Introduction

Freud called teaching one of the "impossible professions". So it is fitting for Laura Elliot Rubinstein to ask some of the most experienced teachers about so daunting a task as supervision. Freud's lack of interest in articulating a theory of teaching and supervision influenced his followers, who also paid scant attention to the study of supervision. It was felt that any talented clinician would know how to supervise well. There is unwillingness on the part of many supervisors to subject a freer and more pleasurable encounter to the kind of scrutiny of self and other reserved for treatment situations. These attitudes have contributed to the spotty, uneven approach to the training of supervisors. The provision of detailed process notes from supervisions-verbatim reports on what supervisor and supervisee actually said to one another-that can be studied would be a helpful tool in understanding and analysing the supervisory situation.