Therapizing, Compassion Fatigue, and the Combine of Public Education: How Far Should Field Supervision Reach?

• In Event: Self-Studies of Educators' Critical, Creative, Compassionate Care

Abstract

Clinical supervision is traditionally considered to be an administrative and evaluative role, not an educative one. Based on a pedagogy of care grounded in equipping teachers to manage conflicts and political tensions in their teaching practice, this study navigates the challenges two supervisors faced when enacting a pedagogy of care to help prevent teacher burnout and attrition. Findings reveal when student teachers’ identities and lived experiences outside of the classroom impacted instruction, supervisors needed to intervene to ensure that they receive differentiated support, but in ways that helped build agency and self-advocacy. Supervisors articulated these situations in terms of therapizing, questioning how far the educative functions of field supervision should reach.

Authors

• Wyatt Hall, Arlington Public Schools

• Amy Mungur, Georgia Gwinnett College

• Monica Anthony, Georgia Gwinnett College

• Michael W. Krell, University of Maryland