Issues in Supervisory Facilitation

The suggestion that workplace supervisors should become facilitators of the learning of staff is prevalent in the workplace learning and learning organisation literatures, but it is not always clear what facilitative approach is being recommended to supervisors. In order to identify approaches to facilitation that might be amenable for inclusion within the role of workplace supervisors, the concept of facilitation within the main traditions of adult education is examined. A characterisation of the key features of the workplace as a context for learning is then developed in terms that relate to common accounts of contexts conducive to learning. The paper then considers the issues that might arise if each of the conceptions were to be implemented by supervisors. Both facilitation and supervision rely heavily on trust, and so the development and maintenance of trust for supervisors and for facilitators is explored using a dynamic model of trust building. The paper aims both to develop a critique of the concept of supervisory facilitation and to highlight the need to consider contextual issues when applying conceptions derived from the adult education literature to real-world situations. Some implications for the relationship between teachers and students in post-secondary education settings are also described.