Cross-Cultural Supervision Amidst A Generational Shift

• Authors: Mirek Dymitrow

Abstracts

EN

Aim. This paper sets out to draw on my experience as a Sweden-based academic supervisor who is also active in Poland to reflect on the issue of cross-cultural supervision amidst a presumed generational shift that goes on in Poland. Split between stories of a destructive hierarchy and non-transparency in Polish academia on the one hand, and of an emergent “West-minded” reorientation on the other, this paper looks into the cultural idiosyncrasies that have made supervision in Poland tricky for me, if not outright difficult. Methods. This paper focuses on the perspectives of ten active PhD supervisors based in Poland. Using questionnaires and interviews the respondents were asked to reflect upon whether a generational shift is underway. This was done by comparing the ideals, attitudes, and behaviours of their past supervisors to those of their own. The results were then analysed through a set of challenges common in cross-cultural supervision and compared to the Swedish context. Results. The findings point to a possible gap between self-assessment of the respondents as progressive and the regressive practices that seem to linger and impact the students. Conclusion. A tentative conclusion is that the long-awaited generational shift in Poland has not yet fully taken root. This is further reflected in how markedly different the culture of supervision in Poland still is from the culture practised in Sweden. Cognitive value. The paper points to the difficulty of breaking free from the routines inherited from one’s past-generation supervisors. It also emphasises the benefits of cross-cultural supervision, given that shifts within cultural practices are difficult to perceive and implement while operating within a single cultural ecosystem.

Keywords

EN

generational shift; cross-cultural supervision; Poland; Sweden; culture of supervision

• Publisher: Fundacja Pro Scientia Publica
• Journal: Journal of Education Culture and Society
• Year: 2022
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 53-64

Dates

published

2022

Contributors

author

Mirek Dymitrow

• Department of Human Geography, Lund University

References

• Barron, M., Cobo, C., Munoz-Najar, A., & Sanchez Ciarrusta, I. (2021). The changing role of teachers and technologies amidst the COVID 19 pandemic: Key findings from a cross-country study. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
• Brodin, E., Lindén, J., Sonesson, A., & Lindberg-Sand, Å (2016). Forskarhandledning i teori och praktik [PhD supervision in theory and practice]. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
• Collins, H., & Evans, R. (2008). Rethinking expertise. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Dimitrov, N. (2008). Navigating supervision across cultures. Ottawa: University Affairs.
• Dimitrov, N. (2009). Western guide to mentoring graduate students across cultures. Purple Guides, 4, 1–56.
• Dymitrow, M. (2020). Introducing “captaining”: How to best combine group work with individual achievement within higher education examination. Journal of Pedagogical Research, 4(1), 57–70.
• Finkelstein, M. J., Seal, R. K., Schuster, J. H. (1998). The new academic generation: A profession in transformation. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Fook, J. (2011). ‘Developing critical reflection as a research method’. In Higgs J., Titchen A., Horsfall D., Bridges D. (Eds.), Creative spaces for qualitative researching. Practice, education, work and society (pp. 55–64). Rotterdam: SensePublishers.
• Huang, F., Finkelstein, M., & Rostan, M. (2014). The internationalization of the academy: Changes, realities and prospects. Dordrecht: Springer.
• Kobylarek, A. (2016). Seven cardinal sins of science. Journal of Education Culture and Society, 7(2), 5–8.
• Kobylarek, A. (2017). The Polish Humboldtian university in the face of paradigmatic change. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Kwiek, M. (2012). Changing higher education policies: From the deinstitutionalization to the reinstitutionalization of the research mission in Polish universities. Science and Public Policy 35(5), 641–654.
• Kwiek, M. (2014). Structural changes in the Polish higher education system (1990–2010): A synthetic view. European Journal of Higher Education,4(3), 266–280.
• Kwiek, M. (2017). A generational divide in the academic profession: A mixed quantitative and qualitative approach to the Polish case. European Educational Research Journal, 16(5), 645–669.
• Näslund, J. (2007). ‘Socialpsykologiska aspekter på makt i handledningen’ [Socio-psychological aspects of power within supervision]. In T. Kroksmark & K. Åberg (Eds.), Handledning I pedagogiskt arbete (pp. 165–178). Linköping: Linköping University.
• Nilsson, J. E., & Anderson, M. Z. (2004). Supervising international students: The role of acculturation, role ambiguity, and multicultural discussions. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 35(3), 306–312.
• Norberg Brorsson, B., & Ekberg, K. (2012). Uppsatshandledning och skrivutveckling i högre utbildning : om det självständiga arbetet och skrivande i alla ämnen [Thesis supervision and writing development within higher education – On the individual work and writing withing all subjects]. Stockholm: Liber.
• Northrup, D. A. (1997). The problem of the self-report in survey research. Toronto: Institute for Social Research.
• Ryan, Y., & Zuber-Skerritt, O. (1999). Supervising postgraduates from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
• Thomas, D. A. (2013). Supervision with Asian counselling students: Cross-cultural supervision challenges. Vistas, 34, 1–10.
• Trowler, P., & Cooper, A. (2010). Teaching and learning regimes: Implicit theories and recurrent practices in the enhancement of teaching and learning through educational development programmes. Higher Education Research & Development, 21(3), 221–240.
• Wisker, G. (2015). The challenges of supervising students from other countries. Times Higher Education. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/challenges-supervising-students-other-countries.

Identifiers

DOI

10.15503/jecs2022.1.53.64

Biblioteka Nauki

18055635