15-29. 1435-1459. AQF 2011, 297-314. 3. 62-69.
23
times. If a candidate is feeling low because of a rejection from a journal, the supervisor might encourage them to think about other times when they have had to cope with rejection, how
they coped with it then, and how they might use that experience to help them this time. There are times when candidates begin to lose their self-
belief. The supervisor’s belief in them helps them to renew their commitment and their effort.
CONCLUSION This paper has argued that a coaching approach lends itself to the support of the doctoral
candidate in successful completion of their thesis. Having identified key challenges in doctoral supervision as completion, candidate autonomy and quality of thinking, the
contribution of this paper is to show that similar issues are addressed in coaching, and indicating where coaching can be used effectively in doctoral supervision by encouraging a
focus on goals, developing the candidate’s autonomy and challenging the candidate’s thinking in a positive way. Further research is needed into the extent to which coaching skills are
already used by supervisors, as well as an evaluation of the effectiveness of coaching in doctoral supervision on completion rates, autonomy and quality of thesis,
and on supervisors’ and candidates’ experience. Observations of supervision sessions are rare, but would provide
stronger evidence than self-reports. The potential for coaching to contribute to doctoral supervision appears strong. If empirical research demonstrates the effectiveness of coaching
in this context, more supervisors are likely to adopt this approach.
Acknowledgements
My sincere thanks to the editor for her encouragement, and to the two anonymous referees for their invaluable feedback. My thanks go also to my doctoral students and co-supervisors, from whom I have
learned so much.
REFERENCES Abiddin, NA Ismail, A 2011
, ‘Attrition and completion issues in postgraduate studies for student development
’,
International Review of Social Sciences and Humanities