TPC-Journal-V4-Issue5

The Professional Counselor \Volume 4, Issue 5 448 Results Importance of Supervision Participants ranked the importance of individual clinical supervision based on a 6-point Likert scale (1 = not important to 6 = extremely important). When the participants’ indications of the top three options were combined, 79% ( n = 93) rated the importance of obtaining clinical supervision as important, very important or extremely important, leaving 21% ( n = 25) of participants who reported it being somewhat important, minimally important or not important. When asked about the importance of obtaining administrative supervision, 72% ( n = 85) rated it as important, very important or extremely important, leaving 28% ( n = 33) who reported it being somewhat important, minimally important or not important. Cross-tabulation tables were conducted for each of the following variables: (a) age, (b) years of experience as a school counselor, (c) number of schools for which the counselor is responsible, (d) number of students for whom the counselor is responsible, (e) other school counselors in the district and (f) other school counselors in the building. A Fisher’s Exact Test with an alpha level of .05 was used to determine whether there was a relationship between these variables and participants’ perceptions of the importance of individual clinical and administrative supervision. These analyses determined that there was no significant relationship between these variables (age, p = .641; years of experience, p = .597; number of schools for which counselor is responsible, p = .516; number of students for whom counselor is responsible, p = .228; other school counselors in district, p = .319; other school counselors in building, p = .382). Current Experiences with Supervision When participants described the current supervision they were receiving, 94% ( n = 111) stated that they were receiving no individual clinical supervision, and 6% ( n = 7) stated that they were receiving individual clinical supervision. Of the participants receiving this type of supervision, one received supervision once a week, three received supervision once a month and three received supervision less than once a month. Ninety-one percent ( n = 108) stated that they were not engaging in group supervision and 8% ( n = 10) stated that they were, with seven of these respondents stating that they participated in group supervision once a month and three stating that they participated less than once a month. When asked to describe their clinical supervisor, seven stated that the supervisor was a guidance director, two stated that he or she was another school counselor and one stated that he or she was a psychologist. Of the 14% ( n = 17) of respondents who stated that they were receiving individual and/or group supervision, 11 reported that their school system was incurring the cost for supervision, four stated that they were shouldering all the cost themselves and two stated that they and their school system were paying the cost together. Eighty-eight percent ( n = 104) indicated that their school district did not provide release time for them to attend supervision; the remaining 12% ( n = 14) did receive release time. Eighty-two percent ( n = 97) reported that they were not engaging in peer supervision, and 18% ( n = 21) were obtaining peer supervision. Of the respondents receiving peer supervision, ten stated that it occurred once a week, one stated that it was every other week, eight stated that it was once a month, and two stated that it was less than once a month. Regarding administrative supervision, 81% ( n = 97) stated that they were engaging in it; 19% ( n = 21) were not. Sixty-four participants stated that their administrative supervision was conducted by a principal, seven stated that it was a vice principal, seven stated that it was another school counselor, five reported that it was a superintendent, five stated that it was a guidance director, five that stated it was a director of a specific program area (e.g., special education, student services) and three stated that their administrative supervision was conducted by a vice superintendent.