In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in clinical supervision in health and human services. A range of new opportunities for supervision education has developed in response to this trend. This poster presentation identifies critical issues for consideration in teaching and learning about supervision practice within a multi-disciplinary learning programme. It is important to maintain strong awareness of the ethical, cultural and social dimensions of supervisory contexts.

This poster presentation draws on a completed qualitative research project, Beddoe & Davys (2008) and Davys and Beddoe (2008), and suggests a case for interprofessional learning (IPL) for supervision education.

It was found that the interprofessional learning environment deepened the exploration and level of understanding about supervision and encouraged participants to question taken-for-granted professional assumptions. The identification of difference between participants, rather than impeding learning, was seen to enhance the breadth of learning and participants were challenged to clarify ideas and language. Learning together, working with stories from practice, deepens and strengthens supervision practice, which in turn may enhance teamwork in health and social care by both confirmation of similarities and understanding of difference.