UKCGE Celebrates Three Years of Non-HEI Training
This summer, UKCGE celebrates three years of supervision training for people working outside of Higher Education institutions (non-HEIs). In this article, trainers Professors Janet De Wilde and Julie Sheldon reflect on their unique approach and talk about why they love working with supervisors from more than 40 external organisations across the UK.
Since 2023, UKCGE has partnered with Professors Janet De Wilde and Julie Sheldon to deliver training to supervisors in institutions outside of the academy, particularly within galleries, libraries and museums. The training is offered via a consortium attached to the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Amongst the supervisors that have benefited are staff at the Imperial War Museum, Tate, the British Museum, the British Library and the Science Museum, along with many other institutions outside of London: spanning England, Scotland and Wales.
“I think every time we’ve delivered the workshop, the attendees have been fully engaged throughout” says Professor De Wilde. “They really want and benefit from the training.”
“They’re really highly qualified specialists in their area, but they don’t make the presumption that they automatically know how to supervise,” adds Professor Sheldon. “I think they come to us very curious about supervision and open to working with us.”
People generally undertake training at the start of their supervisory journey, and the feedback from the workshops has been unanimously positive.
“One thing that sticks in my mind,” says Professor Sheldon, “is the person who came up to me at the end and said ‘I was really dreading this. I thought it’s all going to be all role-play and touchy-feely stuff. But it’s been a revelation’. We’ve found that they’re open to the workshop format and discussions are always full and productive.”
“They’re definitely ready to learn,” adds Professor De Wilde. “I think the content is very different from their usual professional development provided by their institutions. It’s fresh for them.”
In addition to the training itself – which takes place over two days – attendees have benefitted from the opportunity to network with people from diverse institutions across the UK, helping them to develop informal networks of support.
For Professor De Wilde and Professor Sheldon, the experience of delivering the training has allowed them to shape a bespoke approach which makes the most of the attendees’ existing skillsets and insights as professionals, rather than sticking dogmatically to existing academic models.
“It’s a positive approach that looks at what they’ve already got, rather than a deficit model,” says Professor Sheldon. “We also make the most of UKCGE supervisor surveys and start from the idea that it’s the supervisor’s role to support a person, not a project.”
“It’s a pleasure to work with these amazing people,” adds Professor De Wilde. “I think when you’re in a profession, you just see your skills as normal. You forget about those skills because you are living and working with them every day. We find it really rewarding to bring them out – it’s a real pleasure to do it.”