Supervisor's Feedback Form for use at the mid-point of a one-year placement

							                                                                          Appendix 12b

Supervisor’s feedback form for feedback at the mid-point of a
                                        one-year placement

A guide to completing the form

The form is an abbreviated version of the standard supervisor’s feedback form. It has two
sections:

Part A     This section is concerned with the supervisor’s overall evaluation of the placement. It
           gives feedback to the Examination Board of the Course about whether the trainee has
           passed or failed the first part of the placement

Part B     This section is a brief report on how the trainee has progressed over the placement,
           and gives an opportunity for identifying the trainee's strengths and needs.


Criteria for ratings in Part A
Placements are rated as 'Pass' or 'Refer to Examination Board’. These ratings constitute advice to
the Board of Examiners of the Course.

Pass
By passing the placement, you are indicating that the trainee has learnt and developed
appropriate skills and is sufficiently competent to move on to the next part of the placement.

It is not uncommon to pass trainees who have difficulties in some areas of clinical functioning.
However, the significance of poor performance in any one area of functioning will depend upon
the stage of training and the opportunities available on placement. Thus, trainees in the first year
will almost always need more practice and many will need extra help; this is normal and does not
necessarily mean the placement should be referred. However, a second or third year trainee who
shows difficulties in applying basic clinical skills would give rise to concern.

Refer to Examination Board
This category allows supervisors who have significant doubts about a trainee's performance to
draw these to the attention of the course. The course will then make a decision about whether the
placement should be passed or failed.

This rating is used when there is evidence of serious, persistent shortcomings in any of the areas
covered by the supervisor’s feedback form. Examples could include:

   failure to reach minimally acceptable levels of basic clinical competence judged in the
    context of the stage of training and the opportunities provided by the placement
   serious lack of sensitivity and responsiveness to client's and/or colleague's communications
   serious and persistent difficulty in an important area of clinical-professional functioning (for
    example, being unable to formulate casework at level appropriate to the stage of training)
   failure to show learning or to develop skills over the course of the placement
   failure to complete a sufficient amount of work (which is not accounted for by a lack of
    opportunity, or by illness)
   professional misconduct or serious breaches of the BPS Code of Conduct

It is important that concerns about poor performance on a particular item or set of items have
been discussed with the trainee prior to the end of placement review. Where these concerns have
become evident in the first part of the placement they should have been discussed at the Mid
Placement Review, and with the trainee’s course tutor.

The Board of Examiners, which has an overview of the trainee's development, will consider a
number of sources of evidence in order to reach a decision about the appropriate outcome. These
are:
      a) the supervisor’s feedback form
      b) feedback from the mid-placement review
      c) feedback from the trainee’s course tutor
      d) evidence of progress from previous placements

The Board can decide to fail the placement, to pass it conditional on further work being required,
or to pass the placement without further conditions.

Guidelines for Appeals against placement decisions are available from the Course.

Feedback - Part B
This section allows supervisors to give brief feedback about different areas of clinical
competence, should this seem appropriate at this stage in the placement. Clearly if there are
serious concerns, more detailed feedback will be required.

Some useful tips about any feedback you give are:
 to give as much behaviourally-specific feedback as possible, giving concrete examples
   where possible (there is good evidence that this is much more effective than making global
   statements, because it enables trainees both to ‘hear’ the feedback, and to see how they can
   act on it)
 to identify trainees strengths as well as their needs
 to give a balanced and realistic appraisal of the trainee’s capacities
 to note which areas of clinical activity you have been able to observe directly

It is not a requirement that you and the trainee agree about the feedback you give, or that you
agree about the overall placement rating. However it is important that you discuss your feedback
with the trainee, and that you have this discussion before he/she gives you feedback about the
placement (and before you return this form to the course).
Timescale for returning the form
The form is a critical part of the evaluation process, and must be returned as soon as is
practicable after the placement ends. Without the form, the Examination Board cannot ratify the
trainee’s clinical experience, and hence significant delay in returning the form has the potential
to jeopardise the trainee’s progress through the course.

For placements starting in October, the form should be returned in mid-April. If the placement
starts in April, the form should be returned in early October.
     University College London Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology

             Supervisor's feedback form for
 trainees completing the first half of a one-year placement


            PART A:            Overall rating of placement progress



 Name of Trainee:                          Name of Supervisor(s):

 Placement:

 Starting date of placement:               Completion date:

 Number of days on placement undertaken to this point:




Evaluation of placement

 1) Has the contract to date been fulfilled?     YES/NO

 2) Placement rating                             PASS
                                                 REFER TO EXAMINATION BOARD


Signature of Supervisor:                        Signature of Trainee:

Date:
General Comments of Supervisor and goals for the second half of the placement
(use additional sheet if necessary)




General Comments of Trainee (use additional sheet if necessary)
                             PART B
            Report of progress in specific areas of work



Supervisors should use this section to indicate any specific areas which would benefit
from detailed comment.

The section headings are taken from the supervisor’s feedback form for the ‘end of
placement’ review. Please refer to this form if more guidance is needed.

1.    SKILLS IN PSYCHOMETRIC ASSESSMENT
2.    CORE INTERVIEWING SKILLS
           Core interviewing skills - Interactional style and alliance formation
           Core interviewing skills - Technical skills
3.    KNOWLEDGE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPY TECHNIQUES
4.    FORMULATION OF PROBLEMS
5.    PROFESSIONAL STYLE
           Flexibility
           Persistence with difficult problems or clients
           General professional behaviour
           Relationships/ co-working with professional colleagues from other
           disciplines
           Functioning within the organisation/unit/clinic etc
6.    WRITTEN WORK
7.    TRAINING AND TEACHING OTHERS
8.    USE OF SUPERVISION
9.    SELF-APPRAISAL
10.   FURTHER SKILLS RELEVANT TO THIS PLACEMENT

Supervisor’s comments