Why is Supervision Important?
Appropriate school counseling supervision is one of the critical training components for graduate students for the profession of school counseling. Practicing school counselors play a vital role in the student’s development and preparedness to meet the many demands and myriad of concerns experienced in the role of a professional school counselor.
Studer, J.R. (2006). Supervising the school counselor trainee: Guidelines for practice. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.
Expectations of Site Supervisors
While there are many benefits of being a site supervisor, there are also important tasks that we ask of our site supervisors. These are:
- Provide orientation, structure, and direction to graduate school counseling student on site activities.
- Include crisis plan, suicide policy and assessment/intervention procedures, bullying policy and procedures, and any other key school policies/protocols.
- Assist graduate school counseling student in gaining parental permission for taping.
- Assist graduate school counseling student in locating K-12 students to counsel and group members (if student is planning to facilitate small group counseling).
- Facilitate weekly meetings with graduate school counseling student on site.
- Provide weekly supervision (minimum of 1-hour).
- Provide constructive feedback to graduate school counseling student about both counseling and administrative skills.
- Provide written feedback at midterm to graduate school counseling student, and written final evaluation feedback provided to both graduate school counseling student and faculty supervisor.
- Visit with faculty to discuss graduate school counseling student’s progress during the site visit.
- Contact university faculty supervisor and/or clinical coordinator immediately when there is a concern.
Supervisor Qualifications
Site supervisors must have the following qualifications:
(1) a minimum of a master’s degree, preferably in counseling, or a related profession;
(2) relevant certifications and/or licenses;
(3) a minimum of two years of pertinent professional experience in the specialty area in which the student is enrolled;
(4) knowledge of the program’s expectations, requirements, and evaluation procedures for students; and
(5) relevant training in counseling supervision.
(CACREP, 2016, Section III).
Clinical, developmental and administrative supervision
When competently done, supervision not only enhances the quality of counselors’ skills, but also helps hone professional judgment, “encourages greater self- awareness, and fosters an integrated professional and personal identity as a counselor” (Borders, 1991, 253). Barret and Schmidt (1986) outlined a useful schema for distinguishing between the kinds of supervision needed for/by school counselors: clinical, developmental, and administrative. In this distinction, the purpose of each supervision type accounts for the different procedures used by the various supervisors available in schools.
The purpose of clinical supervision is enhancement of counselors’ professional skills and ethical functioning. The data sources which support clinical supervision include observations of counselors applying their professional skills and values. In the school setting, the typical opportunities for gathering data to support clinical supervision are available (e.g., live and/or recorded observations, case presentations, and consultations). Clinical supervisors must be counselors who are competent in the school counselor functions and in supervision practices.
The purpose of developmental supervision is improvement of the guidance and counseling program and counselors’ pursuit of professional development. Data sources which support developmental supervision are recordings of goals and activities undertaken to attain goals and measures of goal attainment, program plans and implementation calendars, self-reports, and consumer satisfaction surveys. Developmental supervision is best provided by competent school counselors from the same system as the supervisee.
The purpose of administrative supervision is assurance that counselors have worthy work habits, comply with laws and policies, relate well with other school staff and parents, and otherwise work effectively within the school system. Data sources supporting administrative supervision are such things as work schedules, recordkeeping and documentation systems, and evidence of team efforts. Either school counselor supervisors or building administrators may be providers of administrative supervision.
Henderson, P. (1994). Supervision of school counselors. Eric Digest. Retrieved on November 8, 2011 from http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~drbryce/Supervising%20School%20Counselors.pdf.