On the need to do a PhD

Rhed got a very clear sense that the anxieties about teaching research degree students without having a research degree, specified in profile, were not going to be resolved by doing a PGCert in Teaching and Learning. Although this will help to give me some context of pedagogical theory and, through knowledge and peer experience, will strengthen my actual delivery practice, I won’t be able to be satisfied until I have gone through the process myself.

In a way, I was very glad Rhed pointed this out and I was glad to hear it from someone else. I am applying to do a PhD next October as a career move and because I want to improve my professional teaching practice, being able to relate to students from a position of having the experience. The people I have talked to about this all think that I am doing it because of the subject or because I have an inclination to write academically. But this is only part of my decision and having someone notice how important a PhD will be and how it will enhance my teaching was indeed very rewarding.

I applied to Central Saint Martins in December and I am currently writing my AHRB Doctoral Award application. These 2 very simple things have already changed the way I teach the proposal writing and funding application sessions of the training programme (more confidence, first hand examples I can relate to, real problems encountered rather than those I have read about or seen in other students). These evidences the benefit a PhD will have on my teaching practice.

It was also very rewarding that both Leonora and Rhed pointed out the quality of the writing in the profile statement. This was also very encouraging as I will be looking at producing a 60,000-word thesis for my PhD and, English not being my first language, this is a little intimidating. I did spend a lot of time articulating the text for my profile 2. I teach the session on proposal writing and I place a lot of emphasis of quality, trying to avoid obscure theses that will only be read by academics. I really want to produce a good PhD where people from outside the field can relate to the writing and which, perhaps, can be published into a book. I was very pleased with their comments and felt as if all the hard work with the Oxford English Dictionary and the Thesaurus wasn’t in vain.