Supervisory Philosophy Statements
You have now completed several reflective activities exploring your experiences of being supervised, the tensions and responsibilities of graduate supervision, and the pedagogical principles that matter most to you. Together, these reflections already contain the core elements of a supervisory philosophy—they simply exist across multiple notes, examples, and insights.
This section invites you to synthesize and consolidate those reflections into a short, working draft of a supervisory philosophy statement.
What You Will Create
By completing this synthesis, you will have:
- The start of a draft supervisory philosophy statement
- Language grounded in your own experience and values
- A document you can revisit, revise, and expand over time
This draft can later be refined for different purposes—such as guiding conversations with students, informing supervisory agreements, or contributing to teaching dossiers and professional development materials.
How Can I Use a Supervisory Philosophy Statement?
A supervisory philosophy statement is a flexible and evolving document. Once drafted, even in preliminary form, it can be used in a variety of practical and reflective ways to support effective graduate supervision. Like teaching philosophy statements, supervisory philosophy statements are not static documents. They are most valuable when treated as reflective tools—revisited, revised, adapted and shared in response to changing contexts, student needs, and professional learning.
Faculty members may use a supervisory philosophy statement to:
| Focus Area | Description of Use |
| Clarify expectations with graduate students | Share or draw from your philosophy when establishing supervisory agreements, discussing roles, timelines, communication practices, and mutual responsibilities. |
| Guide supervisory decision-making | Use your stated principles to navigate complex situations, tensions, or conflicts by returning to the values that ground your approach. |
| Support inclusive and ethical supervision | Articulating your commitments to equity, care, and transparency can help make power dynamics visible and guide more intentional, culturally responsive supervisory practices. |
| Reflect on and strengthen supervisory practice | Revisit your philosophy periodically to reflect on what is working, what has changed, and where further growth or learning may be needed. |
| Communicate your approach within supervisory teams | Share elements of your philosophy with co-supervisors or committee members to support alignment, shared expectations, and productive collaboration. |
| Document supervisory teaching for professional development | Include your supervisory philosophy as part of teaching dossiers, annual reviews, or promotion materials, particularly where supervision is recognized as a form of teaching. |
Activity 4: Bringing It All Together in a Supervisory Philosophy Statement
The purpose of this activity is not to generate new ideas or reflections but to bring coherence and clarity to what you have already articulated. Think of this step as gathering and arranging your thinking, rather than starting again. Please use the downloadable worksheet to begin drafting your teaching philosophy statement.
Please proceed to Activity 4.
Information Box Group
Activity 4: Bringing It All Together in a Supervisory Philosophy Statement Downloadable Worksheet
This section supports synthesis and consolidation rather than new reflection. Use your responses in the downloadable worksheet to distill your thinking. You can copy/paste work from previous sections and add them below.
The goal is to begin drafting a 1-2 paged, single spaced, philosophy statement, written in full sentences and paragraphs. Focus on coherence rather than polish.
Like a teaching philosophy statement, your supervisory philosophy statement should:
- Offer personal reflections on graduate supervision in your context and/or experience
- Identify 2-4 core pedagogical principles or values that informs your approach to graduate supervision
- Offers one example of pedagogical practices for each core principle
- Current and/or future goals as a supervisor