Completing a professional doctorate invites reflection not only on the research itself, but also on the journey of becoming a different kind of scholar. This post continues an article series where professional doctorate graduates reflect on their journeys. Each article offers a candid look back at the challenges, shifts in identity, and lessons learned along the way, providing insight and encouragement for those currently undertaking or considering a professional doctorate.
This fourth article in the series is written by Dr Graham Cable. Dr Cable is a Learning and Development professional and educator with over twenty years’ experience across military, defence, and higher education contexts, including service in the British Army and NATO. Holding an EdD from Canterbury Christ Church University, his research on military-to-civilian transition and identity reconstruction informed the development of a practical transition support tool for service leavers and families. He now works as a consultant and researcher in the UK, bridging military and civilian sectors through expertise in training, organisational change, and defence education.
EdD as personal and professional catalyst
Why an EdD?
Professionally, pursuing an EdD was a natural progression from having studied an MEd as part of my professional development as a British Army education officer. But that career was cut short by ill-health just as I was completing the master’s degree.
It was that experience, job loss and ill health, that drew me to doctoral study. The overriding motivation, at least initially, was a personal need to understand and free myself from a huge sense of loss, while potentially helping others in similar situations do the same. If, by the acquisition of a doctorate in education my credibility as a learning professional might be bolstered, then so much the better.
The challenge
The first challenge was to learn how to “do” a doctorate, assisted by the taught phase. Despite that, I confronted far greater challenges at the thesis stage. I naively thought that writing about my own experience would be straight forward, but immediately realised I did not know myself as well as I thought, much less what I was trying to reveal and to what ends. Once I had established the answer to those two questions, and the process was far from easy, I could then decide how I was going to do that and what contribution it would offer, beyond personal catharsis. I then had to go and do it. And keep doing it, repeatedly, until it was ready to be revealed to the examiners. Who promptly asked me to redo it.
The result
Eventually being awarded the degree proved I had answered all the questions, mine, my supervisors’, and the examiners’, which was ample reward for the struggle. And it was a struggle. Undertaking the EdD was my most challenging experience to date, even when measured against my time spent as a military officer. However, it has been the most rewarding as it has transformed how I now approach professional and personal challenges more broadly. When designing learning interventions, I’m less prone to monocausal explanations. When analysing organisational problems, I’m more likely to map tensions rather than eliminate them. When advising leadership, I’m more comfortable saying “it’s more complex than it appears” rather than reaching for a quick fix. When confronting personal challenges, I consider them in a measured rather than purely emotional way. As a result, my EdD was a transformative recalibration of how I think, analyse, and engage with complex personal and professional challenges.
To answer the question I put at the top of this brief survey of my doctoral experience; Why an EdD? Because it is part of my learning journey, learning about myself, the world around me and how I can use the experience to continue learning and developing. That is my job and vocation, and it does not stop there.
Want to read more Looking Back articles? Find them here: The looking back series.