Directive vs. Non-Directive Supervision: Disagreement or Misunderstanding?

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

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For half a century, one of the defining features of clinical pedagogy has been a commitment to non-directive supervision of our students. Non-direction remains one of the main tenets of clinical pedagogy. Outside of clinical legal education, however, a growing body of research suggests that novice learners need directive supervision. Anecdotally, we understand that many clinicians intuitively mix directive with nondirective supervision on an ad hoc basis in their supervision. The question posed by this session is whether the directive-nondirective divide is more theoretical than real. Departures from either ideal may not be heretical so much as a reflection of the nuances inherent in any pedagogical approach. We will review the origins of non-direction in clinical legal education and current cognitive science, and follow with a series of vignettes drawn from our experiences as clinical supervisors. For each scenario, we will explore the choices that a directive, non-directive or collaborative supervisor might make in that situation. We will then compare the choices that we each made in practice with those that would be expected from directive or nondirective supervisors, including where and why there are differences between practice and theory. In this exploration, we will see how much of a divide actually exists among practicing clinicians, distinguishing real disagreement about how to handle the same supervisory situation according to the different approaches. We will try to identify factors that impact where our choices land along the directive-nondirective spectrum, including case context, deadlines, student abilities, and other factors. By the end of this session, we will have some answers to our core question: is there real disagreement or is it more of a misunderstanding? Whatever the answer, the conversation will inform our consideration of how to best approach the supervision that is fundamental to clinical legal education.