The Supervisory Relationship Experiences of Turkish First- Time and Advanced Supervisees

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine Turkish first-time and advanced supervisees’ supervisory relationship experiences. A phenomenological design was preferred for examining whether undergraduate- and graduate-level supervisees’ supervisory relationship experiences according to their professional developmental levels. The participants consisted of 27 supervisees enrolled in undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral programs in Counseling and Guidance at a public university in western Turkey. A semi-structured interview form was used to collect data. The results of content analysis demonstrated that according to first-time and advanced supervisees, the unchanged but definitive constructs of the supervisory relationship were supervisor’s facilitative and prescriptive interventions, sincere and nonjudgmental characteristics, constructive feedbacks; supervisee’s self-disclosure within supervision, anxiety in the early stages of the relationship and calmness in the further stages of the relationship, development of self-awareness and professional kills. The study findings were discussed and some implications are suggested.