Bridging Ubuntu Pedagogy and Out-of-classroom Spaces in Professional Training: Reflecting on Ad Hoc Group Supervision

Abstract

Professional training in psychology is demanding. Part of professional training is psychotherapy supervision, and inherent to this process is professional identity development. Psychotherapy supervision is an ethical prerequisite but often operates outside of the formal curricula. As psychotherapy supervisors, we forged an additional space through ad hoc group supervision. The agenda of this space was to facilitate growth and the development of professional identity by foregrounding collegiality, peer engagement, and a space removed from the evaluatory aspect of the curriculum. We use collaborative autoethnography (CAE) in this paper to reflect on our role as the two supervisors within this group psychotherapy supervision space over the last couple of years and how this has operated as an out-of-classroom experience that facilitated development and professional identity formation, as well as the challenges that arose in this space. Three key themes emerged. The first highlights the psychotherapy supervision space, sometimes called clinical supervision. The second discusses the value of the out-of-classroom group created and its utility in facilitating learning. Lastly, we argue for interconnectedness and lessons learnt from creating these out-of-classroom supervision groups. We argue that adopting a posture of Ubuntu in how we interact with students creates a safer environment for learning, particularly outside of the formal classroom environment. We also recognise that this offering was limited by not having student voices and therefore privileges the perspective of supervisors.