Experiences of using the researching professional development framework

While Doctorate in Education (EdD) courses have been around for some time, supporting frameworks have tended to be based on traditional PhD routes of study, with the unique development needs of part-time students (who are often working full time and undertaking research into their professional context) often being ignored. In order to fill this gap, we recently proposed a new framework - the Researching Practitioner Development Framework (RPDF) - which was specifically developed to support EdD students by offering them an opportunity to reflect on key areas of their professional development as they progress through their studies. They do this by drawing upon the descriptions of experiences provided by other EdD students and graduates and use their reflections on these to generate their own Researching Professional Development Plan for the forthcoming year. The purpose of this article is to report on a longitudinal study which explored the perceptions and experiences of part-time doctoral students using this framework as they progressed through the first year of their EdD programme at a research-led English University. Following an initial questionnaire completed by students and supervisors (n=18), six participants were interviewed at three key points in the programme: beginning, middle and end. The findings suggest that students found the RPDF had been of particular value early in their studies and had helped students realise that they were developing their identity as researching professionals, ready to make a difference to professional practice through their research.