Abstract:
Research education has been dominated in recent years by policy-driven preoccupations with
doctoral completions, funding and contributions to the economy. This has led universities to focus
on enhanced institutional support for research degrees, with an emphasis on supervision, in particular
the training of supervisors, and provision of a richer environment for students. This article uses
examples from interviews with research students to show how the provision of a rich environment
is not in itself sufficient. A new discourse is needed so that students are able to take up opponunities
that are available. The article questions the current emphasis and argues that a new focus on pedagogy
is explicitly needed. It challenges the dominant focus on supervision and 'provisionism' and
suggests that a more appropriate pedagogic discourse should draw on the familiar notion of 'peer'
from the world of research. It argues that peer learning, appropriately theorized and situated within
a notion of communities of research practice, might be a productive frame through which to view
research education.
