The Seed Was Planted: Cultivating a Doctoral Student and Supervisor's Relationship Through a Retrospective Self-Study

• In Event: Continued Potential and Possibilities for Self-Study of Teacher Education

Abstract

This retrospective self-study explores how I, a Japanese doctoral student, cultivate a relationship with my Icelandic supervisor over a decade.The purpose is to identify elements for cultivating fruitful relationship. I aim to understand what kind of inclusive educator I have become. Asian doctoral students in western universities experience cultural conflicts, but the Icelandic inclusive policy influences them differently. Data included emails, text messages, meeting notes, and artefacts. A metaphor of “a seed” was used to explicit nodal moments. The study proposes two elements for cultivating the doctoral student–supervisor relationship. Doctoral students are empowered when they feel supervisors’ support through dialogue. Supervisors’ attitude inspires doctoral students to imagine what kind of educator they want to become in the future.

Author

• Megumi Nishida, University of Iceland