Developing As a Doctoral Supervisor: Navigating Learning Goals and Professional Growth

Engineering education has undergone significant development, and simultaneously, the number of doctorates has rocketed. This has resulted in increased diversity among doctoral students, while the supervisors were already navigating demanding terrain, often without formal training. This study explores doctoral supervisors' learning goals on supervision, and two research questions guided our study: what kind of learning goals the supervisors have, and do they recognize goals related to diverse supervisees and their support needs? The data were collected from 78 participants in an elective doctoral supervision pedagogical course in Aalto University, Finland, during 2022–2024 through essays and qualitatively content analysed through reflexive thematic analysis with an inductive approach. The key learning goals focused on their personal self-management, balancing between a directive approach and supporting supervisees' independence, and on communication. Additionally, supervisors wanted to learn about pedagogical approaches, and especially lecturers highlighted learning goals on diversity and inclusion. The results indicate that doctoral supervisors need support in their professional development regarding various competencies linked to supervision, and the potential of peer support in their continuous professional development.