Ethical Supervision in Teaching, Research, Practice, and Administration Jean Pettifor University of Calgary Michelle C. E. McCarron University of Regina and Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region Greg Schoepp University of Alberta Cannie Stark University of Regina Donald Stewart University of Manitoba Supervision is a specialized area of psychological activity that has its own foundation of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, which are enhanced by training. As our discipline develops its standards for competent practice in supervision, there is a need to develop ethical guidelines to assist both supervisors and supervisees in maintaining productive working relationships. Organized around the hierarchy of ethical principles comprising the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists, the Canadian Psychological Association adopted Ethical Guidelines for Supervision in Psychology: Teaching, Research, Practice, and Administration in early 2009. In this article, each of the four ethical principles (Respect for the Dignity of Persons, Responsible Caring, Integrity in Relationships, and Responsibility to Society) is examined in the context of supervision within the areas of teaching, research, practice, and administra- tion. The history of the guidelines, as well as some of their innovative and unique elements, is also discussed. Keywords: ethics, supervision, guidelines In the last decade, much effort has gone into identification and elaboration of core competencies in professional psychology (e.g., Mutual Recognition Agreement, 2004). Among these core compe- tencies, psychologists increasingly recognise supervision as a dis- tinct competency area that requires special knowledge and skill based on professional training and experience (e.g., Falender et al., 2004; Rings, Genuchi, Hall, Angelo, & Cornish, 2009). Defini- tions of supervision abound in the literature, but all seem to include the following skills for supervisors: maintaining a working alli- ance; observing, evaluating, and gatekeeping; supporting; provid- ing constructive feedback; facilitating self-evaluation; instructing; modelling; mentoring; and mutual problem solving. Complemen- tary skills for supervisees include the following: understanding the tasks, purpose, roles, and boundaries of supervision; maintaining a working alliance; preparing adequately for supervision sessions; remaining open to feedback; and taking initiative in discussing innovative ideas (Canadian Psychological Association [CPA], 2009). Essential to competent supervision is the development and maintenance of ethically appropriate supervisory relationships that extend beyond the narrow discussion of specific clinical problems (Koocher, Shafranske, & Falender, 2008). However, despite a burgeoning literature in the area of supervision, specific guidance related to ethical considerations in supervision has, until very recently, been lacking. The Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists (CPA, 1986, 1991, 2000) has provided the moral and ethical foundation for the development of ethical guidelines for special topics, such as Guidelines for Non-Discriminatory Practice (CPA, 1996a), Guide- lines for Psychologists Addressing Recovered Memories (CPA 1996b), and Guidelines for Ethical Psychological Practice with Women (CPA, 2007). In 2006, the CPA Committee on Ethics established a small subcommittee to develop ethical guidelines for supervision. In keeping with previous practice, these supervision guidelines would represent a special application of the four hier- archical CPA ethical principles (Respect for the Dignity of Per- sons, Responsible Caring, Integrity in Relationships, and Respon- sibility to Society). The culmination of this work was a set of newly developed ethical guidelines for supervision in psychology that was adopted by the CPA Board of Directors in 2009 (CPA, 2009; Stewart, Pettifor, Stark, McCarron, & Schoepp, 2010). The development of the Ethical Guidelines for Supervision in Psychology: Teaching, Research, Practice, and Administration (CPA, 2009) was based on a perceived need to separate guidelines Jean Pettifor, Faculty of Education, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; Michelle C. E. McCarron, Department of Psychology, University of Regina, and Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada; Greg Schoepp, Department of Psychiatry, Univer- sity of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Cannie Stark, Department of Psychology, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada; Donald Stewart, Student Counselling and Career Centre, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada. This paper is based on a symposium delivered at the Canadian Psycho- logical Association Annual Convention, 2010. Equal contributions were made by all secondary authors, who are listed alphabetically. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jean Pettifor, 2731 Crawford Road Northwest, Calgary, AB T2L 1C9. E-mail: pettifoj@telus.net Canadian Psychology © 2011 Canadian Psychological Association 2011, Vol. 52, No. 3, 198 –205 0708-5591/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0024549 198