Re-framing postgraduate supervision as a teaching and learning practice: supervisors’ perspectives from one university in Lesotho

Traditionally, little emphasis has been placed on defining postgraduate supervision as a teaching and learning practice. This lack of a clear conceptualisation is cited as a source of confusion and frustration among practitioners. Lately, there has been a growing acknowledgement that postgraduate supervision should continually be examined in teaching and learning terms. In an endeavour to reconceptualise and reframe postgraduate supervision, a qualitative approach was adopted. anchored within the constructivist paradigm as its overarching theoretical framework. Perceptions of 10 supervisors from one university in Lesotho were analysed. Specific attention was paid to the supervisors’ definitions and practices to assess the extent to which they reflected their understanding of postgraduate research supervision as a teaching and learning practice. The findings revealed that while the selected supervisors perceived postgraduate supervision as a teaching practice, they continued to be frustrated and overwhelmed by the institutionalised vagueness that permeates this practice.