Reflective Supervision in Education – What It Is and Why It’s Needed

Guest blog article by Dr Rachel Briggs

Although supervision has been available to some educators for a long time and has been mandatory in certain areas of the English education sector since 2012, teachers and school/college staff who access this type of support are still the exception rather than the rule.

Until a couple of years ago, mention supervision to teachers and this was more likely to be associated with surveillance and punitive judgements than with a supportive relationship.  However, profession-specific supervision, akin to that being provided in other ‘helping’ sectors, is now being talked about more frequently within education settings and recommended for school staff.

As a result, there’s a growing interest nationally in the use of supervision in education and schools are increasingly looking to access this support, particularly for school leaders and those involved in safeguarding.  But supervision isn’t just for them.

Recent research on supervision and its benefits for educators includes supervisees who are:

• Class teachers, particularly those working with pupils/students with SEMH needs
• SENCOs
• Early career teachers
• Headteachers/principals
• Educators in specialist provision
• Those working in pastoral roles, including safeguarding leads/teams.

My own research with experienced primary school teachers (which included class teachers, SENCos, assistant/deputy principals/headteachers and those with additional safeguarding responsibilities) found that the desire to access supervision was huge, once they understood what it is and why it’s used.

So, what is supervision and why is it needed by education practitioners?

Demands on educators, such as those related to workload, school culture, high-stakes accountability practices, change, student behaviour, and lack of resources, are widely cited and researched.    What is less frequently mentioned and researched, but that has been brought into a sharper focus due to the pandemic, is the emotional toll associated with teaching and school leadership, particularly where supporting children’s and young people’s welfare needs is involved.

School staff are regularly the first professionals that families turn to for support and advice when they experience adversity and trauma. It’s not unusual for school staff to hear narratives from children and young people who, for instance, have witnessed extreme violence; have been caught up in drug or alcohol-related incidents; have been made homeless; have suffered illness and bereavement; or who have experienced neglect or abuse.

It is also not uncommon for school staff to be working with children and young people who have additional learning and communication needs; social, emotional and mental health needs; and physical disabilities. This can leave school personnel, often with little or no training, and limited resources, trying to meet the needs of the children and young people, whilst also trying to meet targets linked to academic progress. They are often frustrated when services can’t be accessed and can feel helpless when they can’t support the children and young people and their families in the way they would like.  They may also have to make decisions that they know may be unpopular or that have a significant impact on others’ wellbeing, which can lead to doubts about whether they’ve made the ‘right’ decision or concerns about the ‘what ifs’. This can have knock-on consequences which impact on the ability to focus on teaching/leadership activities and other work roles which come with their own stresses and strains.

Whilst huge satisfaction can be gained from supporting others’ welfare needs, for professionals outside education, there is recognition that exposure to others’ adversity, vulnerabilities and trauma can result in compassion stress injuries (CSI).

Compassion stress injury is an overarching term used to describe the emotional detriment from the second-hand experience of suffering, coupled with a desire to alleviate it, rather than a direct personal involvement in a traumatising event.  It’s not just applicable to children’s and young people’s traumas, but also to that of colleagues, friends and family.  CSI acknowledges differences in the following concepts but considers that they’re not sufficiently different to be separate phenomena:

Compassion fatigue – ‘the physical and mental exhaustion and emotional withdrawal experienced by those who care for sick or traumatized people over an extended period of time’ (Merriam-Webster, 2021)

Vicarious trauma – ‘the process of change that happens because you care about other people who have been hurt and feel committed or responsible to help them. Over time this process can lead to changes in your psychological, physical and spiritual wellbeing’ (Pearlman and MacKay, 2008)

Secondary traumatic stress – ‘the natural consequent behaviours and emotions resulting from knowing about a traumatizing event experienced by a significant other—the stress resulting from helping or wanting to help a traumatized or suffering person’ (Figley, 1983)

Whilst these terms are widely used in other ‘helping professions’, with preventative measures in place to protect practitioners from the associated psychological harm, they are rarely used or understood in the education sector.

CSI has multiple symptoms including disturbing emotions, e.g., sadness, hopelessness, guilt and frustration; powerlessness; change in world-view (impacting on psychological safety); sleeplessness; hypervigilance; intrusive thoughts and imagery related to events that have happened to others; and feelings of reduced competence and autonomy.  Individuals experiencing CSI may also find themselves re-experiencing personal trauma or notice an increase in arousal and avoidance reactions related to the second-hand trauma exposure.

My research found that, regardless of role, all participants had experienced multiple symptoms of CSI and attributed them to hearing and knowing about their pupils’ (and sometimes their colleagues’) adversity and trauma.  Mostly this was from the cumulative effects of repeated exposure but occasionally from a single, highly traumatic event.  These added to the other more commonly acknowledged stressors mentioned above, as well as to their own personal/family situations beyond school. To maintain or increase their work-related wellbeing, they wanted opportunities to:

• offload but also to process and make sense of their emotions
• gain validation that what they’d done was reasonable in the circumstances
• reflect on things that were going well and take time to celebrate their achievements
• learn, either through unpicking experiences and seeing them from another perspective, gaining understanding of what had worked and what might have been done differently or by exploring how they might handle imminent/anticipated situations that they were concerned about, both related to their ‘caring’ roles and teaching/leadership in general.

These fit well with the key functions of supervision.

There are many types of supervision (e.g. clinical, safeguarding, professional, coaching, practice, non-managerial, reflective) and multiple definitions.

As education practitioners aren’t usually trained clinicians or social workers, when used for educators, I favour reflective supervision and use the definition Dr Judy Ryde and I adapted from Professor Peter Hawkins’ definition to increase its applicability to educators.

Definition and functions of reflective supervision in education

Reflective supervision in education is defined as:

a non-judgemental, collaborative process where education practitioners are supported to reflect on their values, practice, relationships, the emotional demands of their work and the impact of these and the wider education system on their psychological wellbeing. It can contribute to best practice, effective relationships, enhanced wellbeing, and professional and personal development.

The understanding behind supervision is that practitioners from any profession, whether they are stressed or feeling fulfilled by their work, are more likely to grow professionally if they feel able to:

• Access a supportive and confidential professional relationship, where they are encouraged to reflect critically on themselves and their situations, celebrating their successes and being open about their mistakes and struggles, without fear of judgement
• Gain honest feedback on issues so assumptions or unhelpful thinking can be challenged
• Engage with ways of improving and explore alternative perspectives because they know they will not be criticised for experiencing dilemmas
• Receive support, particularly with difficult or unusual situations/relationships.

There are multiple models of supervision, but the three main functions common to all can be summarised as:

• Educative – focusing on developing the supervisee’s skills, understanding and capacities
• Supportive – focusing on the emotional and psychological impact of the supervisee’s work
• Qualitative – focusing on best practice and upholding professional standards.

What to expect during a reflective supervision session

Supervision sessions focus on exploring the supervisee’s practice, relationships (including with colleagues) and the impact on them/others. This will mainly involve dialogue, but by agreement, a range of activities may be used to facilitate this.  Typically, a session, whether 1:1 or group, will involve:

• a brief check-in to see how the supervisee is feeling and an agreement on how the session will be conducted, including the level of confidentiality and who will have access to any records made [i]
• an opportunity to talk about what the supervisee wants to bring to supervision, including successes and a review of anything from previous supervision sessions
• a more detailed exploration of one or two specific situations or ‘cases’ and their psychological impact, with the supervisor stimulating reflection, deeper thinking, (including alternative perspectives) and new learning/ways of working
• identification of possible actions
• a review of actions agreed, feelings and usefulness of the process.

Whilst there is a cost to supervision (financial and time), those who I’ve had the privilege of supervising have reported supervision as being a positive experience that has supported their relationships, practice, and wellbeing.

Conclusion

Supervision is not about being watched, controlled and judged but is about developing what Professor Peter Hawkins calls a ‘super form of vision’ which facilitates a fresh and deeper look at work experiences (and if relevant, factors beyond work) and both the positive and negative effects that they have on us, others and our work.

Supervision does not imply that the supervisee is ‘in deficit’ but recognises that teaching/leading schools is demanding work and that school staff are valuable and need to be looked after. Supervision can increase and replenish psychological resources, and is considered helpful in improving practice, enhancing wellbeing and reducing the likelihood of burnout and stress, including compassion stress injuries.

 

Dr Rachel Briggs has over 30 years’ experience in the education sector, working as a teacher, SENCo, DSL, deputy head (including periods as acting and co-head) and in-service teacher trainer. She has worked in England, the USA, The Gambia and Egypt. In addition to her work in schools, she has worked with Delegated Services as a SEMH needs partner. Drawing on her master’s and doctoral research and training, she now offers coaching, reflective supervision, and training in understanding and supporting educators’ workplace psychological wellbeing, including the unique psycho-social risks (compassion stress injuries) and benefits (compassion satisfaction) of educating children and young people living with vulnerabilities and/or trauma.

[i] All disclosures within supervision should be treated with a high level of discretion. All thoughts and feelings disclosed within supervision are usually confidential except by pre-agreement or if they relate to risk to children or may indicate a serious mental health problem. Information that relates to behaviour such as breaches of professional conduct and/or issues which may relate to risk to self or others are not confidential.

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