James G. R. Cronin

The pandemic has highlighted a recurring theme of isolation amongst postgraduate students involved in research and, to a lesser extent, writing up their projects ( Fogarty, 2021;  Forrester, 2021;  IFERA, 2021). Lessons learned highlight the importance of the supervisor in mentoring students within the socialisation process of a discipline or professional practice.  As we reach the end of the academic journey for postgraduates, and as social restrictions begin to be lifted, here are six observations from my involvement with supervisory teams from September 2020 - September 2021. I wish to highlight the co- responsibility of supervisors and students within the process of disciplinary socialisation. This primarily involves relationship-building and fostering confidence. I will frame these six lessons within a particular view of disciplinary and professional practice supervision as a process of mentoring graduates as emerging "stewards of the discipline" (Golde, 2006)...

Will the effects of pandemic pedagogy accelerate learnification?  Gert Biesta ,  Dutch-born education philosopher  who is associated with the reclaiming teaching movement,  highlights that the discourse of “education” has become disconnected from “learning.” This shift began during the 1980s, accelerated as a consequence of the proliferation of educational technology over the past twenty years, and is likely to increase with data-gathering and extended reality becoming ubiquitous within educational systems. Biesta makes the point that language constructs reality and that the language of learning has privileged process , but has excluded questions of purpose and content and relationships within dynamic human interrelationships that should define teaching and learning (Biesta, 2012). The sole concern of learnification becomes the individualistic process of learning, rather than the purpose , context , and relationships that are central to education as both a ...