Perspectives on Supervision in Human Services: Gazing Through Critizal and Feminist Lenses

Abstract

Supervision is a cornerstone activity in the development of practice skills for human service professionals. Traditionally, supervision is conducted in ways that emphasize the expertise of the supervisor and the need to impart expert wisdom to the supervisee. In many ways, the supervisory relationship often mirrors traditional teacher/student roles contextualized in dominant/subordinate ways of being together. Oversight and monitoring become central activities in such traditional supervisory approaches, which may limit possibilities for growth and development. Critical and feminist perspectives offer other ways of conceptualizing supervision, namely through careful consideration of how power operates and may be used in the supervisory relationship. Intentional reciprocity may be discovered if dominant/subordinate power differentials are re-visioned. This article suggests ways that supervision and supervisory relationships may be (re)considered beyond traditional approaches.