Roles & responsibility
What is staff supervision?
Staff supervision is the regular structured meeting between a member of staff and their supervisor, covering practice, wellbeing, development and any concerns.
In a setting where staff absorb a great deal, it is a wellbeing measure as much as a management one, and it is where the effects of a difficult period first become visible.
It is also a safeguarding mechanism: it is where a member of staff raises something they are uncertain about, and where a supervisor notices a change in someone's practice.
It needs to happen and to be recorded, and its frequency is one of the things an inspector looks at as an indicator of whether leadership is functioning.
What goes wrong in practice
- Cancelled repeatedly under operational pressure, which is when it matters most.
- Recorded as having happened with no note of what was discussed.
- Treated as performance management, so staff bring nothing difficult to it.