Abstract/Summary

The process of earning a doctorate is complex and a critical success factor is the quality of the student-supervisor relationship. As both coaching and supervision are one-to-one developmental discussions, supervisors and students alike may experience a range of benefits when supervisors adopt a coaching approach to doctorate supervision. Coaching can be integrated into the three key stages of doctoral supervision: enculturation (by contracting how the student and supervisor will work together); creating healthy relationships (by minimizing the power difference and working from a stance of curiosity) and emancipation (supporting your student towards independence). This chapter describes how doctoral supervisors may adopt a coaching approach including examples of coaching questions to ask at different points in the supervision journey.