Educating
Supervision Hub
At a glance
- All supervision can educate. Keeping a focus on the educating function of supervision can be beneficial for everyone
- There are many opportunities to learn more about our roles
- Knowing more about other roles can improve multi-professional working
Supervision can mean helping people learn and grow in their jobs, such as:
- Learning and maintaining new skills and knowledge
- Thinking about your own work and how to improve
This includes staff in the NHS, local councils, and charities. The goal is to give you good learning and training to help you do your job better.
Types of educating supervision
There are some specific types of supervision that can be considered to be 'formative':
This is really important for people like nurses and therapists who have special training and are officially registered.
It’s even more important when you work in teams with lots of different jobs, or when your manager isn’t from the same profession.
Without this kind of support, you might not get help from someone who truly understands how you were trained and what your job involves.
For more information see Your Role 
to learn about different professions.
This means helping someone learn how to use a special method or therapy in their job. This is for people already working in health and social care.
This is for students who are still learning and not yet working as part of the team. While it is considered supervision, students aren't considered part of the workforce.
This is when someone helps a researcher with their studies. This can happen in health and social care jobs in Wales. The person giving supervision needs to have good ways of helping, like a set of tools and skills they can use. These help the researcher grow in their job and learn more as a person too.
Frameworks for supervision
The following support education and development for the whole health and social care workforce regardless of type of supervision:
There isn’t one single way that everyone uses for supervision, but a model can help make your sessions more organised and easier to follow.
The Clinical supervision models (for NHS Employers) 
give ideas on how to plan and talk during supervision.
Reflective tools can help you think about your experiences and learn from them.
- What happened?
- So what does it mean?
- Now what will I do next time?
Some tools that can help you do this include:
These tools give you steps or questions to help you think more deeply and improve your practice.
Supervision doesn’t have to talk about the same There are helpful skills you can use during supervision. One way to learn about these skills is by using something called the Compassionate Behaviours Compass .
Talking about these things helps make supervision a safe, fair, and helpful space for everyone
There are helpful skills you can use during supervision. One way to learn about these skills is by using something called the Compassionate Behaviours Compass :
- Be kind and caring
- Listen well to others
- Support people when they need help
- Work together in a respectful way
These skills help make supervision a safe and friendly space for everyone.
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
Should you require any further information, please contact HEIW.MentalHealthWorkforcePlan@wales.nhs.uk 
.
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Webpage last updated on: 27th January 2026