Educational clinical supervision: meeting the needs of specialist community practitioner students and professional...

In light of the possible demise of the community practice teacher, this paper proposes that a specific system of educationally led clinical supervision would benefit learning, teaching and assessing in the practice elements of specialist community practitioner education. Such a system would be additional to models of clinical supervision currently utilized in practice. An educative supervisory relationship would foster those skills and attributes essential for specialist community practice, enabling students to move toward mature responsible practice. It would provide experience of supportive frameworks that could be later utilized in professional practice. Clinical supervision specifically tailored for specialist community practitioner education would enable equity across branches and could be delivered in a variety of settings without a supervisor having to be 'on-site', thus benefiting comparatively isolated students in practice nursing and occupational health. To work successfully, educationally led clinical supervision necessitates a joint response by educational institutions and those practices where specialist community students undertake assessed placements. Without such a system in place to support specialist community practitioner courses, the standard of education and future practice cannot be assured.