From this account it is clear that the investigator’s personal and professional experiences as a
Staff Development Fellow in the colleges of education has prompted the need to investigate problemsassociated with the supervision of undergraduate research projects in Social Studies and Religious Edu-
cation (RE). The main emphasis was to investigate the lecturers’ compe
tencies, knowledge and skillsrelated to research supervision. Research supervision at undergraduate level has been going on since theintroduction of research projects as part of the changes that emanated from the recommendations of theRevised National Policy on Education (Republic of Botswana, 1994). Literature on research supervisi-on in general addresses key issues that need to be dealt with to effectively carry it out. However, verylittle on undergraduate research supervision in Social Studies and RE in Botswana has been done. Assuch, a study of this kind is critical for investigating the challenges which are presented by the research processes in primary colleges of education