Book of the Month October 2024 -Reflective Supervision in Education

Reflective Supervision in Education is a wee gem of a book for anyone interested in supervision for education practitioners.  I was particularly interested in reading it as I have been involved with the ‘Wee Breathers’ project with Scottish Attachment in Action who are actively bringing supervision to schools in Scotland, funded by the Promise Partnership.  I was not disappointed with the book and have been recommending it to my colleagues.
 
As a social worker I have worked in different settings and supervision has been integral to my practice, as it is for many others working in the caring professions.  However, supervision for teachers is a rarity and given they have such an important role to play beyond teaching, introducing regular supervision to key staff members is a must.  As the author Hollie Edwards discusses at the beginning of the book, the welfare of pupils and staff is just as important as learning/performance, especially when stress levels in staff and mental health difficulties in children and young people are on the increase.  
 
This book provides a really useful model for putting reflective supervision in place within a school setting.  It is well laid out and takes the reader through the reasons why supervision is important, providing strong evidence to persuade those with budgets and power to prioritise it within their setting. Hollie then explores who would benefit and goes into a lot of detail about the practicalities of doing the supervision from group to individual sessions. This includes thinking about timing, size of groups and lots of other details that need to be carefully thought about.  There is a chapter towards the end of the book that helps think about how a supervision session can be structured and gives lots of suggestions for questions that supervisors can use to elicit reflection in a non-intrusive way.  A useful policy outline is provided that can be developed for your own setting.   The reader is also supported in how to build in staff feedback and evaluation.  Hollie has incorporated  comments from feedback she and other supervisors have collated, throughout the book.  These provide lovely reflections and insights into many aspects of supervision.  
 
Each chapter is really informative and I love how the author helps the reader to reflect by posing questions at strategic points.  This process would support anyone planning to introduce supervision in their education setting and motivate them to to take action.  It would equally be useful for those starting to provide supervision, particularly the more practical advice on sessions themselves.
 
The final chapter emphasises the importance of reflection in our professional lives and highlights how supervision can help to develop and utilise this skill when in the midst of difficult situations.  This is a must for education practitioners who will undoubtedly be caring for children and young people communicating distress through behaviours which can often feel stressful and challenging.  Our children deserve to have teachers who are looked after, feel less stressed and able to stay connected with their pupils even when the going gets tough.  Hollie Edwards has provided an accessible model in such a straightforward manner that it will make the journey to providing reflective supervision in education more attainable.  

Lesley Bell 
Therapeutic Social Worker

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