Heutagogy and Researcher Education: Unleashing the Power of the Novice Researcher’s Agency

Abstract

Novice researchers become experienced researchers by developing their skills in varied contexts, typically within higher education institutions as part of their university degrees. This chapter focuses on the novice researcher who progressively develops their research capacities during the process of completing a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy degree) within a higher education institution or university. Four established areas of research about the education of novice researchers, also known as research training, are examined: 1) the pedagogy of supervision; 2) threshold concepts of PhD candidates; 3) the Researcher Skill Development Framework; and 4) research metaphors. From these fields of research, practical recommendations are extricated to articulate how higher education institutions can promote learner agency, according to heutagogical principles, within the candidate’s doctoral journey. During this chapter, researchers are viewed as learners and the purpose of the chapter is to explore how the agency of these learner-researchers can be recognised and promoted, in practical terms, within the tertiary education sector.