This paper reports on a research project that explores how theory is taught, learned, and enacted within postgraduate research education. Responding to persistent concerns about the abstract and opaque nature of theory in doctoral study, the study aims to deepen postgraduate researchers’ (PGRs) engagement with theoretical frameworks through a multi-phase, collaborative, and reflexive research design.

The study is theoretically framed by Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), which conceptualises teaching and learning theory as an activity system shaped by mediating tools (e.g. texts, concepts, pedagogical practices), institutional rules, disciplinary norms, and historically developed expectations. CHAT provides an analytic lens for examining how academics and doctoral students construct the object of “theory,” how responsibilities for teaching and learning are distributed, and how contradictions emerge between institutional expectations and everyday pedagogical practices.

The project emerged from an initial survey conducted with PGRs and academic staff in a School of Education at a UK university, which highlighted a shared recognition of the importance of theory alongside a strong demand from PGRs for more explicit illustrations of how theory operates in practice. While many PGRs reported confidence in using theory rhetorically, they expressed uncertainty about its application, purpose, and value within research and professional contexts. These findings revealed a gap between the centrality of theory in doctoral education and the pedagogical practices through which theoretical engagement is supported.

Building on this survey, the larger study employed semi-structured interviews with academic staff and doctoral students. Data were analysed thematically through a CHAT-informed lens to identify key tensions, contradictions, and pedagogical challenges in the teaching and learning of theory.

Understanding and applying theory is a recognised challenge for doctoral students across national and institutional contexts. By foregrounding theory as a socially mediated and historically situated activity, this paper contributes an internationally relevant framework for examining doctoral pedagogy and opens up cross-context dialogue about how theory can be taught and learned more explicitly, collaboratively, and meaningfully in postgraduate research education.

Guided by CHAT, the study addresses the following research questions:

1. How do academic staff and doctoral students conceptualise the object of “theory” within postgraduate research education?

2. What mediating tools, rules, and pedagogical practices shape the teaching and learning of theory in doctoral programmes?

3. What tensions and contradictions emerge between institutional expectations and participants’ lived experiences of engaging with theory?

4. How might these insights inform the development of more explicit and supportive pedagogical approaches to theory in postgraduate education?

The study adopted a multi-phase qualitative research design. Data generation occurred across two phases. Phase one involved an online questionnaire distributed to postgraduate researchers and academic staff, which explored participants’ engagement with theory, perceived challenges, and views on the relevance of theory in postgraduate education. The survey captures both descriptive quantitative data (e.g. academic role, level of study, disciplinary engagement with theory) and qualitative accounts of experiences of teaching and learning theory. The study adopted a multi-phase qualitative research design. Data generation occurred across two phases: an online survey, semi-structured interviews. Phase one involved an online questionnaire distributed to postgraduate researchers and academic staff, which explored participants’ engagement with theory, perceived challenges, and views on the relevance of theory in postgraduate education. The survey captures both descriptive quantitative data (e.g. academic role, level of study, disciplinary engagement with theory) and qualitative accounts of experiences of teaching and learning theory. Phase two comprised of semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of survey respondents. Interviews were conducted online or face-to-face and explored participants’ perspectives on theoretical teaching and learning practices, expectations, and challenges in greater depth. The final data set included transcripts from 11 PGRs and 6 academics. Across phases, data was analysed thematically through a Cultural-Historical Activity Theory lens, enabling examination of mediating tools, rules, division of labour, and emerging tensions within the activity system of postgraduate theoretical learning. Ethical approval was granted by the research institution in which the study took place. Pseudonyms are used across the data set to ensure anonymity and all participants were required to give written consent.

The findings demonstrate that challenges in engaging with theory are not primarily individual deficits, but are shaped by historically developed pedagogical practices, disciplinary norms, and institutional rules. By conceptualising theory as a socially mediated practice, the study reveals common challenges across academic and national contexts, highlighting the need for pedagogical spaces that make theoretical reasoning visible, dialogic, and collaborative. These insights are expected to support internationally relevant discussions on doctoral pedagogy and theoretical learning.

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