In this article, relying on both a conceptual approach and on composite narratives, it is proposed that David Graeber’s anthropological critique of bureaucratic processes can be fruitfully applied to understand how bureaucracy acts to shape doctoral education and doctoral subjectivities. Framing bureaucracy as the management of structural violence, the article will explore its potential role in reinforcing the status quo and replicating structural inequality. Methodologically, the article will rely on plural composite narrative vignettes and ethnographic fiction, built from experiences and conversations across different cultures, countries and organisational contexts. These vignettes will highlight the paradoxes and impact of doctoral bureaucracy and its inherent, complex relationship with structural violence, focusing on themes of epistemic constraints, warped accountability and ongoing colonial legacies. To advance alternative visions, the contribution will then draw both on these narrative vignettes and on philosophers of play and conviviality (DeKoven, Huizinga, Carse, Illich). The article will articulate its theoretical contribution in terms of the potential role of play, imagination and conviviality in heightening vigilance against the reproduction of structural inequalities and violence, and opening avenues to radically re-think doctoral education.

This study investigated Intermediate Phase (IP) teacher trainees’ perceptions of learner-centred teaching approaches in South African English language learning classrooms. With increasing emphasis on learner autonomy and interactive methods, this research aimed to understand how future teachers perceive learner-centred approaches. It also assessed how teacher trainees view the benefits and effectiveness of learner-centred compared to teacher-centred teaching approaches. In addition, the research examined the challenges that teachers in training face when implementing learnercentred methods. Grounded in critical pedagogy and literature on learner-centred teaching approaches, this study argues that learnercentred teaching approaches are the most preferred methods of teaching English at any language proficiency level, whether it is the home language or First Additional Language. There is limited research in this area, particularly within South African contexts. A total of 40 second-year Bachelor of Education students from a South African higher education institution participated in this mixedmethods study. Data were collected through surveys and openended questionnaires. The study found that many teacher trainees acknowledge the benefits of learner-centred teaching methods, such as student engagement, autonomy, and motivation. Thus, the findings of this study contribute to the existing literature on pedagogical approaches and inform the development of more effective teacher training curricula.

Growing the number of doctoral graduates, increasing the capacity for study supervision, and enhancing the quality of research output and impact remain some of the many challenges for higher education institutions in South Africa – especially for universities of technology (UoTs). Study supervisors at UoTs often lack sufficient experience and capacity to guide doctoral students to timely and successful completion. This article explores one such case as an example of critically assessing the capacity, quality, and effectiveness of supervisory development at a UoT. Our valuational stance involves observing aspects of institutional support to grow supervision capacity, comparing research performance to peer universities in the UoT cluster and engaging the South African university system as related to relevant literature on doctoral supervision and graduation. The selected institutional case revealed that supervisory capacity and subsequent graduations have improved significantly over time. However, the challenge remains to graduate increasing numbers of doctoral students, hence the need for further enhancing supervisory capacity. The inquiry also points to the need for increasing throughput figures and graduation in meeting institutional targets. The UoT under scrutiny had introduced several strategies to capacitate doctoral supervisors, including promoting relevant supervisory skills, scientific writing and communication. It also promoted research dissemination, incentives to support research capacity development, and policies to enhance quality supervision. Since the range and scope of developmental actions and activities at the selected UoT were too broad to evaluate in one project, the focus was on one aspect of supervisor support, namely an institution-wide postgraduate supervision developmental programme. Programme results for the period 2017 to 2021 were critically evaluated, addressing two key dimensions: enhancing doctoral supervision capacity and trends in doctoral graduations. These dimensions are discussed against the background of relevant literature on supervisory capacity, peer UoT cluster trends in South Africa, as well as trends related to the whole public university system in South Africa. The article concludes with important lessons learnt from the institutional case and suggestions to enhance research into doctoral supervisor developmental interventions within an UoT context.

The demand for more doctoral education puts pressure on universities to increase the number of academics with doctoral degrees who can supervise the next generation of researchers. The Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF, 2013) indicates that being able to supervise is one of the outcomes of attaining a doctorate. Still, this study found this to be rarely the case. The study participants often took on the supervision role before they felt that their capacity had been sufficiently developed. Although emerging supervisors have been supervised during their doctoral journey, their new role may still be daunting. This study aims to provide evidence for institutions and academic developers to develop and support emerging supervisors. The qualitative study employs critical realism as an underlabourer and uses Margaret Archer's (1995) social realist framework to account for the interplay between structure, culture, and agency. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 54 participants from 20 South African institutions. The key finding is that supervisors were thrown into the deep end and relied on trial and error. They also had to supervise from experience while faced with high teaching workloads.