Enlightening Professional Supervision in Social Work

ISBN-13: 9783031185434 / Angielski / Miękka / 2023

Manohar Pawar; A .W. (Bill) Anscombe

Opis

This book is a response to the felt need of social work practitioners for professional supervision. Reflecting on the social work profession in the context of contemporary socio-economic and political challenges and wide-ranging organizational and practice settings, the book provides a voice for supervisors to share their experiences. 

Social workers often deal with difficult, undefined and unique human situations where there are no ready-made solutions or quick fixes. This constant and complex working process can cause stress, burnout and affect their quality of work and judgement if they are not supported appropriately and in a timely way. One such support to them is offering professional supervision to enhance their professional functioning and their quality of service. On the one hand, the narratives of experienced supervisors reveal critical dilemmas, core processes and content, expectations, issues posed, and concepts and theories employed in professional supervision, and on the other, the wisdom and qualities of supervisors. This book analyzes concepts and models employed by supervisors and the complex interaction of their qualities and wisdom that arise from their narratives. It underscores the supervisee's being through integrating the personal and professional self to deliver better quality services to people, agencies, and communities. The book argues that the current trends compel action for well thought through professional supervision for all who need it. Those interested in professional supervision – supervisees, practitioners, and supervisors – will benefit from reading this book. 

Enlightening Professional Supervision in Social Work: Voices and Virtues of Supervisors is the resource that both supervisors and practitioners need to create safe environments to carefully reflect, develop knowledge, sharpen skills and effectively engage in practice. It will improve services to clients and organizational service provision, and not only benefit both practitioners and supervisors in social work and human services, but also social work educators and students, social policy administrators as well as managers and trainers in the social services sector.  

Spis treści

Chapter 1: Professional Supervision: An Introduction

By introducing the topic of professional supervision in social work, it will discuss the motivation to write this book, rationale, significance, concepts, nature, types and scope of, and growing demand for professional supervision in social work practice. It will briefly state research methods used.  While discussing the concepts, it will clarify meanings of supervisor and supervision in different contexts and sectors. For example, supervision and supervisor in the industry and factory context is quite different from professional supervision in the professional practice context. Mentor and mentee concepts and supervisor of supervisors will be clarified. It will contrast surveillance-oriented supervisor to self-development supervision and ritualistic, regulatory-oriented supervision to reflective and transformative, liberatory-oriented supervision. The role of professional bodies (e.g. e.g., NASW, BASW, AASW) and their policies related to supervision will be considered.  Further, it will discuss the purpose of the book and briefly introduce the twelve chapters covered in the book.  

Chapter 2: Changes and Challenges in Social Work: Implications for Professional Supervision

This chapter raises the question, whether the whole idea of ‘supervision’ must be reconceptualized in the context of new realities and challenges, and whether there are opportunities for innovation. It will include critical discussion on changes and challenges such as: The politics and promise of SW; radical right and populism; Colonization and decolonialization trends; Indigenization trends and challenges, from talk to walk; De-professionalization trends;  Multi-disciplinary and multi-professional practice; Digitalization and online trends; Clinical to structural social work; Reflective traditions and tensions, reflection without action; and Limits of professional intervention and supervision . Synthesizing these trends, the chapter will discuss the implications for   professional supervision and necessity of unshackling contours of conservative supervision traditions and of innovations for emancipatory, liberating supervision. The chapter will conclude with the summary. 

Chapter 3: Contexts of Supervision: Organizations and Practice Settings

This chapter will further elaborate relevant concepts introduced in chapter 1 and critically discusses six supervision contexts. First it discusses the supervision in the context of field work education and learning and teaching that occurs between social work students and fieldwork educators. Second, it discusses the supervision in the context of licensing systems and mandatory supervision that occurs between clinical practitioners and the dynamics surrounding it. The third context includes supervision of social work practitioners by line managers and strengths and weaknesses around this supervision context. The fourth is about group supervision in some contexts. The fifth is supervision in social work academic institutions. The sixth supervision context includes professional supervision organized by practitioners by choosing their supervisors outside the line-management and licensing supervision system. The chapter ends with the summary of these contexts.

Chapter 4: Models of Professional Supervision in Social Work

Drawing from the available literature, this chapter will summarise and critically discuss a range of models and theories of professional supervision. These will include development, reflective, postmodern, strength-based, cultural, process, adult learning, contractual, active and reactive, administrative/bureaucratic, partnership, peer, structural functional, integrative models.

Chapter 5: Critical Dilemmas and Challenges in Professional Supervision

Linking to the supervision contexts presented in Chapter 3, this chapter will bring out critical dilemmas in professional supervision in social work. It will discuss supervisors’ views about supervision provided by line managers and supervision provided by peers and other professionals who are not line managers and connects to questions raised and points made in Chapters 1 and 3. It will also critically examine  strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. The chapter ends with the summary.  

Chapter 6: The Process, Essentials and Content of Professional Supervision

It will include different processes – flexible/informal to structured – followed in supervision. As an example, supervision forms/templated will be included. The content of the supervision will include discussion on personal/private and professional/work matters. It will also discuss self-care, maintaining boundaries, modelling values and professional identity.

Chapter 7:  Supervisors' Expectations

This chapter will focus on social work supervisors’ perceptions of supervisees’ expectations. It will include about ten expectations. For example, availability, support and respect; space for ventilation/debriefing; have a plan/direction/advice; have answers/ problem-solving, learn something more than what they know; and facilitate reflection. Further it will also discuss expectations of supervisors from supervisees.

Chapter 8: Issues Posed in Professional Supervision

This chapter will look at core issues discussed in the professional supervision in social work. For example, these issues will include organisational contexts, values conflicts, culture and staffing issues, inadequacy, and confidence building. In relation to inadequacy and risk, it will discuss how  poor performance is managed in an empowerment framework and it will also include examples drawing from the interview data and author’s supervision experiences.

Chapter 9: Concepts and Theories Employed in Supervision

This chapter will highlight concepts and theories, and approaches used by supervisors in supervision sessions. Where relevant it will link to the content of Chapter 4 above. These range from eclectic to post-modern approaches.

Chapter 10: The Use of Practice Wisdom in Supervision

This chapter will explore whether and how supervisors will explore their own practice wisdom in supervision rather than drawing from theories and models. In particular, it will analyse practice wisdom statements made by supervisors and practice techniques/principles followed by them. 

Chapter 11: The Use of Virtues or Qualities in Supervision

The chapter will present the kind of qualities social work supervisors try to develop in supervisees. Some of the these include self-searching answers, being non-judgmental, honesty and accountability, compassion and good relationship/link to the wider world.

Chapter 12: Developing Supervisees' Being

The final chapter dwells in supervisors’ qualities as shared by them. For example, these are: Using strengths of supervisees; being open and honest, and non-judgemental; experiential learning and reflection; good listening and observing; affirming braveness; warmth and power

Reassuring/building confidence; humour; protest and advocacy/ holistic practice.

Chapter 13: Action for Professional Supervision

O autorze

Manohar Pawar, PhD is professor of Social Work, School of Social Work and Arts and the Gulbali Institute for Agriculture, Water and Environment, Charles Sturt University, Australia; the president of the International Consortium for Social Development and the founding Editor-in-Chief of a peer-reviewed journal, The International Journal of Community and Social Development, published by SAGE. He has nearly 40 years of experience in social work education, research and practice in Australia and India. He has received several honors and awards. His interests and recent publications include: COVID-19 Pandemic: Impact on and Implications for Community and Social Development (ed., SAGE, 2021); Virtue Ethics in Social Work Practice (co-authored, Routledge, 2021); Empowering Social Workers: Virtuous Practitioners (co-authored Springer, 2017); Future Directions in Social Development (co-edited, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017); Reflective Social Work Practice: Thinking, Doing and Being (co-authored, Cambridge University Press, 2015); Water and Social Policy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014); Social and Community Development Practice (SAGE, 2014); International Social Work: Issues, strategies and programs (co-authored, 2nd edition, SAGE, 2013); and SAGE Handbook of International Social Work (co-edited, SAGE, 2012). 

A. W. (Bill) Anscombe, PhD is an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Australia and the Gulbali Institute for Agriculture, Water and the Environment at CSU. Prior to “retiring”, he had 21 years at CSU, including as Course Director for CSU Social Work and Social Welfare programs. Prior to academia, he had 20 years in corrections, where he held positions from trainee to senior management roles, including Regional Operations Manager and A/Regional Director for Southern NSW, Australia. In 2000, he was seconded from the University to be the Director for Child Protection (Western) as part of the (then) New South Wales Department of Community Services, with responsibility for a geographical area of about 600,000 square kilometres, 25 service outlets, 1000+ children in Out of Home Care, 168 professional staff and more than 14000 Child at Serious Risk of Harm reports. He also operated in a joint appointment between CSU and the Department of Community Services for four years. He is currently a voluntary director of five not-for-profit small/medium human service companies or associations. He has an active, committed Christian faith. His research interests and projects have been broad, including in the areas of First Nations housing and governance, health in multicultural Australia, rural social services, child welfare, corrections, faith in rural Australia and numerous service evaluations. His doctoral studies were on “Consilience in social work: Reflections on thinking, doing and being”. His most recent book publications are: Virtue Ethics in Social Work Practice (co-authored, Routledge, 2021); Empowering Social Workers: Virtuous Practitioners (co-authored, Springer, 2017); and Reflective Social Work Practice: Thinking, Doing and Being (co-authored, Cambridge University Press, 2015).