Susan Mowbray - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Susan Mowbray
Studies in higher education, Jan 1, 2011
The question of doctoral impact is particularly pressing given the growing push in many countries... more The question of doctoral impact is particularly pressing given the growing push in many countries to monitor and measure the impact of publicly funded research and doctoral education. However, the impacts of the doctorate are not straightforward in an era of rapid, global transformations in the profile of doctoral students and programs, aspirations and career paths of graduates, and diverse institutional, social, economic, political and policy contexts.
Some of these issues are surveyed in this introductory essay to illuminate the contextual complexities of the doctorate and to set the scene for the articles that follow. The essay comprises four components. Part 1: ‘Why is the question of impact important at this particular historical moment?’ provides an overview of recent directions in policy thinking about research impact. Part 2: ‘Some challenges in theorising doctoral impact in the twenty-first century’ discusses the changes to the doctorate around the world during recent decades to illustrate some of the challenges of theorising doctoral impact in a rapidly changing fields of academic endeavour. Part 3: ‘(Re)theorising the impact of the doctorate’ examines some of the trends and implications of current constructions and categories of doctoral impact. Part 4: ‘Future directions’ provides an overview of the contributions to this special issue and the challenges they pose in thinking about the impact of the doctorate.
This paper describes a process in which early childhood professionals, who were novice researcher... more This paper describes a process in which early childhood professionals, who were novice researchers, engaged in their own research projects in collaboration with academics through a practitioner inquiry group. The aim of the project was to introduce the concepts and practices of practitioner enquiry, and learn about, plan and implement a self-initiated change project in consultation with academics. The paper details how a group of teachers succeeded in sustaining a community of practice that promoted teacher professionalism and change. Research has previously called for a shift in professional habitus and raised concerns about the value of teacher learning groups, the dispositions of teachers to call on academic research, and by implication, the desire to work actively with academics. Here we draw upon empirical data to raise the hope that the enablement and dissemination of collaborative change-focused research projects, while challenging, may provide viable avenues for successful teacher change.
In the last two decades, interest in doctoral education has prompted wide-ranging debate among st... more In the last two decades, interest in doctoral education has prompted wide-ranging
debate among stakeholders on the purposes of doctoral education in general, and the
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in particular. Although this swelling interest has
triggered an exponential growth in research and literature on doctoral education and
the PhD, an integrated theorisation of students’ perspectives of the impacts that occur
during the PhD process has not yet been developed. The aim of this thesis is to
address this gap in knowledge. Using grounded theory methodology and methods,
the research examined the impacts of the PhD process from the perspective of 23
full-time students attending a large metropolitan university in Sydney, Australia.
Through the simultaneous processes of data collection, constant comparison and
theory generation, learning emerged as the core impact of the PhD process across the
different contexts, conditions and circumstances of students’ candidature. This
learning comprised seven sub-categories: personal resourcefulness, intellectual
understandings, research skills, workplace and career management, leadership and
organisation, communication (written and oral) and project management. Working
inductively and deductively (abductively) generated insights into relationships
between the categories of learning that emerged from the data and Aristotle’s
concept of intellectual virtues. From the processes of exploring and constantly
comparing these inter-relationships, this thesis proposes that the learning students
experienced as impacts of the PhD process can be theorised as the acquisition of the
intellectual virtues of phronesis, sophia and technè. Specifically, through the
complex processes involved in undertaking a PhD, students develop the personal
resourcefulness to accumulate phronesis (practical knowledge), enhance their
cognition to acquire sophia (intellectual knowledge), and obtain the intellectual
virtue of technè (productive knowledge) by developing their research, workplace and
career management, leadership, and organisational, communication (written and
oral), and project management skills.
It is proposed that theorising the PhD process as the acquisition of intellectual virtues
offers a more comprehensive and integrated insight into the impacts that occur
during the processes of the PhD.
Higher Education Research & …, Jan 1, 2010
In the past decade there has been a marked push for the development of employability skills to be... more In the past decade there has been a marked push for the development of employability skills to be part of the PhD process. This push is generally by stakeholders from above and outside the PhD process i.e. government and industry, who view skills as a summative product of the PhD. In contrast, our study interviewed stakeholders inside the PhD process; twenty final year, full time Australian PhD students; to provide a bottom-up perspective into the skills debate. Using grounded theory procedures, we theorise the skills students develop during the PhD as a formative developmental process of acquiring intellectual virtues. Drawing on Aristotelian theory, we propose that theorising the PhD as a process of acquiring intellectual virtues offers a more robust and conceptually richer framework for understanding students’ development during the PhD than the instrumental focus on skills evident in contemporary debates.
This study makes a start in addressing the under representation of Australian research into the l... more This study makes a start in addressing the under representation of Australian research into the lives of teachers in relation to the factors that sustain the commitment of long-serving teachers to the teaching profession. The study purposely seeks to re-position teachers from “mere recipient(s) of policy and research done elsewhere” (Lingard, 2001, p.1) by privileging the little heard, little explored and little acknowledged voice of an experienced female teacher (Sikes, 1985). The data collection and analysis comprises two parts: an analysis of a purposive sample of national and State public policy review documents related to retaining and sustaining teachers in the profession and an in-depth, life history case study of the life and work of one long serving, female, Australian primary school teacher who has been publicly acknowledged as a ‘teacher of excellence’. The analysis illuminates the congruence and dissonance between the factors that public policy review documents identify as sustaining the commitment to teach and the professional and personal factors that sustain one teacher’s commitment to teach. The findings of the study indicate that bureaucratic agendas need to include teachers’ professional knowledge and skills as part of public policy reviews to ensure that the directions Australia takes to sustain (and attract and retain) teachers in the teaching profession are relevant to the unique context of Australia.
Studies in higher education, Jan 1, 2011
The question of doctoral impact is particularly pressing given the growing push in many countries... more The question of doctoral impact is particularly pressing given the growing push in many countries to monitor and measure the impact of publicly funded research and doctoral education. However, the impacts of the doctorate are not straightforward in an era of rapid, global transformations in the profile of doctoral students and programs, aspirations and career paths of graduates, and diverse institutional, social, economic, political and policy contexts.
Some of these issues are surveyed in this introductory essay to illuminate the contextual complexities of the doctorate and to set the scene for the articles that follow. The essay comprises four components. Part 1: ‘Why is the question of impact important at this particular historical moment?’ provides an overview of recent directions in policy thinking about research impact. Part 2: ‘Some challenges in theorising doctoral impact in the twenty-first century’ discusses the changes to the doctorate around the world during recent decades to illustrate some of the challenges of theorising doctoral impact in a rapidly changing fields of academic endeavour. Part 3: ‘(Re)theorising the impact of the doctorate’ examines some of the trends and implications of current constructions and categories of doctoral impact. Part 4: ‘Future directions’ provides an overview of the contributions to this special issue and the challenges they pose in thinking about the impact of the doctorate.
This paper describes a process in which early childhood professionals, who were novice researcher... more This paper describes a process in which early childhood professionals, who were novice researchers, engaged in their own research projects in collaboration with academics through a practitioner inquiry group. The aim of the project was to introduce the concepts and practices of practitioner enquiry, and learn about, plan and implement a self-initiated change project in consultation with academics. The paper details how a group of teachers succeeded in sustaining a community of practice that promoted teacher professionalism and change. Research has previously called for a shift in professional habitus and raised concerns about the value of teacher learning groups, the dispositions of teachers to call on academic research, and by implication, the desire to work actively with academics. Here we draw upon empirical data to raise the hope that the enablement and dissemination of collaborative change-focused research projects, while challenging, may provide viable avenues for successful teacher change.
In the last two decades, interest in doctoral education has prompted wide-ranging debate among st... more In the last two decades, interest in doctoral education has prompted wide-ranging
debate among stakeholders on the purposes of doctoral education in general, and the
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in particular. Although this swelling interest has
triggered an exponential growth in research and literature on doctoral education and
the PhD, an integrated theorisation of students’ perspectives of the impacts that occur
during the PhD process has not yet been developed. The aim of this thesis is to
address this gap in knowledge. Using grounded theory methodology and methods,
the research examined the impacts of the PhD process from the perspective of 23
full-time students attending a large metropolitan university in Sydney, Australia.
Through the simultaneous processes of data collection, constant comparison and
theory generation, learning emerged as the core impact of the PhD process across the
different contexts, conditions and circumstances of students’ candidature. This
learning comprised seven sub-categories: personal resourcefulness, intellectual
understandings, research skills, workplace and career management, leadership and
organisation, communication (written and oral) and project management. Working
inductively and deductively (abductively) generated insights into relationships
between the categories of learning that emerged from the data and Aristotle’s
concept of intellectual virtues. From the processes of exploring and constantly
comparing these inter-relationships, this thesis proposes that the learning students
experienced as impacts of the PhD process can be theorised as the acquisition of the
intellectual virtues of phronesis, sophia and technè. Specifically, through the
complex processes involved in undertaking a PhD, students develop the personal
resourcefulness to accumulate phronesis (practical knowledge), enhance their
cognition to acquire sophia (intellectual knowledge), and obtain the intellectual
virtue of technè (productive knowledge) by developing their research, workplace and
career management, leadership, and organisational, communication (written and
oral), and project management skills.
It is proposed that theorising the PhD process as the acquisition of intellectual virtues
offers a more comprehensive and integrated insight into the impacts that occur
during the processes of the PhD.
Higher Education Research & …, Jan 1, 2010
In the past decade there has been a marked push for the development of employability skills to be... more In the past decade there has been a marked push for the development of employability skills to be part of the PhD process. This push is generally by stakeholders from above and outside the PhD process i.e. government and industry, who view skills as a summative product of the PhD. In contrast, our study interviewed stakeholders inside the PhD process; twenty final year, full time Australian PhD students; to provide a bottom-up perspective into the skills debate. Using grounded theory procedures, we theorise the skills students develop during the PhD as a formative developmental process of acquiring intellectual virtues. Drawing on Aristotelian theory, we propose that theorising the PhD as a process of acquiring intellectual virtues offers a more robust and conceptually richer framework for understanding students’ development during the PhD than the instrumental focus on skills evident in contemporary debates.
This study makes a start in addressing the under representation of Australian research into the l... more This study makes a start in addressing the under representation of Australian research into the lives of teachers in relation to the factors that sustain the commitment of long-serving teachers to the teaching profession. The study purposely seeks to re-position teachers from “mere recipient(s) of policy and research done elsewhere” (Lingard, 2001, p.1) by privileging the little heard, little explored and little acknowledged voice of an experienced female teacher (Sikes, 1985). The data collection and analysis comprises two parts: an analysis of a purposive sample of national and State public policy review documents related to retaining and sustaining teachers in the profession and an in-depth, life history case study of the life and work of one long serving, female, Australian primary school teacher who has been publicly acknowledged as a ‘teacher of excellence’. The analysis illuminates the congruence and dissonance between the factors that public policy review documents identify as sustaining the commitment to teach and the professional and personal factors that sustain one teacher’s commitment to teach. The findings of the study indicate that bureaucratic agendas need to include teachers’ professional knowledge and skills as part of public policy reviews to ensure that the directions Australia takes to sustain (and attract and retain) teachers in the teaching profession are relevant to the unique context of Australia.