Emotional Dimensions of Supervision

In this chapter, we look more closely at how academic supervision involves not only aspects such as how to improve a particular piece of writing or how to get students to think through and reflect on their choices but also emotional dimensions. As our own and previous research has shown, both writing and supervising degree projects can be emotionally charged processes, often characterised by, for example, uncertainty, worry and concern but also by joy, pride and relief. Based on the focus group interviews and recorded supervision sessions, we discuss how supervisors can manage the emotional aspects that may emerge in the supervision context, including both supervisors’ and students’ uncertainty and apprehension. We explore this from three main perspectives in relation to student independence and academic literacies. Firstly, how supervisors may work in practice to manage students’ uncertainty and apprehension, for example by trying to make them feel more confident about their potential to produce a piece of academic work at a particular level, which is often uncharted territory for students. Secondly, how emotions can potentially serve as a pedagogical tool, but that this depends on supervisors’ attitudes towards the role of emotions in supervision and how they handle the emotions expressed by students in supervision interactions. Thirdly, we look at possible insecurity among supervisors and how this can be managed, for example, by introducing collective and collegial aspects into the supervision process.