Staff supervision in youth justice and its relationship to skill development: findings from Australia

This chapter presents the findings of a systematic review of the literature on supervisory practices for supporting criminal justice staff. It reviews the key approaches to professional supervision within the helping professions; paying particular attention to supervisor competencies associated with ‘what works’ in enhancing practitioner skill development within youth justice. The findings indicate that supervisory practices motivated by a performance management agenda could undermine reflective practice, skills development and service-user engagement.

Supervision: ‘a random bag of arrangements’? Perspectives from psychiatrists on how to improve clinical teaching

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore psychiatrists’ perspectives on how clinical teaching and supervision can be improved in postgraduate psychiatric training. Method: All New Zealand members of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (fellows: n=367; affiliates: n=167) were invited to participate in an online survey that collected responses to two open-ended questions. The responses were then analysed qualitatively. Results: A total of 27% psychiatrists responded. Two major themes emerged: supervisor competencies and the workplace educational environment, with subthemes of supervisor training, feedback and culture change. Conclusions: Suggestions to improve clinical teaching and supervision included defining supervisor teaching competencies, instituting evidence-based faculty development, a feedback structure and strengthening leadership support for workplace-based education.