Competency-based models of supervision: New wine in old wine-skins?

Craig Gonsalvez: There has been a resurgence of interest in clinical supervision of late. In the words of Watkins (2014), an authority on the topic, “the slow and steady evolution of supervision over the last century has given way to a sea change transformation over the last decade,” (In CL Watkins & DL Milne [Eds] Wiley-Blackwell International Handbook of Clinical Supervision, p. 179). A recent review in the Australian Psychologist (Gonsalvez et al., 2017, Recent developments in Professional Supervision: Challenges and Practice Implications, Australian Psychologist, 52, 83-85) suggested that the number articles on competency-based supervision in scientific journals had increased from 1.8% (1986-1990) to 8.3%  (2011-2015).   However, the notion of competence is as old as supervision itself. So are these new changes to models and training, guidelines and practices, worthy of the attention the topic has captured? Or are these changes mostly window-dressing, re-packaging, new wine in old wine-skins? We’d love to hear what you think.