Defining competencies in psychology supervision: A consensus statement

Abstract

Supervision is a domain of professional practice conducted by many psychologists but for which formal training and standards have been largely neglected. In this article, supervision is proposed as a core competency area in psychology for which a number of elements reflecting specific knowledge, skills, and values must be addressed to ensure adequate training and professional development of the trainee. Supra-ordinate factors of supervision viewed as permeating all aspects of professional development are proposed. These include the perspective that professional development is a lifelong, cumulative process requiring attention to diversity in all its forms, as well as legal and ethical issues, personal and professional factors, and self- and peer-assessment. A competencies framework is presented with particular elements representing knowledge (e.g., about psychotherapy, research, etc.), skills (including supervising modalities, relationship skills, etc.), values (e.g., responsibility for the clients and supervisee rests with supervisor, etc.), and meta-knowledge. Social contextual factors and issues of education and training, assessment, and future directions also are addressed, with specific elements listed. Suggestions for future work in this area are addressed, including the need to refine further and operationalize competences, develop clear expectations for accreditation and licensure regarding supervision competencies, and expand the description of developmental levels of supervisors from minimal to optimal competence. This is one of a series of articles published together in this issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychology. Several other articles that resulted from the Competencies Conference: Future Directions in Education and Credentialing in Professional Psychology will appear in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice and The Counseling Psychologist.

Towards a Competency-Based, Ethical, and Socially Valid Approach to the Supervision of Applied Behavior Analytic Trainees

“…A strong and collaborative supervisory relationship is widely acknowledged as contributing to the quality and effectiveness of clinical supervision across several other disciplines (e.g., Bernard & Goodyear, 2014;Bordin, 1983;Falender et al, 2004). Although notoriously complex and difficult to objectively define and measure, the supervisory relationship is typically defined in two parts.…”

“…Attention is now being given to the development of supervisor competencies and identification of effective components of supervision, a process mirrored by several other helping professions, such as social work (Kraemer-Tebes et al, 2011), psychology (American Psychological Association, 2015;Falender et al, 2004), and medicine (Frank et al, 2010).…”

An investigation of factors involved when educational psychologists supervise other professionals

“…The qualities needed for supervision are complex and the process of becoming a competent supervisor occurs throughout the lifetime of a practising professional (Falender et al 2004;Hawkins and Shohet, 2006). The notion of being 'competent' is different to the notion of 'competency'.…”

A Viable Solution to Implementing Effective Instructional Supervision

“…It should be scientific, formative and based on specific criteria familiar to both the evaluator and the teacher. According Falender (2004) effective and reliable supervision requires the "ability to provide effective formative and summative feedback" (p. 778). The evaluation of the teacher should result in an ongoing formative process that will improve instruction in the classroom and encourage the teacher to participate in professional development.…”