Liz Beddoe

External Supervision in Social Work: Power, Space, Risk, and the Search for Safety

Abstract Over the past few decades there has been a trend to separate “clinical” or “professional” supervision of social workers from “line” supervision provided in social services. Professional or clinical supervision is often sourced externally through a private arrangement or contracted out by agencies to individual practitioners of supervision. A number of factors underpin the development of this external supervision including: the perceived imposition of managerial agendas on supervision; the problem of power dynamics within organisations; and a growing “risk” conceptualisation of practitioners’ wellbeing. A potential negative impact of this separation of supervision from the “field” of practice is that it privatises supervision in a manner that in itself poses risks. This exploratory paper examines the impact of discourses of risk and safety, space and place within social work supervision and draws links between these aspects. Some material drawn from a small qualitative study of the experiences of six expert supervisors in New Zealand illuminates these themes. A significant finding was that the dominance of compliance and surveillance activities within the public sector was linked to the pursuit of external supervision and that four dominant forms of supervision can be discerned in the current discourse.

Health social work: Professional identity and knowledge

Social workers in health care often argue that they must be professionally assertive in order to keep their values afloat in a stormy sea of change. The practice of health social work has traditionally been tied to a professional identity derived from a claim to expertise in the ‘psychosocial’ aspects of health and illness. This article briefly reviews relevant literature on health social work in institutional settings, with specific reference to the links between knowledge, credentials and a secure professional identity. Data from a small study is used to examine the problematic nature of professional identity and links between continuing professional education and status in health social work in New Zealand. Findings reveal practitioner concern that the knowledge claim of social work is weak and this impacts on their professional identity and status in multidisciplinary institutional settings.

The Reflective Learning Model: Supervision of Social Work Students

A key task for the field education supervisor is to facilitate reflection in beginning practice, and to promote in the student a sense of ownership, mastery and understanding of his or her clinical process. At the same time the supervisor is charged to instruct and guide the student. A major challenge for the supervisor is to balance these two dimensions of supervision and maintain a focus on the students experience rather than the supervisors expertise. The authors present a Reflective Learning Model which identifies the importance of both facilitative and didactic interventions within effective supervision. A case study is provided to demonstrate the model in action.

Creating Continuous Conversation: Social Workers and Learning Organizations

This article presents some findings on one aspect of a qualitative study of the continuing education of social workers in New Zealand. Social workers interviewed were aware of the contemporary discourses of lifelong learning and in particular, the concept of learning organizations. Analysis reveals that while practitioners are positive about the ideals of the learning organization; this is tempered by practical considerations and constraints which reflect the critique of the learning organization found in the literature. When asked to define their hopes for post‐qualifying learning, participants identified intellectual refreshment, critical reflection and acknowledging successful work as priorities. Social workers clearly want ‘learning workplaces’ and as educators we need to support their development. Top‐down models may not provide the answer and small‐scale local initiatives which engender critical, reflective and inquiring ‘continuous conversations’ may serve practitioners better.

Registration in New Zealand social work The challenge of change

English Internationally the greater regulation of social work is intended to raise standards and enhance the standing of the profession. Regulatory systems must also be aligned to the demands of an increasingly global workforce. The achievement of limited registration in New Zealand creates challenges and opportunities for the profession. French Une plus grande réglementation du travail social sur la scène internationale vise à hausser les normes et à améliorer la profession. Les systèmes de régulation devraient tenir compte des particularités d’une main-d’oeuvre de plus en plus globalisée. La réalisation d’une inscription limitée en Nouvelle-Zélande crée des défis et des possibilités pour la profession. Spanish Internacionalmente la regularización del trabajo social tiene como objetivo elevar los estándares y mejorar el estatus de la profesión. Los sistemas regulatorios deben tener en cuenta las demandas de un mercado laboral cada vez más globalizado. El registro limitado de Nueva Zelanda crea retos y también oportunidades para la profesión.

‘Never Trust Anybody Who Says “I Don’t Need Supervision”’: Practitioners’ Beliefs about Social Worker Resilience

Yin noted the requirement for social workers to provide ‘supportive, empowering and strengths-based (resilience building) services’ and asked ‘when the workers themselves are burning out … do we provide the same for them?’. Many researchers have since explored this question, seeking explanations as to how some social workers survive and thrive and others are lost to the profession. The authors of this small exploratory study were interested in exploring practitioners’ understanding of resilience. A qualitative approach was employed to explore practitioner views about what contributed to their own resilience, augmented by data gathered in interviews with those providing supervision to students. Findings suggest a conceptual framework incorporating three aspects of resilience: core attributes within the individual, the practice context and a series of mediating factors. Participant accounts suggested a multifaceted and dynamically balanced awareness of resilience that highlighted the relational and contextual characteristics of their experience. This article reports one significant theme emerging from the study; namely that supervision and collegial support are recognised as vital in the nurturing of practitioner resilience.

Continuing education, registration and professional identity in New Zealand social work

This article draws on a study of New Zealand social workers’ experiences of continuing professional education (CPE) during the first two years following the advent of limited statutory registration. A qualitative study demonstrates strong links between social workers’ educational aspirations and beliefs about the status of the profession. Social workers in the study perceived continuing education in part as a tool to achieve greater professional standing for social work in contested spaces. At a time when registration legislation is likely to be strengthened, this article contributes to the somewhat neglected scholarship of continuing education in an increasingly regulated social work profession.

Interprofessional Supervision in Social Work and Psychology: Mandates and (Inter) Professional Relationships

Supervision of practicing professionals has grown as a major vehicle for the assurance of clinical competence of health and social services professionals in New Zealand with a consequential increase in the demand for competent supervisors. Interprofessional supervision (IPS) has increased as a means of addressing the gap. The literature suggests there is potential for IPS to improve functioning in multidisciplinary teams and enhance clinical work, but it is relatively under-researched. This article reports on a study of psychologists and social workers (N = 243) practicing IPS. The study explored the rationale for seeking IPS and the perceived advantages and limitations for the supervisor and supervisee alike. Professional mandates may limit IPS but its development as a practice suggests that guidance is needed to ensure it meets the aspirations of its practitioners.

Live Supervision of Students in Field Placement: More than Just Watching

Frequently, observation of social work students in ‘live’ work is absent or haphazard. An overview of the key literature examines the need for observation of students during training, explores the strengths and challenges of live supervision and describes a planned process for conducting live supervision. This approach incorporates four phases: collaborative preparation for a session of direct practice; observation of the students work by a field educator; debriefing and feedback; and the development of a plan for further learning steps. Brief vignettes are used to illustrate the process. The article is enriched by the inclusion of student comments from the evaluations undertaken after live supervision activities.

Civic practice: A new professional paradigm for social work

• Summary: Economic rationalism has had an impact upon the position of many professions in Western society. Drawing on New Zealand material this article argues that neoliberal targeting of professions’ capacity to capture domains of service and their funding has fuelled deprofessionalization, but also created space for alternative domains of practice. A case for a civic model of social work practice is argued. • Findings: Debates about the nature of professions flourish in current literature. An exploration of the features of the social work profession suggests three types: heroic, altruistic and civic. The development of civic practice in social work is suggested, presupposing a reframing of the role and focus of the profession toward social inquiry applied to the rights and needs of citizens. • Application: The contribution of this article is to explore a move forward in the de-professionalization debates and to propose a civic social work grounded in advocacy and critical social inquiry.