The doctoral thesis and supervision: the student perspective

The doctoral thesis constitutes both a negotiation of the supervision relationship as well as mastery and skill in participating in a specific community of practice: Two models of supervision are discussed: the technical rationality model with its emphasis on technical aspects of supervision, and the negotiated order model with an emphasis on negotiation of the supervision process. We discuss some of the challenges and experiences that we experienced as doctoral candidates, and the significance of these experiences for cultivating professional selfhood. More significantly, we discuss these processes in relation to the even more subtle and crucial process of mastering one's discursive community of practice. This mastery of one's community of practice constitutes a part of a broader process of 'enculturation' signalling the beginning (and not the end) of active participation in the broader discursive community.