Troubling Knowledge: an exploration of the changing self-

perception of professional doctorate students

Linet Arthur & Ian SummerscalesOxford Brookes University

‘In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself in a dark wood where the straight way was lost.’

- Dante Inferno Canto 1.1

So I decided to do a professional doctorate.

Wellington and Sikes (2006) give examples of the factors which led students to doctoral study and their experience of it. The accounts offered are often redolent of mythical heroes’ journeys.

Starting identities

McAlpine and Lucas (2011, p. 704), writing about PhD students, suggest that “historical biographical experiences influence the variation in doctoral experience despite the common context of a doctoral programme”.

Multiple identities

Scholarly identity can be thought of and experienced as being distributed in multiple selves and contexts: indeed the product of multiple locations, encounters and interactions (Barnacle and Mewburn, 2010)

“Multiple integrities” (Drake and Heath, 2011, p. 31)

Crossouard and Pryor (2008) argue that identity formation is part of the process of learning on a professional doctorate

Negotiating different identities

The professional doctorate student “...has to negotiate between communities of practice, and within the various hybrid forms they may take. The student is required to be part of their practice setting and be conversant with the language, behaviour registers, and specific repertoires of that setting... At the same time they are required to gain entry to another setting, that of the discipline in which they are now working” (Scott et al, 2004, p.54f.).

Methodology

• Interpretivist• Interviews (7 so far) with students on the Oxford

Brookes EdD, which has 3 years of taught modules followed by 2 years on the thesis. Students include university lecturers, teachers, educational consultants

• Review of two assignments from the taught phase:– ‘Researching the ‘Real’ World 1’ (first year): students wrote

about their research journey to the EdD– The ‘Independent Doctoral Researcher’ (third year): students

reflected on their changing identities whilst participating in the EdD.

Scaffolding new knowledge• A 4th year student had considered doing

a PhD but found the process of writing the proposal without any help too daunting. “This course gives you structure so that the proposal is not overwhelming.”

• “One is only able to see what has been built at the end of the process” (3rd year assignment).

• “[T]heoretical perspectives acquired [during the early stages of the programme] raised awareness of underlying philosophical considerations and stimulated change” (3rd year assignment).

The Cohort Experience

Positive“Collegiality is huge” (4th year student interview)“Peer support has been enormous and invaluable” (4th year student interview)

The Cohort ExperienceMixed blessing“I was tired and depressed where I felt that I have fallen (sic.) into a deep trench, not knowing how long it takes to reach the surface again. Fear of failing created additional stress, the EdD which I started with passion started annoying me. I was in a dilemma and needed advice, but was not ready to discuss with my peers, advisors or colleagues as I was not sure how this would be perceived by them” (3rd year assignment).

The cohort experience

• One student “felt like an outsider” in the cohort (3rd year student interview).

• Another student said that she found it hard to get on with some of the cohort (2nd year student interview).

Paradigm shifts“Since the initial stages of the EdD programme I have been more comfortable with the constructivist than the positivist paradigm... I see my actions directed at constructing knowledge” (3rd year assignment).One interviewee, from a medical background, had never thought of undertaking any research outside a randomised control trial but is using an interpretivist approach for her thesis (4th year student interview).Another interviewee described shifting from a mixed methods, pragmatic methodology to an interpretivist one, no longer caring that it might not be popular within his work environment (3rd year student interview).

Supervisor vs student power• “Perhaps the supervisor is the

wise witch at the beginning and end who gives the instructions and the guidance, but lets you make some mistakes too that you may learn from?” (3rd year assignment)

• Another student suggested the need to “own the process of their knowledge and identity development” (3rd year assignment)

Doctoral take-over• “The intrusion of my doctorate into other

aspects of life, including the very early mornings, walks with the dog and critically, family and personal time must not be overlooked or underestimated” (3rd year assignment).

• Another student prevented this by “being selfish” and never volunteering for additional work (4th year student interview).

• A second year student said that not much happened in her life apart from the doctorate and work. Her partner initiated their social life (2nd year student interview).

Doctoral journey

The journey metaphor, never far distant, and “conjuring images of anticipation-inspired beginnings, trials and tribulations mastered and successfully achieved destinations. Containing shared elements, the doctoral journey is uniquely individual, providing an experience that affords the opportunity for students to tell, retell and ultimately own what becomes a significant part of themselves” (3rd year assignment)

Doctoral journey

• “Doctoral journeys can be immersive or therapeutic, both reflecting the lived experience embedded in the process” (3rd year assignment).

• One student described it as a “rite of passage” (3rd year student interview).

Doctoral identity

“Initially reluctant to share with others my student status, I have increasingly come to see this as an identity that significantly defines who I am. I have moved from seeing myself as a ‘covert EdD student’... to someone increasingly comfortable discussing my doctoral student role with colleagues and others within the university and academic community including students I teach” (3rd year assignment).

Doctoral identity• “The ‘research based self’ is the

next step taken on entering practice-based research in the workplace” (1st year assignment)

• “[P]atience, commitment, reflexivity and toil, features of doctoral identity that I am increasingly comfortable with” (3rd year assignment)

• “The EdD is challenging, stimulating and gave me back the will to live” (3rd year student interview)

Doctoral/Academic identity• One student described a

growing confidence in sharing opinions and judgements and being far less reticent in conversation and posting ideas online (3rd year student interview)

• An academic staff developer found it easier to teach other lecturers after starting the doctorate because he was identified as an academic (3rd year student interview).

Professional identity• One student acknowledged that the dual

aspect of being both a lecturer, teaching students at Masters level, whilst struggling to produce assignments for the EdD had created ‘multiple identities’ (3rd year assignment).

• Another described a “two-way process” between work as an academic and study on the EdD (3rd year student interview).

• Another saw the EdD as a way of “catching up” with other university staff, but also found her feedback to students had improved and the depth of her academic reading (4th year student interview).

Professional identityOne student felt that she now belonged to the research community in her subject area, but added that the EdD would not help her career: only a PhD in her subject area would have improved her career prospects (4th year student interview).Another felt that the EdD had strengthened her professional identity as a nurse educator (3rd year student interview).A second year student felt that her lecturing had become less mechanistic, more exploratory, personal and relational (2nd year student interview).

Multiple identities

“Informal conversations with family and friends, feedback on my writing from those whose opinions I value greatly and the distraction of exercise have influenced my sense of self as I seek to accommodate my adopted roles (husband, father, lecturer, nurse) my assigned role of student and the developing role of scholar” (3rd year assignment).

References• References• Barnacle, R. and Mewburn, I. (2010) Learning networks and the journey of ‘becoming doctor’.

Studies in Higher Education. 35(4) pp. 433-444• Batchelor, D. and Di Napoli, R. (2006) The Doctoral Journey: Perspectives. Educate. 6(1) pp.13-24.• Crossouard, B. and Pryor, J. (2008) Becoming researchers: a socio-cultural perspective on

assessment, learning and the construction of identity in a professional doctorate. Pedagogy, Culture and Society. 16(3) pp. 221-237.

• Drake, P. and Heath, L. (2011) Practitioner Research at Doctoral Level: Developing Coherent Research Methodologies. London: Routledge.

• Scott, D., Brown, A., Lunt, I. and Thorne, L. (2004) Professional Doctorates: Integrating Professional and Academic Knowledge. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

• Usher, R. (1997) Telling a story about research and research as story-telling: post-modern approaches to social research. in McKenzie, G., Powell, J. and Usher, R. (1997) (eds) Understanding Social Research: Perspectives on Methodology and Practice. London: Falmer Press.

• Wellington, J. and Sikes, P. (2006) ‘A doctorate in a tight compartment’: why do students choose a professional doctorate and what impact does it have on their personal and professional lives? Studies in Higher Education. 31(6) pp.723-734.