Concluding Findings and Reflections

In this final chapter we summarise our main findings and conclude with some reflections and advice on how supervisors might think and work to develop their supervision practice, both individually and collectively. We return to the main themes of the book: academic literacies and student independence, and discuss the importance of seeing degree project supervision as a social and collegial practice. We raise the issue of power relations and supervisors’ independence in relation to how higher education in general, and degree project supervision as a practice, is regulated by governing documents at various levels. Finally, we highlight three aspects of supervision that we believe, based on our research, are important for supervisors to carry with them in their work. First, the importance of reflecting on one’s own supervisory practice and the norms and ideals on which it is based. Secondly, the importance of discussing academic writing and thesis supervision collegially, as there are aspects of writing and supervising a degree project that are often implicit and taken for granted, even though they are indeed quite complex. Thirdly, we emphasise the importance of communicating with students, both about the practical aspects of the degree project process and about the role of the supervisor and the relationship between supervisor and student.