The national standards for Estonian supervision and coaching training programs

The National Standards for supervision and coaching training programs have been approved by the Decision of ESCA General Assembly in 2015. The purpose of these standards is to ensure the equality, quality, and professionalism of the national teaching programs. The standards are based on our national experience and ANSE standards. Revised and renewed in cooperation with the training providers (ISCI, Moreno Centre) on the 29th of March 2019.

Additional information about the standards and procedures for applying the quality mark for the curricula:  oppekavad@supervisioon.ee

A. Requirements for the training program

1. GENERAL Duration of the program: min. 2 years
The number of contact hours: min. 300-375 ac/h, including min. 60 ac/h of coaching module
Supervision with teaching supervisor: min. 45 ac/h, incl. individual and group supervision
2. CONTENT OF THE PROGRAM described supervision/coaching training modules, with distinguishable contact hours, individual work hours and practice hours
3. FINAL WORK and the PRESENTATION research and references, the reflection of personal practice, or the combination of the above mentioned; presentation/defense of the work
4. FINAL EXAM Practical work demonstrating the acquired supervisory and/or coaching skills
5. CERTIFICATION Signed by the program provider and the representative of the ESCA board


B. Requirements for the admission to the program

1. HIGHER EDUCATION Min. BA or BSc degree (or proven documented equivalent, under the responsibility of the training provider). Differences to the postgraduate studies will be leveled by providing the proof by the participant with VÕTA-like activities (VÕTA – national system in Estonia for taking into account the previous experiences and studies in academic studies)
2. POST-GRADUATION WORKING EXPERIENCE Min. 4 years of continuous working experience
3. CONTINUING EDUCATION Certifications of longer courses (min. 120 ac/h). People, who come to the program from other fields than human or social sciences, thematic courses of human psychology, communication skills, etc are required.
4. EXPERIENCE of being a SUPERVESEE/COACHEE participation in a supervision/coaching process ( min. 30 ac/h), documented, written confirmation by the supervisor/coach is required. Can be arranged by the training provider for those, who do not have prior supervision/coaching experience.

C. Requirements for the program’s leading trainers 

  1. The leading trainer with Estonian nationality has ESCA Supervisor’s Quality Level 8 and has been a trainer in a similar or the same program previously in cooperation with Level 8 supervisors or a mentor, or has been a leading trainer in the program.

Portfolio of the leading trainer contains, in addition to the general requirements:
a) group dynamic analyses of one study group;
b) reflection of personal teaching experience.
The recommended length of the leading trainer’s portfolio is 25000 characters.
Evaluator: quality group, which by recommendation consists of other trainers.

  1. The leading trainer with foreign nationality belongs to his/er country’s national professional union and has experience of teaching supervision and/or coaching, incl. teaching supervisor.

Evaluation procedure

The training provider must send the training program to ESCA Training Curriculum Committee (oppekavad@supervisioon.ee) for reviewing min. 2 months before the pre-agreed evaluation period to get confirmation and recognition from ESCA.

The description of the feedback procedure shall be added to the already existing training program.

The evaluation of the training programs is based on ESCA and ANSE training standards and ECVision competence framework.

The training team shall submit the training program in a written form. After reviewing the participants can ask the team clarifying questions, highlight inconsistencies, give feedback, and make proposals. Participating parties regard the proposals made as statements of goodwill arising from the parties’ mission as developers of supervision.

The ESCA approval is renewed after the submission of the amended training program or before the start of the new training group, based on a written decision of the ESCA Training Curriculum Committee, with a statement in the training program header: “ESCA approves and recognizes”