Abstract
There is an assumption in the literature that philosophical concerns in the supervision and mentoring discourse apply across culture however this commentary paper argues on the contrary. The paper examines the ethnocentrism notion of supervision as highlighted in the literature and makes a case about the importance of considering supervision from a cultural relativism perspective. The paper provides a general examination of the supervision concept then it focuses more specifically on supervision as it is applied to teacher supervisors and student teachers from my own cultural context. It highlights the authoritarian nature of supervision as it is applied in this context and concludes with some thought provoking questions that researchers may wish to take into consideration while involved in current debates on supervision and mentoring.
Keywords: Supervision, Teacher, Samoan Culture, Authoritarian
