Reflecting on the mini-viva

After weeks of anxiety associated with the mini-viva, the actual event could easily be described as a non-event. I remember sitting in the room fielding the questions from my assessors and thinking "Is this all? It can’t be this easy, surely?" But it was - I had over prepared, thinking of the most challenging and technically tricky questions I could possibly be asked, mulling over my report fearing that I wouldn’t remember everything that I had written. And at the end of the day it just passed by seamlessly. The feedback I received was interesting - I've been warned not to make a particular theorist a hero (sorry Mr Bernstein) and to consider what other linkages can be drawn between academic literacies and curriculum i.e. what does academic literacies have to say about curriculum and what does curriculum studies have to say about academic literacies.




My assessors also highlighted the issue around attainment and equality of success - I make the argument that I am interested in a fairer HE system, and they suggest that one can only start to tackle this challenge by considering attainment. This is an issue I hadn’t even contemplated. Maybe it doesn’t have much relevance in my PhD, but if my intellectual project is about a fairer HE system then, seemingly I need to put attainment on the agenda. This is something I will need to get my head around before making a final decision on the merits of their argument.



My thoughts on the mini-viva and the whole PhD process are that it’s really all about self-confidence. You have to be confident about yourself, your ideas in an environment where a lot of the activities are about questioning and challenging that very confidence. You need to be so sure about yourself and what you chose to do and how you chose to do it - from how you write, when you work, what activities you get involved in on campus, how you deal with your supervisions, what you think is good academic work etc, etc...Basically, everything about being here and all the engagement with the work and the community. I've really been taken out of my comfort zone and I'm trying to find my place within a very transient and fleeting environment where nothing has currency beyond a short time frame. But hey I’m still standing, I’m confident about all I need to be at this very moment and that what’s important for now.