Supervision Models Process And Practices

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction

Supervision process is constructed in a way both a recipient and provider can benefit from the process, it is an opportunity to reflect and develop supervisory practice.

Supervision is linked to the growing regulation of health and social care professions and the explicit linking of supervision to quality and accountability.

Understanding and appreciating individuals is a means of promoting reflective practice. The writing will point out the following: supervision skills, supervision models, how competence in skills and theory enhances an ability to bring one’s own perspective and personality in support of others learning.

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/F408AFA7-816F-4499-89FD-B0807E137F05/0/general81.pdf

http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/100618.html

http://wwwnew.towson.edu/fmst/documents/defining_sup_article_Jill_and_Frank.pdf

Assignment

Definitions of supervision, Loganbill et al (1983:4)

An intensive, interpersonally focussed, one-to-one relationship in which one person is designated to facilitate a development of therapeutic competence in the other person.

The British Association of counselling and psychotherapy (1987:2) put more emphasis on the benefit of the, they state: ‘the primary purpose of supervision is to protect the interest of the client’ we would argue that this is only one core purposes of supervision and there is a need to see supervision in a wider systemic context.

2/3 different views of supervision will need to be put into writing: (Holloway 1997)

What is supervision?

Cambridge Dictionary & Thesaurus online defines supervision as follows

"When someone watches a person or activity and makes certain that everything is done correctly, safely, etc."

e.g. students are not allowed to handle these chemicals unless they are under the supervision of a teacher.

This definition almost implies anyone can be a supervisor with the word "someone".

Also the idea of "watches" can be intimidating for the supervisee, on the other hand as its observational fault or mistakes can easily be singled out.

A more recent definition of supervision Haynes et al. (2003) state that "A primary aim of supervision is to create a context in which the supervisee can acquire the experience needed to become an independent professional."

Supervision is a complex task which sets out to serve a number of key stakeholders. At a minimum supervision should be in service of:

The learning and development of the supervisee

The clients of the supervisee and the quality of service they receive

The organization(s) that employ the supervisee and the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization’s work.

The ongoing learning and development of the profession in which the supervisee , and possibly the supervisors work

In making the supervisory partnership work supervisors and supervisees need to know how supervision can make a vital difference both to staff and to service users. The bond of public trust between professionals and society’s most vulnerable members must be anchored in an assurance that their worker is accountable, supported and supervised. No longer therefore is it sufficient to train supervisors alone. There is increasing recognition of the role, responsibility and skills required of the supervisee in being a positive partner in the supervisory alliance and being active in the pursuit of their own professional development.

Supervision is an indispensable management tool for:

- Ensuring staff are managed, supported and developed,

- Ensuring services are delivered competently and effectively,

- Ensuring achievement of organisational goals,

- Assuring service users and their carers that the Department is accountable for local core practice standards and nationally set standards.

Supervision is seen on a national level regulations such as the National Minimum Standards, linked to the Care Standards Act 2000, DH (2003)states that "supervision in care homes, for example, takes place six times a year and that it focuses on all aspects of practice,philosophy of care and career development".

In 2007 "Providing Effective Supervision" was the first national policy statement on the need provided organisations in England to have a robust arrangement for supervisors. inclusively in 2008 UNISON survey a quarter of participants reported that supervision had deteriorated over the previous five years, unpublished research by community care in the same year 28% respondents reported receiving no supervision at all.

Corbett quotes "If we want to discover something we must approach it by way of not knowing, not by way of already knowing". (Corbett in Kugler 1995:74)

This illustrates that it is good to retain an attitude of respectful curiosity, and to see a supervision session as an enquiry or research, something to find out about.

This way both parties get the most out of the session, without the supervisee assuming or comparing clients to have the same kind of problem. Individualism is key.

O2-Reflective practice and reasoning

According to Kolb (1984) reflecting is an essential element of learning. Critical

reflection is thus viewed as transformational learning which noted by Baumgartner (2001) " can happen either gradually or from a sudden or critical incident and alter the way people see themselves and their world". The statement almost gives the impression everyone can reflect, but time may consist in each circumstance.

supervision and reflective practice include honesty and openness. Gillings (2000) states that a "commitment to self-enquiry and a readiness to change practice are important if the individual is to get the most out of the process".

A supervisor can encourage critical thinking and reflection to take place as Burton (2009) 'supervision sessions should support and challenge practitioner’. However whilst there is much evidence to suggest the importance of this function in practice with an increasing emphasis on bureaucratic and managerial goals and meeting targets there is a recognition that this is not always realistic nor happening (Ruch, 2007).

A reflective practitioner will have willingness to commit time to supervision process and to listen out, this helps foster a relationship that can bring challenging issues to nothing.

Keeping reflective diary to record positive experiences and achievements as well as the not affirmative ones is useful, it creates a balanced view of what has taken place in fairness and truth in order to build upon and improve. It represent an organised focused professional.

Nonetheless it is central to note that while individuals can complete stages of their reflective process model on their own "there is a limit to what each of us can achieve unaided"(Boud, Keogh & Walker, 1985 p.36). perhaps having a dialogue section like supervision can have a better impact.

O5-evaluate a range of basic supervision skills

It is important to explore necessary skills and characteristics of supervision, without trained and skilful supervisors effective supervision will be scarce. Both supervisor and supervisee bring certain skills to the supervisory relationship. All skills such as listening, problem solving and confidence is crucial.

Communicating effectively is without doubt the most important skill required to live successfully - both personally and professionally. In health and social care the skills required to be an effective care practitioner are diverse.

Communication is crucial in the process of supervision, for instance it makes emphasise that power and communication are closely intertwined. Bell (1993:44) explains Michel Foucault work on power/knowledge "the processes by which power and knowledge interact, the processes may be complex and contradictory. Through the operations of power, knowledge is formed... Foucault does not argue that power and knowledge are the same thing, rather they are entwined".

Supervisees can easily get confused concerning differences between counselling and supervision."this is not uncommon, it is the responsibility of the supervisor to maintain a boundary" Ooijen (2000:118)

Issues of confidentiality can arise in both arenas, however in counselling reveals

http://counsellingresource.com/lib/therapy/aboutcouns/supervision/

"The practice of supervision means that many details provided by clients are shared with people other than the counsellor concerned. However, overall client confidentiality is still safeguarded". Meanwhile in supervision there’s not always assurance/guarantee of confidentiality in place. In both circumstance he or she will need to be able to remain professional and yet engage with people in ways that make them feel comfortable and form trust creating effective working relationships.

Transference and countertransference can come into play in all relationships, but most particularly in those Imitating parent-child situations where power is unequal. Supervisors need to be alert to this and to be vigorously self-aware.

Hall et al. (2008) explored mentors’ perceptions of the role in teacher training in the USA, and found that it comprises being

Parent figure

Scaffolder

Supporter

Source of advise

Trouble shooter

Furthermore, the NMC (2008a) indicates that to enable effective learning, at least 40 per cent of the student’s placement time must be spent working with the mentor, however this is largely questionable due to issues of time. Stated by Gopee (2011) "Mentoring can be made even more efficient by the use of learning contracts".

Learning contracts was advocated by Knowles et al. (1998) in the context of adult learners needing to exercise some self-direction in their learning, this to an extent does not encourage independence in adult learning.

O3-development/Learning styles and supervision

How we differ in our preferences and an approach to learning and development is, thought to be due to a mix of our personality and cognitive processes (or how we have learnt to learn). (Fry et al 1999)

Honey and mumford’s learning style as well as Kolb’s are accepted proponents with many years of research. There are similarities in the way Kolb and then Honey and Mumford group different learning styles. Kolb suggests four styles of learning manifested by students: the converger, the diverger, the assimilator and the accommodator. Likewise Honey and mumford (2000) suggests that individual learners vary between whether they are activists, reflectors, theorists or pragmatists.

In relation to supervision, a supervisor with traits of "activists" may naturally be a great talker, but might lack listening skills. He/ she is brilliant coming up with solutions to the supervisees work issues, however they may not allow the supervisee to learn or deliver at their own pace. This inturn could be frustrating for the supervisior working at a "slow pace". In conclusion no one benefits from such a session.

‘Engagement theory’ (e.g. Kearsly and Shneiderman, 1998) says that "for successful learning activities to take place students must be engaged in meaningful tasks, with other people, not just computer programs".

This implies that supervision process should be interactive, in order for learning to take place for both supervisor and supervisee. Meaningful task wouldn’t include a "tick box" or e-learning for example. Perhaps workshop or group supervision will be ideal. Group supervision is expected to function effectively almost immediately due to human interaction, none the less on the development of groups, they all go through a series of stages before they become really effective. Time factor needs to be considered. Also Proctor (2000:8) "argues that managing group supervision is a specific ability that requires ‘added courage and self‐discipline"

In addition to theories and individual styles of learning, inclusion and focus should heed special education needs (SEN) of individuals. Students with special educational needs are voiced for, however in employment it’s almost a different scenario. "universities have an obligation to comply with legal requirements, such as Disability Discrimination Act, Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI, 2005), (Equality Challenge Unit, 2010) all have it mandatory for student to acquire professional skills in practice settings for a specific number of hours during the course.

O3- possiblites/problems/ professional practice as a whole.

Reeves et al. (1997) It is worth considering several factors that can affect a supervisory relationship:

• Gender – same gender may facilitate the relationship

• Cultural background – same cultural / ethnic background may facilitate the relationship

Problems with supervision are that according to Morrison et al, (2010) "too many line managers report that their selection to this vital post involved no discussion or testing of their supervisory commitment, knowledge or skill". This questions issues of competency.

Too often workers settle for "having supervision" rather than having good supervision, where they miss the concept of a crucial difference.

A quality assurance scheme should be in place to include focus on remedial action when it is clear that supervision is not being delivered to the required standard. Research into "what works" consistently points to the need for relationship based practice built on a sound understanding on the service user’s perspective, history and current circumstances. Mckeown (2000) In contrast limited research exists into the impact of supervision on outcomes for service users.

Service user involvement enhances self-esteem and promotes a positive self-image for them.

Cox (2010) reveals outcomes from the service user perspective

The overall benefits of improved and increased involvement will be:

• Better outcomes of health and social care

• Increased service user and carer satisfaction

• Improved service user and carer experience

• More responsive and cost effective services

• A strengthening of public confidence in locally provided services.

• That everyone involved in experiencing services will be

Empowered to propose change to support improvement of quality.

• That the service user and their carer will have control over what

happens to them, understanding their options and the reasoning

behind them.

This shows that involving service users is beneficiary, however there are ethical responsibilities for organisation, statutory, private and voluntary. For example health and safety consideration will need to be complied, and where appropriate risk assessment will need to be carried out. Additionally data protection of service users and carer is paramount.

In practice The National Service Framework for Mental Health proposes that "service users … should be involved in planning, providing and evaluating education and training" (DoH,1999, p.109).

History of supervision

Changes in employment and education means many result to apprentiships, therefore supervision is mandatory due to inexperience of apprentices. Lack of supervision will mean the company is at lost financially cause the apprentice may not be delivering a good service, for the apprentice this could mean not developing or progressing in the organisation/ field of interest.

"Apprenticeships are nationally recognised training programmes for students between the ages of 16-25. This programme gives people the chance to earn as they learn. The speed at which the person will achieve their Apprenticeship depends upon both their ability and the employer’s requirements. Usually, an Apprenticeship will last between one and three years". www.unison.org.uk/.../.

The experience of organisations and staff is one of being stretched to the limits, by extraordinary levels of demand, rising public expectations, efficiency savings, relentless change and a crisis in staff recruitment and retention. The paradox is that at the very time when supervision has never been more important to the process of change, it may also be problematic.

Today, supervision requires supervisors to have a multitude of skills and procedural knowledge. These skills include: the ability to initiate and maintain a positive supervisory relationship, the ability to be competent and demonstrate competence, the ability to assess the needs of both the supervisees and all the clients they will serve and practicing multiple modes of direct observation of the supervisee’s work.

http://www.canville.net/malone/home-study-course-200903.pdf

Managers are expected to develop relationships and environments that enable people to work together and respond to change. Such ‘joint performance’ involves having common goals, common values, the right structures, and continuing training and development (Drucker 1988: 75).

The Professional Development Award (PDA) in Health and Social Care Supervision at SCQF level 7, was created to meet the requirements of social service workers who are registered with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) at support or practitioner level, and who are now in a supervisory role requiring additional qualifications.

This qualification is designed for employees who are in their first-line-management role and who provide supervision, support and guidance to other staff. Examples of possible job titles include senior care workers, senior support workers and senior day-care workers in services for older people, mental health, home care and housing support. This qualification is available through colleges.

http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/35803.html

Experiential learning consists of the following four components (Woolfe 1992, 1): 1. The student is aware of the processes which are taking place, and which are enabling learning to occur. 2. The student is involved in a reflective experience which enables him/ her to relate current learning to part, present and future, even if these relationships are felt rather than thought. 3. The experience and content are personally significant: what is being learned and how it is being learned have a special importance for the person. 4. There is an involvement of the whole self: body, thoughts, feelings and actions, not just of the mind; in

other words, the student is engaged as a whole person. Woolfe,( 1992)

In traditional teacher-directed approaches using structured lesson or lecture formats and teacher-initiated decisions, learning takes place mainly at an intellectual level. The students remain more or less passive recipients of information that does not require them to examine their own emotional responses to the subject material. They can thus remain personally unaware of the effects of their own response to the subject.

Winston and Creamer (1994) provide an instrument to identify supervisory approaches , the four approaches included in the instrument are:

Authoritarian - based on the belief that staff members require constant attention

Laissez Faire - based on the desire to allow staff members freedom in accomplishing job responsibilities

Companionable - based on a friendship-like relationship

Synergistic - a cooperative effort between the supervisor and the staff member

O4 supervsion as growth/means of peer support

Good supervision should be demanded, in order to deliver an effective service. An assertive rather than passive attitude is needed. But not everyone has an assertive behaviour, also passive personality maybe able to reflect more. It goes to show that supervision is an individual affair and should be treated as such. Issues of culture can be in misconception, as in some cultures being soft/warm would be seen as respectful in a work environment this is needed.

Health and social care is a complex, challenging yet interesting and fulfilling sector to be working in. However due to complexity, sadly workers are likely to be affected physically or emotionally. Many will rely on Support network/ peers to overcome and be active practitioners for service users.

There is also the issue of "who supervises the supervisors?" It is important to ensure that supervisors themselves are still meeting professional requirements by receiving supervision.

Kavanagh (2002) Clinical supervisors are often senior and experienced practitioners. However, this does not guarantee that these individuals have the skills, up-to-date knowledge and confidence to be effective clinical supervisors.

Kavanagh (2003)Providing training (if necessary) and support to supervisors is likely to enhance the effectiveness of a clinical supervision program. It may also enhance recruitment of supervisors into the program.

National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction (NCETA). (2005) reveals it may be useful to develop a set of criteria to guide the selection of supervisors. It is recommended that clinical supervisors be selected on the basis of the following criteria:

• Experience in the AOD field (2-5 years)

• Up-to-date knowledge and skills

• Willingness to supervise

• Not performing a line manager role (if a clinical supervisor is also the supervisee’s manager an alternate, independent support should be available to the supervisee).

O6-theroy enhances ability-personality styles-in support of own/others learning.

(Slovenko, 1980). Supervision is assumed to protect consumers from incompetent, poorly trained, or beginning clinicians who need assistance because they are in the process of learning.

Alfred Kadushin goes back to earlier commentators such as John Dawson (1926) who stated the functions of supervision in the following terms:

Administrative - the promotion and maintenance of good standards of work, co-ordination of practice with policies of administration, the assurance of an efficient and smooth-running office;

Educational - the educational development of each individual worker on the staff in a manner calculated to evoke her fully to realize her possibilities of usefulness; and

Supportive - the maintenance of harmonious working relationships, the cultivation of  esprit de corps. [This is Kadushin's (1992) rendering of Dawson 1926: 293].

The three elements as inter linked (or as overlapping). They flow into another, if we are to remove one element then the process becomes potentially less satisfying to both the immediate parties - and less effective. It is easy to simply identify managerial supervision with administrative supervision.

In administrative supervision the primary problem is concerned with the correct, effective and appropriate implementation of agency policies and procedures. The primary goal is to ensure adherence to policy and procedure (Kadushin 1992: 20). The supervisor has been given authority by the agency to oversee the work of the supervisee. This links with questions concerning power relationships within supervision.

Firstly, because one person may be seen as more powerful (perhaps in the sense that they occupy a particular position, or are experts in their field) this should not encourage us to fall into the trap of seeing the other party as powerless. Supervisors can be held accountable for the quality of the service they provide; and supervisees for their practice with clients. Both have a responsibility to participate appropriately in the professional community of which they are a part.

In educational supervision the primary problem is worker ignorance regarding the knowledge, attitude and skills required to do the job. The primary goal is to dispel ignorance and upgrade skill. The classic process involved with this task is to encourage reflection on, and exploration of the work

Workers are seen as facing a variety of job-related stresses which, unless they have help to deal with them, could seriously affect their work and lead to a less than satisfactory service to clients. For the worker there is ultimately the problem of 'burnout'. Kadushin argues that the other two forms of supervision focus on instrumental needs, whereas supportive supervision is concerned with expressive needs.

Prior to the 1900, boards, associations, state legislation, and charities governed clinical practices. It was not until the 1900s that individual supervision was defined, and formalized. It was after this time that training schools were developed specifically for the training of clinicians. After some time, group supervision was added to broaden the training of clinicians. The introduction of group supervision made it possible to train more supervisees, and reduce the need for as many supervisors. In 1935, Freudian therapy was the major focus of supervision. Clinical supervision spent most of its time training supervisees on this new theory and practice. As time went on other theories were added to the clinical supervision arena.

The following writing looks at models of supervision, also they will be grouped up into professions. Finally the writer will design a model to meet her needs within a profession. Theory and model of supervision increases supervisor knowledge, it also provides guidance for how to direct "student" learning.

In nursing, midwifery, health visiting and clinical and educational psychology there is a requirement for professional supervision by someone from the same discipline.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (2000) state that "Clinical supervision is a practice-focused professional relationship involving a practitioner reflecting on practice guided by a skilled supervisor" (Stephenson 2005). The General Social Care Council (GSCC) recognises that in recent years there has been a

trend, reinforced by government policy, towards blurring role differences and loosening boundaries between professional disciplines. Social work roles tend to be more elastic than those of many other disciplines, It can be difficult for social work to draw hard and fast boundaries round its roles. (GSCC, 2008).

Standard of supervision (1990) identify knowledge of models as fundamental to ethical practice. Page and Wosket (2001:23) also notes "arguably the most important piece of equipment for any supervisor is a conceptual understanding or model of supervision".

There can be confusion about what "models of supervision" means, as the "word" may mean different things to different people and various helping professionals. Models should help us to clarify what is done in supervision, how it is done and why.

Models of supervision are not used or spoken about much in supervision session across various professions; this could be due to its complexity and conflict between professionals as to what model is best suited to one. Hawkins and Shohet (2006) states "many professions are not as clear about their code of practice for supervision". This asks questions about the standard of induction process taken place in work places.

Professions-counselling/nursing/

Education/social work

Supervision norms were typically conveyed indirectly during the rituals of an apprenticeship. As supervision became more purposeful, three types of models emerged. These were: (1) developmental models, (2) integrated models, and (3) orientation-specific models. http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0101-supervision%20models.html

Developmental-education

A general developmental process is typical to be continuously identifying new areas of growth in a life-long learning process.

The supervision models have stimulated much supervision research; however there are few research studies that explicitly investigate supervisee development over time. Fleming and Steen (2004)

Ellis and ladany (1997) conclude that supervisees may increase in autonomy as they gain experience,and that beginning supervisees may prefer structured supervisor.

For supervisors employing a development approach to supervision, the key is to

accurately identify the supervisee’s current stage and provide feedback and support

appropriate to that developmental stage, while at the same time facilitating the

supervisee’s progression to the next stage (Littrell, Lee-Borden, & Lorenz, 1979;

Throughout this process, not only is the supervisee exposed to new information and counseling skills, but the interaction between supervisor and supervisee also fosters the development of advanced critical thinking skills. The behaviour of supervisors change as supervisee’s gain experience and the supervisory relationship also changes (Worthington 1987)

This shows fear of the supervisee getting to the same level of knowledge, to an extent losing power and control. On the other hand its good if the relationship changes for the better, implies the supervisee is getting independent with the process. This saves time in the long run, as supervision would not have to be regular, moreover time is used delivering service to users.

Additionally supervisees learn to become responsible in their area of work and accountable for the outcome of what they do. besides, their problem-solving and decision-making skills are also developed. With a supervisor around, the team usually depends on the supervisor when it comes to decisions.

A pro of the developmental model is it, allows a supervisor to assess practitioners against key professional competencies, using interventions relevant to the practitioner’s stage. Also practitioner can 'cycle and recycle through the various stages at increasingly deeper levels' as they develop in their experience and competence. Negatives of the developmental model is no consideration to cultural bias, "do not take account of a person's experience due to race, class, gender or sexual orientation" (Moffat 1996) also Pack (2009) reveals "knowing is associated with competence and not knowing is failure can lead to supervises acting on their own which can result in dire consequences". Conflict can arise, as you either know it or not. However it depends on an open supervisory relationship to understand and find a balance.

Mentoring model is commonly used in education, nonetheless nursing lends itself to mentoring especially during training. Stewart and Krueger’s study (1996:315) notes "Mentoring in nursing is a teaching-learning process acquired through personal experience within a one-to-one, reciprocal, career development relationship between two individuals diverse in age, personality, life cycle, professional status, and/or credential". It suggests that the concept of mentoring model can be applied in other professions other than the norm in education.

A mentor needs to be someone whom one can share failures as well as successes. In some instances a mentor is assigned to a mentee when they join an organisation, it is commonly assumed the relationship will work...almost a forced relationship. But usually the relationships flourish when the mentor and mentee both have compatible expectation. Mckimm and Jolie (2003) reveals "there may be difficulty if the same person providing the mentoring support is running your appraisal and is in charge of hiring and firing you".

Advantages of mentoring model is that it improves performance and productivity as well as likelihood of promotion in the organisation that match his/her interest and skills Gordon (1991).

Disadvantages of mentoring model includes, frustration arising for both mentor and mentoree, as either emotionally pushing or not pushing can be of concern. The relationship can be ongoing and a point of reference throughout that individual’s career. Also mentors normally have numerous other responsibilities and work demand that can create conflict with the time required for mentoring colleagues. Meanwhile with some organisations providing mentors with financial rewards, such as bonuses, it ll encourage working ethics.

Integrated –social work

Examples of Integrative supervision models include: Holloway’s (1995) systems approach to supervision. The relationship is the core factor containing the process of the supervision interaction. It is an effort to create a meaningful approach to understanding and practicing supervision. In support of holloway’s model, American researchers (ramos-sanchez et al, 2002) demonstrated in their explanatory study of supervision "(n=126) that highly developed supervisees self-reported a better working relationship with their supervisors than those supervisees at the beginning of their careers".

Law (2007:123) suggests that her model "provides a structure into which virtually any theory may be fitted" and in this way I find it a well-designed, inclusive and thought provoking model for providing a framework.

Systems approach is not prescriptive and does not delineate levels or stages a supervisor is to move through before becoming competent.

The solution-focused approach is simple, collaborative and respectful while being easily understood by health service staff (Waskett, 2006).

The solution-focused approach is not a problem-solving model, but a solution building one.

The solution- focused approach consists of several techniques that a helper can use to assist people in identifying existing skills, strengths, resources and goals. These techniques include the use of scales, the miracle question, searching for exceptions, constructive feedback and follow-up tasks.( Fowler 2007)

Negatives of the approach is that it requires an incorporation of educational components in order to develop, also if supervisees lack knowledge supervisors may be tempted to take lead of supervision defeating the purpose.

It differs from a number of other approaches in that superior clinical knowledge is not necessarily useful or even helpful in solution-focused supervision, where the spotlight falls clearly on the practitioner's abilities, and their quest for knowledge and improvement, rather than on the supervisor as the fount of all knowledge.

Solution focused supervision is mainly different from other types of supervision in that the supervisee is believed to have the answers , in comparison with other supervision models such as cyclical it occurs over a number of stages that have to be completed whereas solution focused supervision allows for a more flexible flow of development.

Orientations- counselling

In person-centered therapy, "the attitudes and personal characteristics of the therapist and the quality of the client-therapist relationship are the prime determinants of the outcomes of therapy" (Haynes, Corey, & Moulton, 2003, p. 118).

The Cyclical Model has been pointed as the first comprehensive, accessible and holistic model of the supervision process for British counsellors, although the authors suggest that the model can be applied to other professions (Page and Wosket, 1994).

This type is a systemic model and integrates the strengths of different models into a systemic framework which helps lead the supervisor through stages of supervision, each stage can be used to look in depth at what is needed to help the counsellor help the client more.

The Cyclical Model is based on humanistic, psychodynamic and cognitive‐behavioural principles. A central precept of the Cyclical Model is that supervision should be primarily a containing and enabling process rather than an educational or therapeutic process.

A downside of the model is that practitioners unfamiliar with psychodynamic theory may find it difficult to understand and use. Although the authors suggest that the model should be applied flexibly, the sequence of stages appears fixed and may create frustration in a supervision session that naturally followed an alternative path.

Similarly to cyclical model- eclectic model is mostly used in counselling and psychotherapy too, and underpinned by the person-centred approach to counselling.

Maslow first developed The person-centred approach to psychotherapy (1968) in response to the scientific model of human learning, which he found too restrictive and controlling. Eclectics believe that the purpose of supervision is learning and the development of the supervisee. Drawbacks is present as maintaining standards, by motivating another to achieve can prove impossible. furthermore conflict may arise within agencies finding a balance between the supervisee’s needs, the service user’s and the company’s requirement.

A summary of the models examined, see each approach with its benefits as well as limitations with many theories of supervision being knowledge-specific and limited to a particular type of therapeutic practice. Several factor theories are evident across the models of supervision.

Functions of improving service delivery, accomplishing administrative tasks to achieve organizational goals.

Leadership and interpersonal skill

The supervision relationship, the very heart of supervisory process.

Regardless of any model used relevance should be to enable supervisee’s to build up new professional and personal insight through their own work experience, meanwhile an environment which discourages individual growth and development will not witness competency in staff, not to mention quality service for service users.

According to Carpenter et al(2012). "Despite the many of models of supervision, few, if any, are based on empirical research". This is ironic since many supervisors actively seek to promote evidence-based practice.

Lastly the subsequent writing will witness a creation of own model of supervision to meet needs within a professional setting as a support worker for children with disability.

My own model will offer a generic idea, connecting the goals and purposes of supervision to the functions and roles of supervision. The name for the model is educate and counsel approach, this is because it almost stands a holistic model unfolding the entire supervision process.

The supervision functions of the model are:

Development

support

My models has a similar research existence "Given that there is a lack of models in the literature which address counselor educators‟ efforts to promote cognitive development, as noted by Granello (2000), this model is an attempt to merge current theories into a single".

Notably social work ideas of models/approaches were not drawn upon as it implies supervisee has a problem which needs solving. Meanwhile they may just want someone to converse with in order of restoring well being and a feel of competency in the job.

The educate part relies on developmental model except that different stages of development and recognize that supervisee move through the stages will be exempt. As the stages could imply one needs to be competent to move through one-to-two, which is not always proper. The developmental aspect i’ll focus on will be the notion that we learn and grow continuously.

The counsel side of the model takes a person centred approach creating positive environment with:

Respect

Empathy

Genuineness

Unconditional positive regard

Meams and Thomas (2007)

Developed by Carl Rodgers, he proposed that a person will grow and develop if these conditions are in place. Most importantly the counsel sets to morally support.

Model will incorporate both supervisor and supervisee learning from each other, using active listening and effective question asking depending on learning style. supervisors are not known to be hands on with clients so they can be enlightened in that area vise versa supervisees lack knowledge on administration, for example current legislation. Nonetheless it is workers responsibility as well as organisations to keep workers knowledge upto date; Continious professional development.

CPD is ineffective if health workers are spending time away from their practice participating in classes or workshops that are irrelevant to their practice setting. also it simply does not work if unsuccessful in developing skills and competences. (IOM 2009; Muula et al. 2004). In contrary continuing professional development is valuable if there is a clear need or reason for the particular CPD to be undertaken. Including follow-up provision is made for reinforcing the learning accomplished (WFME 2003)

There is evidence to show that rapport between the supervisor and supervisee is improved when sessions outside the workplace (Winstanley 2000) this may diminish potential guilt for not "caring for patient" during work time (Gilmore 2001) along with less risk of being interrupted.

Educate and counsel (EC) approach seeks to encourage learning, furthermore Learning /reflective environment should include all parties involved: i.e service user, supervisor and supervisee. A relationship base across, supervisior, supervisee and client (disabled children) should be secure attachment. However for children with issued early childhood the key elements of positive relationship building can be problematic and virtually impossible.

Failures about EC approach is difficulty to keep one motivated to learn .......Huit (2011) notes "Action or overt behavior may be initiated by either positive or negative incentives or a combination of both". This indicates that if someone is "forced" or pressured into learning they may forge the process, as a result no learning/development occurs. More disadvantages see the uncertaintiy of choosing own supervisior, as with counselling supervision., this goes on to temper with supervisory relationship.

A rundown of my own model is it embraces learning as a definite continuous process of supervision in education. As well as incorporating counselling methods of person centered, although in EC approach everyone is centred. The education success is not complete without moral support.

Conclusion

The central focus of supervision is the quality of practice offered by the supervisee to clients.  Supervisors' authority is derived from their positions in agencies or the appropriate community of practice (profession). There are issues arising from the hierarchical position of supervisors.  In some forms of supervision e.g. direct observation of practice is a major obstacle to the exploration of practice; in others an aid. This shows that processes of supervision shouldn’t be fixed, as it differs in response from supervisees.

A competent supervisor must not only acquire various skills and knowledge base, but also apply them to the individual cases. The purpose is to help identify obstacles that prevent the supervisee from learning, growing and in due course meeting their service user’s needs. The relationship supervision adheres to is honesty, consistency, dependability and the ability to work on building trust.

Most literature reading deliberates the primary aim of supervision, being to provide the best support to service users. Hardly any notes the aim for the well being of job satisfaction for workers. Satisfied workers are much likely to remain in jobs, diminishing issues of unemployment in society.