DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2018.v06i06.017

Pages: 1293-1298

Ubuntu is a value which dictates that a child brought up in Africa must respect authority and elders, by not posing challenging questions and with less-self-expression. This value is inculcated into a growing child’s psyche during the formative years and guides the individual’s behavior throughout one’s life. Conversely, supervision requires a student to be proactive, open to learning by being self-expressive, sharing own feelings and emotions, successes and challenges in an honest and direct manner. This may pose a challenge for an indigenous African student since they have been socialized to be less expressive and rather be humble to elders and authority. How far they can do this—is not known, but can adversely affect interaction during supervision. It is critical that all supervisors in Africa and beyond be conversant with the major cultural values to be able to understand such students’ behaviors in the classrooms in order to create a growth-promoting environment. This paper aims to highlight how supervision expectations, the utility of humanistic and psychodynamic theories by supervisors can enhance effective supervision process, while being sensitive to cultural values.