Social Work Supervision
Professional Supervision in Social Work
1. Introduction
1.1. The 21st Century Review of Social Work, the various restructurings across Scottish Local Authorities and the range of different arrangements across voluntary and private providers has led to a debate about the meaning and role of Social Work supervision.
1.2. The term supervision is widely interpreted and often misunderstood in its traditional context of directly monitoring, observing or training. The focus in this paper is on trying to arrive at a modern definition of supervision, or more accurately professional or clinical supervision.
1.3. There is a similar lack of clarity about terms like autonomy and accountability or responsibility. These are not analysed in detail here but they link into the definition of professional supervision.
1.4. No Social Worker can work with entire autonomy and professional supervision is the key process for balancing professional autonomy with responsibility to the client, professional ethics and standards along with accountability to the agency and society at large.
2. What is professional supervision?
2.1. Professional supervision is a (if not the) key element in recruitment and retention. The nature and frequency of supervision is one of the main questions asked by candidates in interviews and the lack of supervision is often quoted by professionals as their reason for changing jobs. It is highly valued by social workers.
2.2. Much of the academic work describes the purpose and the process of supervision in Social Work rather than defining the term. However, where there is an attempt to define the principle, there is remarkable consistency over the years.
2.3. M.K. Smith (1996) pulls together a range of models stemming from Kadushin’s model of supervision which itself calls on much earlier work by John Dawson (1926). Dawson defined the purpose of supervision as Administrative, Educational and Supportive. At least these three elements recur
1. Introduction
1.1. The 21st Century Review of Social Work, the various restructurings across Scottish Local Authorities and the range of different arrangements across voluntary and private providers has led to a debate about the meaning and role of Social Work supervision.
1.2. The term supervision is widely interpreted and often misunderstood in its traditional context of directly monitoring, observing or training. The focus in this paper is on trying to arrive at a modern definition of supervision, or more accurately professional or clinical supervision.
1.3. There is a similar lack of clarity about terms like autonomy and accountability or responsibility. These are not analysed in detail here but they link into the definition of professional supervision.
1.4. No Social Worker can work with entire autonomy and professional supervision is the key process for balancing professional autonomy with responsibility to the client, professional ethics and standards along with accountability to the agency and society at large.
2. What is professional supervision?
2.1. Professional supervision is a (if not the) key element in recruitment and retention. The nature and frequency of supervision is one of the main questions asked by candidates in interviews and the lack of supervision is often quoted by professionals as their reason for changing jobs. It is highly valued by social workers.
2.2. Much of the academic work describes the purpose and the process of supervision in Social Work rather than defining the term. However, where there is an attempt to define the principle, there is remarkable consistency over the years.
2.3. M.K. Smith (1996) pulls together a range of models stemming from Kadushin’s model of supervision which itself calls on much earlier work by John Dawson (1926). Dawson defined the purpose of supervision as Administrative, Educational and Supportive. At least these three elements recur
References: Smith, M. K. (1996) 'The functions of supervision ', the encyclopedia of informal education, Last update: January 28, 2005 http://www.infed.org/biblio/functions_of_supervision.htm A Practice Specialty of Clinical Social Work A Position Statement of the American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work (Adopted October 8, 2004 Published October, 2004)