Tues 12th March 2013 4.30-6.00pm
Dr. Mike Nicholls, Centre for Professional Practice, University of Kent
The Potential for Practice-led Professional Doctorates in Kent and Medway
UELT Seminar Room, Canterbury Campus
The ‘knowledge economy’ places a growing expectation on higher education to provide research and education that is to the needs of the work force and the competitive position of the economy in general. The Higher Education Academy report ‘Redefining the Doctorate’ (Park, 2007) draws attention to the need therefore to review the UK doctorate and evaluate whether it remains fit for purpose and effective in practice, meeting the needs of all the stakeholder groups.
Professional doctorates have been a significant area of development for UK universities since the early 1990s, and offer professionals in a range of sectors the opportunity to research and develop new approaches to sector and work-based practices. These ‘second generation’, sometimes ‘taught’ doctorates (cf. the ‘traditional’ PhD) have been created and used by practitioners in the context of a reciprocal relationship between professional practice and new professional knowledge, where each informs the other.
An emerging ‘third generation’, sometimes called the ‘practitioner’, ‘practice-led’ or ‘work based’ doctorate gives the ‘professional student’ control of content, context and assessment and these are negotiated with the university and the professional body or employer. This represents a learner-managed pedagogy which is compatible with national recommendations for cultivation of higher order transferable skills and continuing professional development.
In the context of this background, Dr. Nicholls will present the findings of his research on the potential demand amongst a sample of senior staff from public services, private sector and professional bodies as to the perceived value of professional, including work-based, practice-led doctorates for their organisations. To give insight into the potential for provision, the results of a survey of senior managers and also academic departments from a sample of HEIs will also be presented.
The full report can be seen at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/LLN/KMLLN_Practice_led_professional_doctorates.pdf.
All welcome