Supervision

Supervision is about enabling someone to grow and develop in their role through regular opportunities for support and reflection with another person.

There are several different models of supervision. Some of them focus on pastoral support and some focus on knowledge, skills and competence; often there is a combination of the two.  

Supervision supports a healthy safeguarding culture as it encourages accountability, transparency and reflective practice (learning from experience – both good and bad). Regular supervision meetings allow workers to raise concerns, ask for clarification and build positive relationships with team leaders. Supervision also reduces the risk of misunderstanding and unsafe practice. Team leaders can check understanding through structured questions and ensure workers are equipped, empowered and encouraged in their roles. Without this regular, scheduled time, a worker might be reluctant to ask for help or may not even realise they need it.  

Pastoral Supervision 

Emotional support/ Pastoral supervision recognises that the worker is a whole person and that their role and life outside their role interact with and have an impact on each other. It can prevent burnout and ensures the organisation is taking care of the safety and wellbeing of its people. Pastoral supervision, or the pastoral elements of a wider supervision meeting, don’t need to be recorded and can be confidential (with the usual safeguarding limits on this).  

Role-Specific Supervision 

Role specific / task assistance supervision is focused on developing skills, confidence and competence. It could involve setting and reviewing objectives, working through case studies or discussing a live issue that the supervisee is working on and has questions about. These meetings should be supplemented by a written record, and the worker needs copy of meeting notes and objective agreements.

Things to consider 

Think about who would be a suitable person to undertake supervision meetings. Will it be the same person to cover pastoral and role specific elements or two different people? Often supervision will be conducted by a line manager or team leader but there are benefits to peer supervision or external supervision as well.  

Consider how often supervision meetings should be held, who should be involved, where they should take place (including virtual options), standard questions / areas for discussion, length of meeting and desired outcomes.