Training and support for supervisors

The principles of personal supervision state that personal supervision should be recognised as a valuable part of academic life through appropriate time allocation, support and training for staff undertaking the role. 

Academic promotion criteria include reference to ‘effective supervision’ and so undertaking training and valuing the contribution personal supervision makes to student experience is an important part of academic roles. 

This section includes some guidance about where personal supervisors can find information, support and training to support them in their role.

Understanding the value of supervision and how to access additional training and guidance will:

  • Improve personal supervision experiences for all students, contributing to the reputation of the University through NSS and our ability to attract students;
  • Help staff manage workloads associated with personal supervision;
  • Improve consistency in approach across supervisors at least within departments/schools;
  • Reduce stress for supervisors managing high volumes of complex student cases.

Departmental/school guidance for personal supervisors

Your department/school should provide you with information about:

  • How the allocation of students to personal supervisors is organised and when so that you know how many students you will be supervising. You can find a list of your supervisees through e:Vision. It is worth checking this regularly in case there are any changes.
  • Frequency of meetings - although policy states two meetings per semester, there is flexibility about when these take place and your department or school may have planned regular times they want this to happen so it’s worth checking before you set up meetings.
  • Arrangements for office hours are also organised at department and school level and you should make sure you have set up office hours in the appropriate way - and that you let your supervisees know.
  • Procedures for student requests to change supervisors - it is very common for students to request a change of supervisor so don’t take it personally. 
  • How disruption to supervision will be managed (for example, in the event of staff absences). This means that someone else will take over your supervisees if you are absent and that you might be asked to cover for colleagues. Students often find changes disruptive so bear this in mind when you meet them for the first time.
  • Who to ask for advice or guidance about: student progression issues; exceptional circumstances; student welfare and wellbeing. If any of these items is not clear to you, ask your line manager for more information.

Your wellbeing

Workloads for personal supervisors can be stressful - especially if you are managing high numbers of supervisees or multiple complex cases. You should not feel singularly responsible for this and so it is important to seek advice and support if you are feeling overwhelmed. The support web pages for staff working with students provide general advice, but you might also find it useful to: 

  • Talk to colleagues with more experience if you come across difficult cases;
  • Seek advice from wellbeing officers or other student support services about how to manage particular cases;
  • Discuss issues with your line manager if there are cohort effects or your workload feels unmanageable. 

Feedback

Your feedback on personal supervision is important for future developments. Any suggestions or comments you have about the web pages; training needs or policy issues can be sent to lisa.omalley@york.ac.uk.