MARK CARVER (UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS)

DESIGNING A DOCTORATE FOR THE ELT PROFESSION: LESSONS FROM 3 YEARS OF DPROF TESOL : TEACHER EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Recent developments have seen an explosion in doctoral study options - EdD, PhD by publication, ProfD, DProf, and many more - marking a crucial step in raising the status of ELT in academia and establishing a new generation of scholarly professionals. As options increase, the concept of ‘doctorateness’ (Trafford and Leshem, 2009) has been developed in policy and the academic literature to ensure that there are common attributes and abilities demonstrated by any doctoral graduate. However, a major risk with innovation is that newer qualifications imitate the older, prestigious formats and so create extra work for students, such as a viva, a thesis, published papers, and a portfolio of professional work (Carver, 2024). As a remedy to this, I developed a professional doctorate without a thesis requirement. Rather than demonstrating publishability, students are required to demonstrate impact on practice though a portfolio of articles, book chapters, conference presentations, policy papers, materials design, CPD workshops, and even serving as peer reviews. I argue that this reflects the need of 'scholars in formation', especially focusing on moral practice and the professionalisation of teachers (Goodson, 2000; Robinson, 2018). This presentation will share examples of some of my current students and how they are progressing on their doctoral journey and how this can be analysed through the conceptual lens of doctorateness. I end with recommendations for innovation in other masters and doctoral qualifications and invite feedback on what other types of professional learning should be included in my portfolio assessment design.

Mark Carver is the Director of Postgraduate Research at the University of St Andrews, UK, where he runs the professional doctorate in TESOL. He supervises and examines doctoral students in the areas of assessment, professional learning, and programme evaluation.