Background: Telesupervision involves providing supervision with the speech pathologist at a distance using communication technologies (Carlin et al., 2013).). To date, there is little research identifying speech pathologists’ views on and experiences of telesupervision, and any barriers or facilitators that affect implementation.
Aim: To determine the supervision practices, views, and experiences of speech pathologists using telesupervision with students on placements.
Method: The ethically approved online survey of Australian practising speech pathologists who had used telesupervision with speech pathology students in the last five years included open and closed questions. Categorical results from the survey were analysed using descriptive statistics and free text responses were analysed qualitatively.
Results: In total, 71 participants reported supervising students using telesupervision. Most had 10 years’ clinical experience with less than five years’ experience in telesupervision. Participants reported a wide range of telesupervision practices with variability in how they set up and provided the telesupervision. Telesupervision impacted how supervisors provided students with feedback. Experiences were affected by the use of technology (hardware and software), the student/educator relationship, confidence with technology and telesupervision, and supervision preferences. Participants reported that both positive and negative experiences of telesupervision were often related to the client and the technology. Most participants reportedly preferred in-person or hybrid supervision over telesupervision, even while seeing its benefits.
Conclusion: Telesupervision is implemented in diverse ways in Australia, and in the context of barriers and facilitators to its use including access to appropriate technology that supports the supervisory relationship. Speech pathologists perceive that telesupervision can be effective but may lack the resources and training in effective implementation and experience a range of barriers that need to be addressed if telesupervision is to be relied upon in distance education programs. Implications for student supervision and directions for future research will be presented and discussed.

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