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Based on an ethnographic survey conducted in two priority education secondary schools, this article analyzes the heterogeneity of a little-studied professional group, that of supervisors. This group brings together women and men with different levels of education, social backgrounds and professional aspirations. This heterogeneity implies variations in practices and attitudes that suggest an internal logic of differentiation between them. We have distinguished two professional categories. The first is composed of supervisors, who, as the “spokespersons” of the educational institution, aim to educate and lead the way among the students. The second includes supervisors who interact with students as “buddies”. This group of supervisors mobilizes feelings and uses jokes to identify and protect students with learning or behavioral challenges. This support-based relationship thus destabilizes the social norm of the “right distance”.‪