Reflecting on EP supervision in schools: What senior leaders think

Over a three-year period, Educational Psychology supervision was offered to principals and senior leaders of 11 primary and secondary schools, within an education trust, in an inner city within the East Midlands. Five, 1:1 supervision sessions a year, were offered to senior leaders. At the end of the three-year period, the perspective of senior leaders was explored using a semi-structured questionnaire, which was analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis. Findings indicated that senior leaders highly valued EP supervision. A number of key themes emerged. Senior leaders reported that EP supervision enabled them to feel supported and valued. It was considered to be a non-biased, authentic and respectful process which promoted wellbeing through stress and anxiety management, supporting emotional containment and coping, increasing confidence and developing resilience and self-awareness. Senior leaders perceived the EP supervision to provide them with an opportunity for reflection, supporting problem-solving and goal-oriented outcomes; They also felt that supervision was enhanced through the role of an EP as an external professional to the school and trust, with protected time set aside to engage in the process. Without a clearly defined and targeted outcome from the outset, the robust nature of the evaluation findings could be questioned. There are also many variables which may support staff wellbeing. However, through the practice of supervision and the feedback gained, it emerges that the flexibility of the EP, with their ability to draw on different paradigms in order to follow the supervisees lead, through a consultative model of service delivery, indicates that the process of EP supervision is highly valued by the senior leaders who took part. The senior leaders in this study felt that EP supervision had a positive impact on their work, wellbeing, reflective practice and in some cases decision making.