“You kind of pull back the layers”: The experience of inter-professional supervision with Educational Psychologists

Supervision is considered by the British Psychological Society to be an essential element of delivering high quality services. In a national online survey, it was found that 28.6% of Educational Psychologists (EPs) reported supervising other professionals who work with children and young people in a range of settings. In the context of a large county council, Family Support Key Workers (FSKWs) work with pre-school aged children with significant and severe needs, their families and pre-school settings. EPs have been commissioned by the Local Authority as part of their core work to offer supervision to FSKWs for over 15 years. The aim of this study was to explore the lived experience of FSKWs engaging in inter-professional supervision with EPs and enhance the findings of previous studies through gaining a deeper insight into how FSKWs experience and make sense of supervision. Seven FSKWs who had engaged in supervision with EPs over a period of 10-15 years took part in the study. A semi-structured interview schedule was used to ask about experiences, and the transcriptions were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Five overarching themes were identified and are discussed. Supervisees experienced a safe relationship with the EPs and the opportunity for the deeper exploration of the self. They also experienced supervision as a learning space and had the choice of whether to engage in supervision. The findings also describe movements in, and changes in these experiences over time. Each of the themes are considered in light of existing literature. The importance of establishing a foundational relationship to create space for the deeper exploration of the self to support learning and development is emphasised. The implications these findings have on EP practice are considered in relation to existing theories and frameworks.