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Graduate Supervision Toolkit Faculty of Graduate Studies
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Effective Supervision Practices

An image captured from the convocation ceremony

Effective supervision practices are essential for fostering productive, supportive, and enriching relationships between graduate supervisors and their students. This page shares approaches that can help supervisors guide their students while also supporting their own well-being while enacting this central pedagogical role.

There is a growing body of knowledge related to graduate supervision, including how supervisors learn best, what students need and want, and how supervisors can stay well through intentional efforts. Learning to supervise graduate students requires intentional efforts grounded in the scholarship of supervisory teaching and learning. Supervisory pedagogy is not innate, nor should its enactment be solely based upon one's own experience of being supervised.

The supervisor’s principal task consists of helping students realize their scholarly potential.

  • This can only be accomplished in a relationship that offers insights born of experience, and furnishes the requisite challenges, stimulation, guidance and genuine support.
  • The student has a right to expect expertise, accessibility and support from the supervisor.
  • The supervisor must offer substantive and procedural assistance with the design, planning and conduct of feasible research projects, introduction to the network of scholars in the area of specialization, and support for the presentation and publication of research results. At the same time, the supervisor must ensure that the scholarly standards of the university and the discipline are met in the student’s work.

Commit to ongoing learning and collaboration: approach supervision as a dynamic, reciprocal process where both supervisor and student learn and grow together.

Share responsibility for academic and professional goals: Work together to set clear goals, provide guidance, and support the student’s success within and beyond graduate school.

Respect, include, and support the whole person: Acknowledge and value the student’s full identity, lived experiences, and well-being throughout their academic journey.

The Canadian Association for Graduate Studies lists the following as Best Practices for Graduate Supervision:

  • A supervisor should be identified in a timely fashion
  • The supervisory committees should be established early
  • Expectations, roles and responsibilities of graduate students and supervisors should be made clear
  • Supervisors should be readily accessible to their students, and regular monitoring and feedback should be ensured.
  • Student-supervisor relationships should be professional
  • Intellectual debate and challenge should be encouraged and supported
  • Supervisors should be mentors
  • Issues of intellectual property and authorship should be made clear
  • Conflicts should be resolved at the lowest level possible
  • Continuity is important in graduate supervision
  • Alternative supervision should be available
  • Students have substantial responsibilities for managing their own graduate education

A Framework for Good Supervisory Practice

Supervision scholar, Stan Taylor's (2019) Framework for Good Supervisory Practice (.pdf) is instructive for York University Graduate Faculty. The following 10 components may be considered a best practice for planning and enacting your important role.

Recruitment and selection

  • Consider publicizing your areas of supervisory expertise
  • Interview prospective applicants, and invite them to interview you

Supervisory relationships with candidates

  • Establish clear expectations from the start, including how these are going to be met
  • Be aware of supervisory styles and their impact on students
  • Recognize that relationships change over time, as does the nature of the support they require from supervisors

Supervisory relationships with co-supervisors

  • Clarify roles with co-supervisors and students at the start
  • Clarify expectations associated with the student's work
  • Regularly review the co-supervision arrangements

Supporting candidates’ research projects

  • Advise on a choice of topic, research proposal and overall plan
  • Advise on aspects of research ethics and integrity
  • Advise and assist on research skill development

Encouraging candidates to write and giving appropriate feedback

  • Encourage students to write from the start of their studies
  • Support the development of their academic writing
  • Give timely, constructive and actionable feedback

Keeping the research on track and monitoring progress

  • Support and motivate students to progress in their studies
  • Build in monitoring as part of typical supervisory meetings
  • Assist the student to complete on time

Supporting candidates’ personal, professional and career development

  • Discuss and role model work-life balance
  • Connect students with disciplinary networks and activities
  • Support your students, while knowing your boundaries
  • Support the development of employment-related skills

Supporting candidates through completion and final examination

  • Work with students to finalize their thesis/dissertation/creative work
  • Assess and advise on readiness to proceed to defence
  • Be knowledgeable of relevant policies, timelines and outcome scenarios and demystify for your student
  • Support the student to prepare for defence & afterwards

Supporting candidates to disseminate their research

  • Modelling the process of publication/dissemination
  • Encourage candidates to publish/disseminate as they go
  • Consider co-publishing

Reflecting upon and enhancing practice

Supervision is a pedagogical practice that benefits from both reflection and evaluation. Through intentional efforts, a supervisor can determine their strengths and weaknesses.

  • Undertake initial and continuing professional development
  • Reflect on your practice. Seek feedback from supervisees
  • Consider contributing to the development of other supervisors

Helpful Resources

  • Read the YorkU Characteristics of Effective Supervision (.pdf). One way to reflect on your effectiveness as a graduate supervisor is to assess the characteristics and practices associated with effective supervision. This resource can be used as a starting point for you to explore areas to develop along with areas to leverage.
  • Read Beginner's Guide to Supervising a PhD Researcher (.pdf) by Guccione, K & Stefanatos, R. (2023). This beginner’s guide to supervision has been created for anyone who supports postgraduate researchers (PGRs) with any aspect of their research or the completion of their degree.
  • Read Exploring Best Practices in Supervision (.pdf) by Baily, K., Parrott, K., Long, M., Brannan, E., & Burtch, T. This qualitative study explored the supervision practices of graduate assistant supervisors at two large research institutions.
  • Read the Golden Rules for Supervision (pdf). Graduate supervision is a significant responsibility and with these golden rules as your guide, you will be equipped to lead with care, confidence, and a commitment to ethical, effective, and respectful supervisory practice.
  • Read Nature's Guide for Mentors (.pdf) by Lee, A. , Dennis, C. & Campbell, P. (2017). Having a good mentor early in your career can mean the difference between success and failure in any field and the authors look at what makes a good mentor.
  • Read Spotlight on Best Graduate Supervision Practices (.pdf) from University Affairs by Berrada, M & Halton, D. (2023). The authors reached out to academics who have won a graduate supervision award to learn more about their winning practices.
  • Read The Good Supervision Framework (.pdf) by Taylor, S. (2019). The framework acknowledges the demanding set of roles involved in modern research supervision. It is designed to set expectations for all supervisors and to support supervisor development programmes and is informed by academic research into doctoral education and has been validated during a pilot study involving research supervisors across the UK.

In graduate supervision communication, there is the 'what' to discuss, and then 'how' we discuss. For the 'what' of communication, there are several important things to discuss with your graduate student, with some more appropriate at the start of the relationship, and others later in the student's journey. Supervisors are invited to make use of the YorkU Strong Start to Supervision Checklist during meetings with their students, co-selecting sections to discuss. The 'how' of discussion can be related to our style of supervision as well as our general approach to communication. Both of these may or may not be effective with our students, thus necessitating transparent discussions related to communication styles and approaches that work best for both members of the supervisory dyad. Taking into account cultural, generational and other aspects of communication is critical.

  • Read the Talking Points Tool (.pdf) by Savoy, J., Markey, M., and Grady, H. (2018). The article is a response to communication disconnect and the development of a brief intervention to facilitate conversations.