Pedagogical mentorship programme for doctoral students: Two pilot projects

For a number of years, we have seen a need for strengthening the pedagogical portfolios of doctoral students in our own subject English Studies and at the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology. Despite having relatively extensive teaching experience and having taken the the obligatory 3 credit pedagogical course, many of our recent PhDs have found it difficult to compete for teaching positions at Swedish universities. They have also needed quite a bit of guidance, when they have accepted positions as temporary or permanently employed lecturer. In this project, we are interested in exploring the possibility of establishing a pedagogical mentorship programme for doctoral students that would run parallel to, but not intrude on, the research supervision doctoral students receive. The aim has been to provide our doctoral students an education and all the skills that they need, so that they are competitive in the academic job market after graduation.

The project is divided into several stages. The first part aimed at formulating a plan for how such a pedagogical mentorship programme could look like, and set initial goals for its outcome. We were interested in finding bridges between the pedagogical courses at the Division for Higher Education Development (AHU) and the teaching experience that our doctoral students gain in the English Unit. As many doctoral students lack previous teaching experience when they start their education, the gap between the courses at AHU and the teaching tasks doctoral students are expected to perform has at times proven to be wide, and course moderators have needed to spend a lot of time introducing doctoral students (and other new teachers, such as postdocs) to the teaching and examination formats used in the various types of courses at our unit.

The second part of the project has meant piloting the model outlined above, together with eight doctoral students who are at relatively early(-sh) stages of their education. This project is currently ongoing.

As part of the mentoring model, we have also run a related, but separately financed, pilot project where doctoral students are taught to supervise and examine Bachelor's degree projects, by having them act as co-supervisors with an experienced supervisor. Degree project supervision is known to be a very strong merit in the academic job market, and providing doctoral students an opportunity to receive training in this will hopefully increase their employability, when they seek for employment after graduation.