ABSTRACT
This chapter describes different supervisory or support roles and in the second, teaching and supporting learners with special needs and aspects of pastoral care are considered. Mentoring is: ‘the process by which an experienced, highly regarded, empathic person guides another individual in the development and re-examination of their own ideas, learning and personal and professional development’. An educational supervisor works with the learner to develop and facilitate an educational plan that addresses their educational needs. Good teachers are also aware of the negative effects learners may perceive in being ‘singled out’ for special attention. The special context of healthcare teaching, dealing as it does with factors influencing health, life and death, has the potential to be especially challenging for learners. They may have to learn to deal with the sights, smells and sounds of pain, disease and death, difficult situations such as disturbed or abusive patients, variations in socio-economic background of patients.
