ABSTRACT
Supervision has been described as psychology’s signature pedagogy – learning being a principle purpose of the activity. Learning can be taken as a change in knowledge, attitudes, values, skills, behaviour or understanding. The chapter begins with a discussion of values in order to lay out the authors’ perspectives on learning from a constructivist worldview (e.g. Glasersfeld). The notions of ‘truth’ and ‘reality’ are explored. The constructivist perspective is set in the context of the ideas of Piaget, Carl Rogers, Vygotsky, with a focus on the adult learner (Kolb, Mezirow and Weil) and contrasted with behaviourism and cognitive-behavioural approaches. Implications of a constructivist perspective for supervision are discussed and a case made for the role of diagnostic assessment.
