Ronnie Egan

Australian Social Work Supervision Practice in 2007

Abstract In 2007, a national online survey was conducted to investigate the practice of social work supervision in Australia. Six hundred and seventy-five social workers across Australia completed an online survey to produce the quantitative results reported in this article. The majority of respondents were female and were employed full time across a range of fields of practice, including statutory, non-statutory, and health and counselling settings. Nearly 84% reported having supervision. The largest number of respondents had received individual supervision in their place of work but some had also received more than one type of supervision. For more than two-thirds of the respondents, their principal supervisor was also their line manager, and most had had no choice in their supervisor. Despite the volume of supervision literature, there are limited empirical data about current supervision work practice in Australia. Findings from this study will lay a foundation for future research on social work supervision, a topic of significant importance to the social work profession.

Finding voice: the higher education experiences of students from diverse backgrounds

Diversity in the student body, particularly the inclusion of disadvantaged groups, has been incorporated into the discourse of inclusive education, with social justice and equality now part of the agenda. However, the conflation of diversity with equality potentially obscures some structural elements of the contemporary university system. This research reports on the experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) social work students and their experiences and maps the views of CALD students engagement with the social work course. Overall data indicated that for CALD students to successfully engage with their studies, social work programmes must address the personal, cultural and political dislocation that CALD students experience while undertaking their studies

How useful are discussion boards and written critical reflections in helping social work students critically reflect on their field education placements

Critical reflection is regarded as a necessary skill in social work practice. While there is extensive literature on the need to develop the skills for critical reflection, there is little research into whether discussion boards and guided critical incident questions are useful in helping social work students develop critical reflection. This article reports an exploratory study conducted about the use of discussion boards and written reflections by social work students undertaking field placement. Results indicate that, conducted within a safe learning environment, students do engage with both discussion boards and written reflections to critically reflect on their social work practice.

Supporting quality supervision: Insights for organisational practice

This article reports on the findings of a mixed-method study exploring the experiences of supervision within Australian social work. It looks particularly at the ways in which organisational cultures support supervision as a mechanism of practice improvement. The research suggests the need to better understand performance within the practice and supervision sphere, and create ways in which workers can be acknowledged to develop their skills in a supportive organisational environment. It argues that within a neoliberal context, supervision has the potential to assist in the management of competing workplace demands.

Trust, Power and Safety in the Social Work Supervisory Relationship: Results from Australian Research

Social work, as a discipline, places considerable importance on the provision of supervision, promoting it as a key process supporting critical reflection and practice improvement. A supervision relationship built on trust has the potential to provide a safe context within which practice issues can be explored. This article reports on an Australian study of social work supervision and the ways in which a trusting supervision relationship supports safe practice and critical reflection. A context of trust within the supervisory relationship is found to promote safe practice, providing the basis for what supervisees felt was satisfying supervision. Within a trusted and supportive supervisory relationship participants wanted and valued challenge which was seen to promote professional growth and positive client outcomes. Whether this occurs, however, depended on how power was exercised and how safe they felt in the supervisory relationship. The research argues the need for social work to reclaim supervision through a revitalised commitment to advancing supervision practice, research, and research-based policies.