Models of Professional Supervision Within The Care Field

There are many examples of models of professional supervision within the care field, they include the development, discrimination, supervisory alliance and also orientation-specific models such as behavioural supervision. Many instances include there being one-to-one sessions between the supervisor and the supervisee, this can be seen as useful for ensuring that work within the staff is being discussed thoroughly between the working groups.

Development models happen to be the conviction that a person still has the ability to grow towards their personal aims, hence the name development. It can be known that people continue to enhance their current ethics and improve towards an area where they are most comfortable in. They can aim to benefit their working skills within an environment and therefore enforce a better knowledge towards their understanding of the subject. According to the Stoltenberg and Delworth Model, (1987) it aimed to have many different development levels in which the supervisee must resort to when looking to continue their knowledge regarding the elements needed to continue advanced work. Included in the large list was examples such as intervention skills and also assessment techniques within the environment, in order to complete these levels, it takes a strong development technique in which would be significantly beneficial when it regards to supervision.

According to the Stoltenberg and Delworth Theory, (1987) it conveys that there are three main levels in which concerns the supervisee, thee beginning, intermediate and also the advanced. This can provide the evidence that development can be made throughout the whole process as the supervisee is able to advance their skills in order to achieve all set goals. Another main element within the theory is that it includes the processes of awareness, motivation and autonomy, in which these are key fundamentals towards the growth of the supervisee's skills within the workforce and more. There are set processes in order to gain the recognition for the supervisee's strengths and weaknesses when dealing with a range of key notations. As they progress through the areas, they are then able to use the development to their own advantage as aim to use what they have absorbed in their personal work. It has been proven that in many instances, when people are able to negotiate what they have learned and use their weaknesses to their own advances and progress what they already know to more progressive areas, they then are able to improve to the best of their ability. This will be made significantly prominent as they continue to improve.

When combining the ability to strengthen and grow your skills in different areas, it will be considerably beneficial towards your entire experience and the future of your work, it also enables you to move forward with your self-assurance as well as your self-resilience of each individual level in the area of interest. As Worthington (1987) suggests that when the supervisee aims to improve and gain the correct development, the behaviour of the supervisor will tend to change as they are acknowledging the attempts made by the supervisee as their objective is to expand their understanding. This can also be made evident by Bernard and Goodyear when they state: "This relationship is evaluative, extends over time and has the simultaneous purposes of enhancing the professional functioning of the junior member, monitoring the quality of professional services." (Bernard and Goodyear, 1998)

The discrimination model focuses on the areas of the supervisor being three roles; a teacher, a counsellor and a consultant. Meaning that as well as being someone to refer to for working circumstances, they can also be someone to talk to as referred to in the cognitive model, when there is almost a scenario that requires someone on a level as a therapist, then it can often be a situation where you may consider a supervisor to be of vital importance towards the role. There has to be a mutual understanding between a supervisor and their supervisee that there are various roles and responsibilities that are obtained when gaining a supervisor position.

Additionally, another model that is deemed of importance is the cognitive or perhaps known as the behavioural model, explained by Beck, the cognitive model is a: "Hypothesises that people's emotions and behaviours are influences by their perceptions of events, it is not a situation in and of itself that determines what people feel but rather the way in which they construe a situation." (Beck, 1964) When considering supervision, it plays a significant role during the various supervision sessions with the supervisee. When discussing the stages of a person's behaviour during the supervision sessions it enables an understanding between two individuals on the level of emotional range that the person entails, then with the continuous knowledge, you are then able to relate towards the other persons perception towards their work and therefor gain a truly substantial and supportive outlook during the supervision.

Additionally, when a supervisor is able to establish behavioural change they are then able to connect with the supervisee to then go forward to resolve the situation and that then enables the growth and development of the supervisee. A supervisor must always be supportive when it comes to dealing with situations which are being permitted within the workforce they are observing, therefore with obtaining a structured nature within the sessions it can focus on more important elements that are being conveyed.

When examining the cognitions concerning a person's skill and their work, a supervisor must be able to contribute in aiding the person reach their best ability and also, they must be able to understand how their behaviour is influencing their work with patients. In order to be able to have a full understanding, there must be various sessions in which the supervisor discusses how a supervisee is feeling and also how they are managing with the scenarios. They also must be able to review and reflect on someone's behaviour and also being an understanding to what the strengths and weaknesses are which enables the supervisee to have the motivation to develop further.

Continuously, the Supervisory Alliance Model emphases the managerial, educative and supportive roles of the supervisor. As a supervisor, you must be able to be organisational when it comes to the policies that are being obtained within a workforce, they must be able to manage the role thoroughly and be able to take responsibility when needed. Also, they must be able to be prepared to educate staff and apply knowledge when required, also essential to be able to teach in order to develop a supervisee's weaknesses as well as being able to confront their strengths. Lastly, they require being supportive and able to co-operate when it comes to responses and enquiries from the supervisee.