Dr Jo Taylor

I have been providing supervision in education since 2015. This has ranged from CEOs and executive Headteachers, to DSLs and SENCos and to early career teachers and support staff. In the 2020’s, I spent five years providing fortnightly supervision to SLT in Alternative Provisions, nationwide (across approximately 50 schools) as part of an associate psychologist role with The Difference. Most recently, I have developed an evidence-based, peer-reviewed and manualised supervision model called Compassion Focussed Coaching, which has been shown to increase perceived resilience, the ability to give and receive compassion and understand complex behaviour in senior leaders in education (Heriot-Maitland & Taylor, 2024). My approach involves careful contracting – and regular reviews – to ensure that sessions are bespoke, useful and evolve over time. Supervision is an investment of time and money and it is a powerful tool for sustaining high quality practice over time. I have been receiving supervision myself for over a decade and I often pay for multiple supervisors at one time, to help me develop my practice, so I can support educators as effectively as possible. Leaders who have worked with me have described the process as “… very impressive and very valuable” and “…genuinely inspirational”.