The supervision series: what is the purpose of supervision?
This is the second in a short blog series around the topic of supervision in education. First up was ‘what is supervision’? Now I’m sharing what I see to be the three main functions of supervision.
There’s a lot written about supervision in a variety of professional contexts and relationships. Distilling this alongside my own experiences in education, I see that supervision has three main functions:
Resourcing: helping you come back to yourself, your family and your learning community refreshed, resourced and ready.
Growth: supporting you to become more effective, in flow and skilled in your leadership role.
Grounding: situating your work within the professional standards and values of being an educator.
(Adapted from Inskipp & Proctor 1993)
Have you ever thought:
I can’t keep doing this.
There has to be a better way.
Everyone else seems to be coping.
That didn’t go as planned | as I thought or hoped it would.
How can I be a better leader?
How can I support the team better?
I just need to switch off more.
I need a thicker skin.
If I can just get to the weekend or the holidays.
I’m exhausted, I haven’t even touched my to-do list and it’s already 10 past 4.
This isn’t an exhaustive list but I’m sure you get the gist. If you’ve had these or thoughts like these then firstly, please know you are not alone. Secondly, this is the kind of thinking, doing and being that supervision can help with. Together with myself or with a group of colleagues we can explore these thoughts and patterns and find ways to gently yet boldly shift them in a way that supports you both as a person and a leader.
If you are curious about exploring supervision and how it might support you and | or your team, please get in touch. I can help you work out if it’s what you’re looking for.
Next up I share how supervision works.
