What’s your agenda? Reflective supervision in community-based child welfare services

ABSTRACT

The provision of community-based child welfare services (CCW) in a managerialist climate in Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ) necessitates constantly renegotiated contractual partnerships, service targeting and measured outcomes. Reflective supervision is essential to counter the perceived negative impacts of managerialism on CCW work. Within this environment, there is a struggle to ensure supervision provides reflective spaces for social workers to develop in their work with service users despite the demands of meeting organisational imperatives. This article reports on a qualitative study which critically analyses the espoused theory and theories-in-use [Argyris, C., & Schön, D. (1974). Theory in practice: Increasing professional effectiveness. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.] about reflective supervision held by social workers practising in the demanding environment of CCW. In the first phase of the research reported here, nine key informants who had both considerable experience in CCW and academic experience in ANZ were interviewed about the nature of reflective supervision in CCW social work. Findings indicate that social workers working in CCW settings are influenced by factors associated with self-awareness, relationships, organisational and professional obligations within a changing and risk-averse managerial environment. Key informants assert that social workers from CCW backgrounds need reflective supervision to engage in self-reflection, consider wider socio-cultural factors and to critically develop social-justice-informed practice with service users.

KEYWORDS:

• Community-based child welfare
• supervision
• reflective practice
• Schön

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Matt Rankine works as a Professional Teaching Fellow at the University of Auckland in Aotearoa/New Zealand and is involved in the delivery of the fieldwork education, practice skills papers and post-graduate professional supervision papers. Matt has experience providing external supervision and within social work working with children, young people and families in Aotearoa/New Zealand and in the United Kingdom. Currently, Matt is studying part-time towards a PhD concerning the area of reflective practice in supervision within the community child welfare setting.

Liz Beddoe is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Liz’s teaching and research interests include critical perspectives on social work education and professional supervision. Liz has published articles on supervision and professional issues in New Zealand and international journals. Recent books include the co-authored Challenges in professional supervision (2016, Jessica Kingsley Publishers) with Allyson Davys and Supervision in social work: Contemporary issues (2015, Routledge) co-edited with Jane Maidment.

Associate Professor Mike O’Brien works part-time in the School of Counselling, Human Services and Social Work at the University of Auckland where his work currently concentrates on research supervision. His research and publication interests revolve around social work, social service change and social security with a particular interest in children and child poverty.

Christa Fouché is a Professor of Social Work at the University of Auckland. Her teaching and research expertise centres on workforce development in the social services. As an applied researcher, she has a distinguished record of supporting practice-based research initiatives to advance quality service delivery in social service agencies.