Reflective Supervision in Education

In June 2019 Barnardo's Scotland published a report on “Supervision in Education - Healthier Schools For All”, it summarised some of the challenges faced by school staff opening a conversation about the limited support available for their mental health and wellbeing.

It commented on the daily engagement that school staff have with children (and their families) who are struggling due to challenging home circumstance which inevitably also enter the school environment. It acknowledes and highlights the increasing pressures and challenges of the role in itself, and the high turn over of staff and issues of “burnout”.

Reflective supervision was highlighted as a means to support teacher wellbeing and mental health. But what is it?

Supervision in education is a non judgemental, collaborative process where education practitioners are supported to reflect on their practice, relationships, the emotional demands of their work and the impact of these and the wider education system on their psychological wellbeing. Through dialogue, new meaning emerges and learning is co-created, forming new pathways for action which can contribute to best practice, effective relationships, enhanced wellbeing and professional and personal development

Trauma-informed schools - Paper #2

Nicki Lawrence 2020

Barnardos Scotland

Teachers Experiences of Reflective Supervision

“As a Head Teacher I sought the support of a trained supervisor to work with myself and my pastoral team. I did this because I trained as a counsellor and experienced benefits, first hand of Supervision. The benefits were; helped me tease out how the Child Protection cases I was involved in were affecting my life; brought clarity; time to reflect and solve issues in a calm and designated space; my time to 'just be'; made me more efficient in work as it gave me more head space; explored strategies for helping others; reduced stress; increased my confidence; greater self-awareness and understanding; improved home and work life; helped me to see victims in my school of child abuse as survivors and gave me skills to deal more effectively with the children and their parents”

“pause, reflect and press re-set”

“Supervision is a most valuable process that gives everyone involved a voice. A safe space to talk honestly about what is happening and how you are feeling. I found it had a unique impact on my wellbeing”

Calm Together is passionate about creating a reflective supervision space for teaching staff and senior leaders to engage in a process which will support not only their own resilience and resourcefulness but offer opportunities to build skills with a trauma informed lens, bringing calm to themselves and ultimately to the children and young people around them.

Interested, want to talk more?

Links for supervision in education