Supporting the emotional labour associated with teaching: considering a pluralistic approach to group supervision

Abstract

This paper puts forward a framework for supervising teaching staff whose roles involve supporting the emotional well-being of young people and young adults. Initially, the increasing focus upon the interface between education and health is outlined and the potential for this ‘emotional labour’ to cause distress to those in helping roles is considered. Further, as a means of supporting these professionals, the rationale for, and importance of, reflexive practice is outlined. As such, self-care is promoted and clinical supervision related to this work is recommended. To account for the wide variety of ways of working with young people, a pluralistic framework for group supervision is outlined. This psychologically informed framework emphasises the importance of the supervisory alliance and breaks down the process into supervisory goals, tasks and methods. Each element is briefly described and the framework is suggested as a means of supporting those working in these contexts. This proposition is considered alongside a number of associated potential challenges and is outlined purposefully as a provocation to consider the implications of working in such a way within school settings.

Keywords:

• Teaching
• emotional labour
• emotional well-being
• pluralistic therapy
• supervision