Relationships, power and accountability: Reflections on transformative postgraduate supervision workshops at a South African University School of Public Health, 2014-2020

Abstract

Given South Africa’s colonial and apartheid past, postgraduate supervisors are encouraged to explore decolonial and socially just ways of supervision. I draw on Freire’s adult education theory and Hackman’s tools of social justice education to reflect on transformative supervision workshops held at a South African university School of Public Health. Combining formal and informal evaluation, postgraduate students reported that the workshops facilitated collegiality and supportive relationships; contributed to their personal and professional empowerment; and enhanced individual and peer accountability. The participatory workshops have facilitated the decentring of power from the supervisor. Postgraduate students have realised their own power and that of the collective to inspire, assist or effect change. The workshops have embraced decolonial pedagogy by demonstrating that postgraduate supervision can be done in a collegial and empowering group setting, valorising different forms of knowledge, encouraging diverse approaches to self-reflection, and highlighting the power of mutual and multi-directional learning.