Definition, function, key skills, setting expectations, session outline, reflective practice, rural and remote, effectiveness, learning styles, suggestions for practice
Four sections follow:
Background Material that provides the context for the topic
Suggestions for Practice
A list of Supporting Material / References
Appendix 1: Learning Styles
Feedback welcome!
Background Material
The current situation?
The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW, 2020) states social workers have a responsibility to “take active steps to ensure that they receive appropriate supervision as a means of maintaining and extending practice competence” (s. 4.4) and “commitment to integrity” (s. 2.3). Standard 8 in the recently revised AASW Practice Standards (AASW, 2023) outlines in detail how supervision should operate in order for it to strengthen practice (e.g. it should be formal, focus on strengthening professional identity and practice, involve critical reflection on practice and improve professional knowledge). A recent review by Snowdon et al. (2020) illustrated that formal supervision sessions can be effective in supporting social workers in their role while. However other recent writing (e.g. King et al., 2017 and Peart, 2024a) warn that supervision can be taken up with clerical rather than clinical issues, e.g. case progression, report deadlines, data analysis and planning for the coming month. When these issues dominate supervision, there is very little opportunity for critical reflective on practice resulting in less effective supervision.
The material that follows is based on a selection of sources that discuss supervision. It examines what effective supervision should entail to avoid becoming a predominantly clerical or normative session.
Definition
Supervision is a vital component of social work, assisting professional development, providing a structured space for reflection, affording opportunities for growth, and allowing a chance to demonstrate accountability. For both supervisors and supervisees, engaging effectively in supervision can significantly enhance practice, ensure adherence to ethical standards, and foster a supportive environment (Peart, 2024b).
Professional supervision in social work is defined as:
… a forum for reflection and learning. … an interactive dialogue between at least two people, one of whom is a supervisor. This dialogue shapes a process of review, reflection, critique and replenishment for professional practitioners. Supervision is a professional activity in which practitioners are engaged throughout the duration of their careers regardless of experience or qualification. The participants are accountable to professional standards and defined competencies and to organisational policy and procedures (AASW, 2024b).
Methods of supervision
Supervision may occur:
On a day-to-day basis – informal supervision when the clinician has access to their supervisor in ‘real time’.
In structured one-to-one sessions – conducted regularly at a protected and prioritised time.
In a group environment – a forum to facilitate open discussion and learning from others’ experiences.
As peer-to-peer – conducted between two or more experienced allied health professionals as a method of consultation, problem solving, reflective practice and clinical decision making (HETI, 2012).
The literature examined as part of this review, while sometimes acknowledging the importance of informal or peer-to-peer supervision, usually considers supervision to be a structured one-to-one session.
Functions of supervision
In 2007 Harms suggested supervision has both preventative and supportive functions: (i) to set up or create a learning relationship, (ii) to teach, (iii) to educate, (iv) to monitor professional ethical issues, (v) to counsel, (vi) to consult, and (vii) to monitor administrative aspects. In 2011 Irwin suggested supervision involved education, management, support, mediation, and advocacy:
The educational function involves the development and fine-tuning of knowledge, skills, understandings, and abilities of supervisees.
The management function focuses mainly on performance and ensures that supervisees work within the policies and practices of the organisation.
The supportive function focuses on the impact of practice on the supervisee, ensuring they are not left alone to deal with some of the emotional effects of their work. It assists supervisees to take responsibility for their own work, to analyse what they do and develop and improve their practice.
The mediation function assists communication up and down the hierarchy in an organisation.
The advocacy function involves representing the supervisee’s position both within and outside the organisation.
More recent writers (AASW, 2024b; Martin et al., 2019; Snowdon et al., 2020) have condensed the functions of supervision to three: education, support and administrative or normative (e.g., promoting and complying with policies and procedures); formative (e.g., knowledge and skill development); and restorative or supportive (e.g., understanding and managing emotional wellbeing). HETI (2012) suggests all three functions should be included in supervision in an overlapping and flexible manner.
Educational (Formative) | Educational development of each worker in a manner that enhances their full potential.
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Supportive (Restorative) | The maintenance of harmonious working relationships with a focus on morale and job satisfaction.
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Administrative (Normative) | The promotion and maintenance of good standards of work, including ethical practice, accountability measures and adhering to policies.
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Tension can arise between the supervisors’ administrative and managerial power or accountability and their responsibility for providing support, development, and mediation. While staff management is an essential component of providing support to clinicians and is an important aspect of supervision it should not be the focus (McPherson et al., 2016). HETI points out the difference:
Clinical Supervision | Operational Management |
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Key skills
Effective supervision relies on the skills the supervisor and supervisee bring to the session. McPherson et al. (2016) found that a foundational requirement for effective supervision was the safety of the supervisee, given social workers can operate in an unsafe practice context. To achieve safety both the supervisor and supervisee must embrace trust, collaboration, joint accountability, honesty, openness, and a nonjudgmental approach. Effective supervision also implies both supervisor and supervisee are aware of and, when necessary, openly discuss issues of power, gender, culture, and difference. Effective supervisors value their staff, imprinting a sense of trustworthiness and predictability. A calming supervisory presence attuned to supervisees’ needs further facilitates and empowers staff to work with uncertainty and anxiety, thereby proactively addressing the emotional impact of the work.
Peart (2024b) suggests supervisees play an active role in ensuring that supervision is effective and meaningful by:
· Being open and honest Share challenges, successes, and uncertainties with the supervisor.
· Seeking feedback Actively seek feedback on practice and be open to constructive criticism.
· Reflecting on practice Regularly reflect on cases, decisions, and professional behaviour. Use supervision as a space to explore these reflections.
· Taking responsibility for learning Be proactive in identifying learning needs and seeking opportunities for professional development.
· Implementing feedback Show commitment to improvement by implementing the feedback and strategies discussed in supervision.
Irwin (2011) highlights the importance of both supervisor and supervisee being aware of their individual learning styles, i.e. being open to the way each prefers to communicate and learn new knowledge and skills. Information about learning styles is available online (where one may find a number of instruments to help identify personal learning styles) and in Appendix 1 at the end of the ‘Supplementary Material / References’ section.
Setting expectations
When establishing a relationship between a supervisee and a supervisor, it is important to ensure that both parties have clear expectations of the process. An effective way to set expectations is to discuss:
perceived strengths of both parties
current concerns or fears
areas the supervisee would like to develop
how the supervisee learns best (recognition of different learning styles)
what level of support the supervisee currently feels they require
what has worked/not worked for the supervisee in supervision in the past (Irwin, 2011; HETI, 2012).
A supervision contract may be in order. It is a document which outlines the parameters of the relationship including the responsibilities of each individual. It is signed by both parties and forms the basis of the supervisory relationship. Items covered in a supervision contract may include:
Learning or professional development goals
Methods to be used to achieve the learning/professional development goals
Roles, responsibilities, and expectations of both the supervisor and the supervisee
Processes of assessment feedback and evaluation
Ongoing monitoring and reviewing of the contract
The practicalities, e.g. dates, times, duration, setting agendas (Beddoe & Egan, 2009; HETI, 2012; Irwin, 2011;).
Structuring supervision
The following provides a structure for supervision and examples of points of discussion for each area.
Agenda | Content – content usually be drawn from some of the dot points included below | ~ Time |
1. Preparation | The supervisee has to consider the focus of the session.
| Before session |
2. Identifying & exploring | Reflect on issues affecting practice, case load planning, decision making. Reflect on patient incidents or interventions (e.g., assessment skills, counselling skills). Review what was discussed at previous clinical supervision session. Casework review – Presentation of a clinical issue or patient case by the supervisee. | 10 mins |
3. Analysing/ Reflective Practice | Clarifying, analysing, questioning, challenging actions/ideas and considering options. The supervisor may use questioning to aid the supervisee’s reflection and encourage them to reach new conclusions. | 30 mins |
4. Goal setting & action planning | The supervisor may suggest a particular approach for a given situation or draw attention to a particular guideline. Further reading/discussion may occur around relevant theories, practice standards and evidence-based practice. Goal setting – problem solving and action plan to achieve SMART goals* (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely). Identify short, medium and long-term timeframes to achieve these goals. | 10 mins |
5. Summarising | Review the session, record and close. Agree on an outcomes-based action plan. The supervisee should record the learning outcomes and action plan. | 10 mins |
6. Reflection in practice | Apply new information/skills/approaches to practice. Ongoing reflection on practice. | For next session |
* An example of a SMART goal for time and workload management: Within four weeks I will implement three strategies to improve skills in workload management:
making a list each morning of tasks that need to be attended to and identifying the priority of each task
ensuring that half an hour each afternoon is scheduled in my diary to finalise notes and complete statistics
checking emails twice a day only (HETI 2012).
HETI (2012) suggests documenting the agreed actions and outcomes of the supervision session and provides this form as a template.
Reflective Practice
It is important that step 3 of the above supervision outline includes reflective practice. This includes identifying supervisee’s strengths and weaknesses, determining actions required to improve skills, and developing reasoning skills to ensure the delivery of safe patient care. When reflection occurs in supervision, it can be in relation to reflecting on day to day clinical practice, triggered by a challenging clinical encounter or in anticipation of having to manage a complex situation. It is imperative that reflective practice is conducted in a supportive environment to allow individuals to freely share information that promotes learning (HETI, 2012). If interested check the original HETI article that provides an in-depth example of how reflective practice can occur in the supervision environment.
Both HETI (2012) and AASW (2022a) offer a template for reflective practice:
Description/Experience – Recollect and describe the event, provide context.
Reflection – What were you thinking and feeling at the time. Are there any patterns of behaviour, transference, resistance?
Evaluation – What was good and what was bad from this experience?
Analysis – Why did it happen? What sense can you make out of this by reflecting on theory, professional practice standards and practice wisdom.
Conclusion – What have you learned? What else could you have done? What should you perhaps not have done?
Plan and Act – What has been learned by reflecting? How will you adapt your practice in light of this new understanding? What will you do next time?
Peart (2024c) describes each of the above in more detail in a short article about the Gibbs’ reflective cycle.
Researchers suggest reflective practice can be an important component in developing knowledge, skills and competency, as well as building confidence and a sense of self efficacy in practice. It seems that the ability to reflect on questions, such as why a decision was made, what informed this decision and how a practitioner is feeling after a particular clinical interaction, is a necessary part of analysing practice and therefore progressing as a practitioner and providing the best possible care to those in receipt of a service (Pearce et al. 2013).
Supervision in rural and remote settings
Some of the unique but common issues experienced by rural clinicians include but are not limited to:
The line manager is often also the supervisor; it can be challenging moving between both roles.
The line manager is often not a social worker.
Working in small department teams and/or hospitals means there are fewer staff available to provide supervision and/or supervisors can experience burnout.
Working in isolation as a sole clinician means there is reliance on the individual to be proactive in seeking support remotely.
Rural clinicians often work across a range of inpatient, outpatient and community settings which adds an additional level of complexity to the delivery of services and the educational needs of the clinician.
Because of these challenges, rural and remote clinicians should consider the following:
Seek support and help from other clinicians within and outside of the local area, from professional bodies, or from the Local Health District.
Telesupervision can be an option.
Look for more than one form of support, e.g. join or create a peer support network to share experiences and learn from others.
Ensure the supervisor has an appreciation of the complexities of rural and remote work, e.g. sole practitioners with a broad range of caseload who spend considerable time travelling to smaller sites.
In rural areas it is not uncommon for the supervisee to have a positive relationship with the supervisor outside of the workplace (HETI, 2012; Martin et al., 2019).
Is supervision effective?
Evaluations of the effectiveness of clinical supervision to support social workers in their professional role found that, on average, supervision was effective. Research reveals different factors can impact on the effectiveness of supervision:
Choosing one’s supervisor,
Having spent less than 1 year in practice
Longer and more frequent supervision sessions
A positive supervision culture in an organisation based on organisational policies and procedures
Clear guidelines in place around frequency, duration and roles in supervision
Having supervision delivered remotely when necessary (Snowdon et al., (2020).
Barriers to effective clinical supervision include:
Finding time (e.g. competing clinical duties and geographical barriers in remote health care settings)
Difficulty establishing a appropriate supervisee-supervisor match (e.g. due to the limited depth and breadth of some professions—small department size), and difficulties in finding a supervisor who understands the contextual factors of practising in a remote setting (outlined above) (Snowdon et al., (2020).
Role of a supervisor
AASW (2024a) outlines recommended guidelines for a supervisor around ethical responsibilities, agreements, required social work experience and simple practical issues (e.g. open relationship, appropriate environment and engaging in one’s own supervision). HETI (2012) offers the following checklist for effective supervision:
Keep the worker safe and well by actively monitoring his/her level of stress and ability to cope
Acknowledge the current skills and experience of the worker
Address the individual needs of the worker, including learning style
Acknowledge the worker as a person
Provide positive reinforcement when new skills and knowledge are acquired
Develop a supervision contract which clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of the supervisory relationship
Maintain confidentiality within the limits of the supervision contract
Ensure feedback is provided in a positive way and addresses areas of further development clearly and unambiguously
Acknowledge and manage factors that may influence the relationship (e.g., seniority, gender, culture).
Suggestions For Practice
The following emerge from the above material as central themes for supervision sessions.
1. Supervision should involve:
Education—providing knowledge and skills, reflection on practice, integrating theory and practice
Support—dealing with stress, sustaining morale and self-worth
Administration—roles and responsibilities, workload management, organisational and practice issues.
2. Social workers need to ensure supervision sessions are effective by:
Openly sharing challenges, successes, and uncertainties with the supervisor.
Actively seeking feedback on practice and being open to constructive criticism.
Reflecting on cases, decisions, and professional behaviour.
Being proactive in identifying learning needs and seeking opportunities for professional development.
Implementing the feedback and strategies discussed in supervision.
3. Setting expectations for supervision is important, e.g. perceived strengths, possible areas for development, the supervisee preferred learning style, level of support required, what has worked for supervision previously.
4. Supervision sessions could adhere to a set structure, e.g.
Preparation before the session: what to focus on in the session
Identifying and exploring (10min): identify areas for discussion
Analysing and reflection (30 min): clarifying, analysing, questioning, challenging actions/ideas and considering options.
Goal setting and action planning (10 min): using relevant theories and practice approaches to set SMART goals
Summarising (10 min): review the session and record learning outcomes and action plan
Reflection in practice: ongoing reflection on practice and implementing goals before next supervision session.
5. Studies indicate that supervision is effective in supporting social workers in their roles. Different factors can impact on effectiveness, e.g. a positive supervision culture, clear guidelines around frequency and length, choosing one’s supervisor.
6. Supervision in rural and remote setting can be challenging for social workers. As a result ,social workers may need to seek supervision from other clinicians within and outside of the local area. This could involve creating a peer support network, using teleconferencing and informal/ad hoc arrangements. Because remote social workers tend to be sole practitioners, have a broad range of caseload and spend considerable time travelling to smaller sites, supervisors need to understand this context of rural and remote social work.
A concluding note: In the current international climate of managerialism, there has been a struggle to retain supervision as a professional development process rather than see it as a compliance-driven surveillance of social workers. Reflective supervision which supports professional skills and knowledge has become devalued and/or decontextualised. This approach stands in contrast to the traditional aim of supervision, which is to engage in critical, reflective conversations about day-to-day work (Rankine et al., 2017). If administration becomes the focus of supervision, social workers may need to forge a new model of supervision in which they manage their own professional networks to meet their needs for advice and guidance (King et al., 2017). Some guidance around how to do this is provided by social workers in rural and remote settings where it is common for workers to have multiple forms of support, e.g. mentoring, peer group supervision, peer networks, with multi-disciplinary teams, telesupervision and informal/ad hoc arrangements (Martin et al., 2019).
References / Supplementary Material
AASW: Australian Association of Social Workers. (2020). Code of ethics. https://www.aasw.asn.au/about-aasw/ethics-standards/code-of-ethics/
AASW: Australian Association of Social Workers. (2022a). Reflective practice template. https://my.aasw.asn.au/s/supervision-suites
AASW: Australian Association of Social Workers. (2022b). Supervision structure template. https://my.aasw.asn.au/s/supervision-suites
AASW: Australian Association of Social Workers. (2023). Practice standards. https://www.aasw.asn.au/about-aasw/ethics-standards/practice-standards/
AASW: Australian Association of Social Workers. (2024a). Becoming a supervisor. https://my.aasw.asn.au/s/article/Becoming-a-supervisor
AASW: Australian Association of Social Workers. (2024b). What is supervision? https://my.aasw.asn.au/s/article/What-is-supervision
Beddoe, L., & Egan, R. (2009). Social work Supervision. In M. Connolly & L. Harms (Eds.), Social work: Contexts and practice (2nd ed., pp. 410-422). Oxford University Press.
Harms, L. (2007). Working with people: Communication skills for reflective practice. Oxford University Press.
HETI: Health Education and Training Institute. (2012). The superguide: A handbook for supervising allied health professionals (2nd ed.). https://www.heti.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/our-focus-areas/allied-health/clinical-supervision
Irwin, J. (2011). Making the most of supervision. In A. O’Hara & R. Pockett (Eds.), Skills for human service practice (2nd ed., pp. 43-55). Oxford University Press.
King, S., Carson, E., & Papatraianou, L. H. (2017). Self-managed supervision. Australian Social Work, 70(4), 4-16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2015.1134608
Martin, P., Kumar, S., Lizarondo, L., & Baldock, K. (2019) Debriefing about the challenges of working in a remote area: A qualitative study of Australian allied health professionals’ perspectives on clinical supervision. PLoS ONE 14(3): e0213613. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0213613
McPherson, L., Frederico, M., & McNamara, P. (2016). Safety as a fifth dimension in supervision: Stories from the frontline. Australian Social Work, 69(1), 67-79. https://doi.org/10.1080/0312407X.2015.1024265
Pearce, P., Phillips, B., Dawson, M., Leggat, S. G. (2013). Content of clinical supervision sessions for nurses and allied health professionals: A systematic review. Clinical Governance: An International Journal, 18(2), 139-154. doi: 10.1108/14777271311317927
Peart, V. (2024a June 6). Social work supervision must be more than just a case update. Social Work News. https://www.mysocialworknews.com/article/social-work-supervision-must-be-more-than-just-a-case-update
Peart, V. (2024b, June 6). How to give and receive excellent social work supervision. Social Work News. https://www.mysocialworknews.com/article/how-to-give-and-receive-excellent-social-work-supervision
Peart, V. (2024c, December 4). How to use Gibbs' reflective cycle. Social Work News. https://www.mysocialworknews.com/article/how-to-use-gibbs-reflective-cycle
Rankine, M., Beddoe, L., O’Brien, M., & Fouche, C. (2017). What’s your agenda? Reflective supervision in community-based child welfare services. European Journal of Social Work. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2017.1326376
Snowdon, D. A., Sargent, M., Williams, C. M. Maloney, S. Caspers, K., & Taylor, N. F. (2020). Effective clinical supervision of allied health professionals: A mixed methods study. BMC Health Services Research, 20(2). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4873-8
Appendix 1 Learning Styles
Learning styles can be determined through administering learning style questionnaires or discussing with the supervisee how they learn best (e.g., preferred learning style, environment and methods) (HETI, 2012). One such questionnaire can be found at https://www.mint-hr.com/mumford/ It can be completed online, submitted and a score for each learning style results.
There are four groups of learners. Activists thrive on new experiences and prefer challenges. Reflectors are more contemplative, collecting and considering as much information as possible. Theorists shape their observations into intricate and plausible theories; they are systematic in considering problems. Pragmatists are keen to experiment, problem solve and apply new ideas and theories to the situation and can tend to move too quickly (Irwin, 2011).
The social work graduate’s learning style
As a professional (and, to a great extent, personally) I am organised, sequential, planned, detailed, analytical, fact-based, quantitative. I prefer to learn and absorb information visually rather than by listening or discussion. I prefer to reflect and think—to plan before acting. I like structure, step-by-step tasks, and prefer to work alone. I avoid role-plays and group work (although I am quite competent in chairing a task-oriented group). I also avoid open-ended situations and talking about feelings. I find socialising with strangers difficult. In terms of the above diagram and descriptions, I fit on the left hand side—I am a reflector and theorist.
Practising Social Work
I like structure and sequence. I like to have time to reflect and like to break things down into parts. Because of this the following practice models, with their inbuilt structure, appeal; they also rely on utilising people’s strengths and the systems that surround them.
Problem-Oriented | Task-Centred | Solution-Focused | Crisis Intervention |
Explore problems, set tentative goals, agree to work together | After deliberation agree on the focus problem; break it down into manageable tasks | Clients state the problem; scaling question to measure current situation | Establish rapport and assess for risk of harm |
Collect data—strengths, consider all factors/systems, summarise | Identify obstacles and plan small tasks to address the problem (strengths / systems approach) | Ask about times the problem is absent—what is different? | Identify and organise the problems |
Collaboratively plan the intervention including pros & cons, roles and responsibilities | Implement | Miracle question. Use to generate goals. | Explore coping strategies, successes and resources – strengths / systems |
Evaluate | Review progress | Coping questions—Do more of what is successful | Generate strategies and formulate an action plan |
| Terminate when problem is solved | Scaling question - measure progress | Establish follow-up plans |
The problem-oriented and task-centred models provide me with strategies to discuss people’s problems with them and put in place a structure that builds on their strengths to enable them to work through the issues in a methodical way. The task-centred model is based on the problem-oriented model and is used with complex problems that can be broken down into manageable parts. Each part is worked through in a problem-oriented manner. Ultimately, working through the parts leads to resolution of the problem.
The solution-focused model can be used to address several issues people face in life. It suggests people commence by rating or scaling their current efforts or their satisfaction with the current situation, looks at times when things are better or the person can manage an issue or situation, asks people to reflect on what it would be like if the issue wasn’t there, and uses these approaches to establish goals and ways of achieving these goals.
Crisis intervention is a practical approach to situations that require both problem solving and exploring coping strategies. It enables one to use both problem-oriented and solution-focused approaches depending on the situation in which the person finds him or herself.
A final note: It is important that I determine the learning style and way of operating of the client. The above models operate out of a structure, and being structured may not suit the client. The models can still be used to generate a way forward but implementing that way forward will need to be couched in a way that is comfortable for the client, i.e. is in tune with the way he or she prefers to operate.
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