Lambert K. Engelbrecht

Supervision : a force for change? Three stories told

Drawing on research, we contextualize social work and describe the role of supervisors in child welfare settings in South Africa, England and Sweden. Exploratory frameworks and models of supervision illustrate how it has been influenced by principles of New Public Management and the concluding discussion proposes an agenda for change.

The implications of neoliberalism for social work: Reflections from a six-country international research collaboration

The near global implementation of public sector and social welfare reform as a result of neoliberal economic reform has impacted on social work and social inequality. State strategies to reduce social and economic inequality are being challenged and rolled back. This article uses the reflections from a six-country EU-funded social work research collaboration to promote debate and compare global social work perspectives, to highlight the complexity of research, to explore implications for practice and the Global Agenda. It concludes by highlighting that global comparisons are complex, multi-faceted and that political, cultural and economic context is critical to develop effective responses.

Migration of Professional Social Workers: Reflections on Challenges and Strategies for Education

International migration of social workers has had, in recent years, a substantial influence on the political agenda of different countries in the world, and is fraught with challenges. In some countries, recruitment of internationally qualified social workers has even become an important strategy to meet staffing demands and to fill shortages in the social work profession. This paper aims to promote debate on the key role of social work educators in assisting social work students and practitioners to practise within both a national and an international context, by reflecting on specific practice examples from Canada, England and South Africa. We explore challenges, as well as possible strategies for adaptation in new contexts, such as the facilitation of additional training, globally comparable social work programmes, and the development of a stronger professional identity, based on integrated social work values. We conclude that by enabling a stronger professional identity through the development of professional virtues, social workers will be empowered to become more confident practitioners and internationally more adaptable.

PLUMBING THE BRAIN DRAIN OF SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL WORKERS MIGRATING TO THE UK: CHALLENGES FOR SOCIAL SERVICE PROVIDERS

This article reports research that was undertaken to uncover generalisations pertaining to the migration of South African social workers to the United Kingdom (UK). The intention was to identify challenges for the future contribution of social service providers in South African if local social workers are to be retained in the country. In the South African social work milieu it is recognised formally and informally that a significant number of social workers migrated to the UK during the first decade after democracy. This can be classified as a distinct brain drain of social workers, which has a vital impact on social service delivery and social development (Business Day, 2005; Cape Times, 2004; Louw, 2003:xv-xvi; Herald, 2005). However, verifiable data on the brain drain phenomenon in social work are not available (Business Day, 2005). With reference to Saravia and Miranda’s (2004) use of the metaphor, a plumbing of the South African social workers’ brain drain to the UK is thus needed. This plumbing is effected by describing the research design and methodology, sketching the background for the survey, reporting the survey results, and identifying challenges for social service providers

Social work education in Canada, England and South Africa: A critical comparison of undergraduate programmes

Globalized labour mobility has led to questions regarding the degree to which social work education in one country can be applicable to practice in another. This paper examines social work education programmes and practice contexts in South Africa, England and Canada as examples through which to examine this question.

Social work and macro-economic neoliberalism: beyond the social justice rhetoric

Macro-economic policy shapes and structures social welfare policy, services, and their implementation. As a result, the commoditisation of social welfare services and the use of markets as well as private sector management philosophies and tools have colonised and fashioned the design, provision and implementation of social welfare policy and structures. The impact has been far reaching, from limiting social welfare responses of elected democratic government to shaping the profession in a range of intended and unintended directions. Written from a UK perspective, this paper proposes a discussion of the impact of macro-economic neoliberal policies in the field of social welfare and explores the implications for social work practice. The paper also promotes a debate within the profession regarding the importance of macro-economic analysis and possible responses, as well as suggesting a way forward within European and, more broadly, international practice contexts.

INDEBTEDNESS OF FINANCIALLY VULNERABLE HOUSEHOLDS: WHAT DO SOCIAL WORKERS DO?

Household debt in South Africa has grown significantly relative to income over the past twenty years under the guise of financial liberalisation (FinMark Trust, 2007). Currently households spend approximately 60c to 70c of every rand of their income on repayment of debt (Gous, 2008; Van Rooyen, 2008a). During the past decade the disposable income, financial assets and net prosperity of households have therefore not accrued to the same extent as their debt obligations. For this reason households’ savings are urgently needed to contribute to a lessening of the country’s current account deficit in order to sustain economic growth and job creation (Van Tonder, 2008). On the macro level, economic growth and job creation form part of the ideal underpinning the social development philosophy in South Africa. This ideal is to combine social welfare assistance with developmental strategies, thereby promoting both economic and social development in order to strengthen people’s capacity to enhance their social and economic inclusion and alleviate poverty (Patel, 2005:118). Social work, as a profession within the social development paradigm, is primarily focused on the poorest of the poor households (Department of Social Development, 2006). In the context of a relative poverty line, set in relation to changing standards of living (Statistics South Africa, 2007), a poor household is to be understood when the household’s condition of poverty endures over a period of time, when the household has an inability or lack of opportunity to improve its circumstances over time, or to sustain itself through difficult times (Aliber, 2001:2). Research (Collins, 2007; Rand, 2004) has shown that poor households have the highest debt to income ratio. For this reason social work intervention focusing on household debt is also essential on the micro level within the social development paradigm in order to reduce households’ financial vulnerability (Engelbrecht, 2008a).

THE SCOPE OF FINANCIAL LITERACY EDUCATION: A POVERTY ALLEVIATION TOOL IN SOCIAL WORK?

The reference to financial literacy in the G8 Action Plan drafted at the Sea Island Summit 2004 (Cohen, Stach & McGuinnes, 2004) is a demonstration of the growing awareness worldwide of the importance of promoting financial education, especially in developing countries. This has led to concepts such as financial literacy and financial education creating an interest in research especially by such institutions as banking companies, government agencies and community interest groups (Piprek, Dlamini & Coetzee, 2004). These interest groups and institutions are generally concerned that their consumers lack basic knowledge of financial concepts and do not have the skills they need to make decisions advantageous to their economic well-being (Braunstein & Welch, 2002). Financial literacy is thus globally increasingly viewed as an important requirement for successful functioning in a modern society. This trend suggests that educating people to become financially literate will gradually become even more important worldwide (Sandlant, Harris & Barker, 2005), as people who are financially illiterate and therefore financially vulnerable, are increasingly excluded from the mainstream economy (INSOL International, 2001; Link, Vawser, Downes & Chant, 2004; Noble, Ratcliffe W Laderchi, Saith & Stewart, 2006; Finmark Trust, 2007).

YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW: IS SOCIAL WORK SUPERVISION IN SOUTH AFRICA KEEPING UP?

The recruitment and retention strategy of the Department of Social Development (2006:23) postulates that there is a “lack of structured supervision and poor quality supervisors, who themselves also lack capacity to conduct professional supervision” in South Africa. Pieterse (1961), one of the first authors on supervision in South Africa, made similar claims close to five decades ago. These two comments give rise to the question: has social work in South Africa been practising supervision over the past five decades beyond historical bureaucratic discourses, and has it engaged with changing global, local and personal contexts to develop and sustain critically responsive practices? In other words: is social work supervision in South Africa keeping up with the times? By addressing this question, this paper seeks to respond to the call of the recruitment and retention strategy document (Department of Social Development, 2006) to evaluate current supervision practices. In this attempt the paper reports on research, drawing on an historical analysis of the international and local development of social work supervision and on a case study of current supervision practices in an NGO environment, in order to recommend a context-specific conceptual framework for future supervision practices. This paper thus aims to examine the interplay between the historical development, current practices and future challenges of social work supervision

SOCIAL WORK SUPERVISION POLICIES AND FRAMEWORKS: PLAYING NOTES OR MAKING MUSIC?

INTRODUCTION Kadushin (1992:230-231) drew a parallel between the supervision of social workers and making music: is supervision just a random sounding of notes, serving to mask incompetence, or is it tuneful music, conducive to social workers’ best efforts? This analogy may be considered to reflect the emergence of new public management measures as an operationalisation of neoliberal ideas, with consequent changes in conditions of service delivery, control and accountability of social workers. These management mechanisms for bureaucratic standardisation in social work have resulted in, for example, the introduction of supervision policies and frameworks in various countries, such as those of the Australian Association of Social Workers (2010), British Association of Social Workers (2011), Aortearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (2012), and the supervision framework for the social work profession in South Africa (DSD & SACSSP, 2012), to name a few.