be improved to support better outcomes for Mäori doctoral students and their institutions?

 

Outputs for 2009

He Rautaki mo te Akoranga Kairangi - Strategies for Doctoral Studies.
These resource sheets are for doctoral students and offer advice on the following topics:

  1. The nature of doctoral supervision

  2. Reasons for doing a doctorate

  3. Choosing a research topic

  4. Choosing supervisors

  5. Getting cultural advice for your research

  6. Making the most of supervision meetings


2009 Publications

The publications submitted for this year include:

McKinley, E., Grant, B., Middleton, S., Irwin, K., Tumoana Williams, L.  (2009)  Supervision of Maori doctoral students: a descriptive report.  MAI Review 2009, 1 Article    6, 12pp, www.review.mai.ac.nz


Middleton, S. & McKinley, E. (accepted 22 November 2009) The gown and the korowai: Māori doctoral students and the spatial organisation of academic knowledge. Higher Education Research and Development.


Grant, B.M. (under review)  The limits of talking about ‘teaching and learning’: Accounts of supervision from indigenous doctoral students. Teaching in Higher Education.


Grant, B.M. (under review) Challenging Matters: Doctoral supervision in post-colonial sites. Acta Academica.


McKinley, E. et al.  (Under review)  Working the interface: Indigenous students engage in doctoral education.  Equity & excellence in Education.

 

2009 Conferences


Conferences attended by the investigators are as follows:


American Education Research Association (AERA) Conference, San Diego, 13-17 April.  Elizabeth McKinley presented a paper: To the highest degree: Mäori doctoral students’ experiences of supervision.


Postgraduate Supervision: Research and Practice, Stellenbosch University, 27-30 April. Barbara Grant presented an invited keynote: ‘Challenging matters: Accounts of doctoral supervision from indigenous students and settler supervisors’.


HERDSA Conference, Charles Darwin University, 6-9 July. Barbara Grant presented a paper: ‘Unnatural Selection? The civilising mission of doctoral education’.


AA/TLRI Colloquium Tertiary Research in Progress, 7 September.  Barbara Grant presented an update on TLRI-funded project: ‘Teaching and Learning in the Supervision of Māori Doctoral Students’.


MAI Doctoral Conference, Otago University/Karitane Marae, 8-11 October.  Liz McKinley & Barbara Grant presented the TLRI-funded research to current Māori Doctoral Students: ‘From Strength to Strength: Teaching and Learning in the Supervision of Māori Doctoral Students’.


British Education Research Association (BERA), University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, 2-5 September.  Sue Middleton & Elizabeth McKinley presented a paper: The gown and the korowai: Maori doctoral students and the spatial organisation of academic knowledge.


ATLAANZ Conference, Massey University Albany, 18 November. Liz McKinley & Barbara Grant presented the TLRI-funded research to student learning advisors, ‘Finding fitting pathways: Providing culturally responsive academic advising to Māori doctoral students’.


ASDUNZ Meeting, 26-27 November. Barbara Grant presented the TLRI-funded research to academic developers, ‘“The single biggest intellectual opportunity for the nation”: Preparing supervisors to work with Māori doctoral students’.