https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6760-7198
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ABSTRACT
This article presents research exploring the conceptualization and practice of supervision during social worker training in Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, Francophone West African countries whose social work education frameworks and processes are nearly absent in the academic literature. Drawing upon discursive analyses of training curricula as well as interviews and group discussions undertaken in 2014 with professors, administrators, and students, this study notes the centrality of fieldwork to training and heavy reliance upon faculty–field liaisons in both countries. Conceptually, supervision policy in these contexts emphasizes compliance: systematized visits by institute administrators to fieldwork sites (in Burkina Faso), regimented simulation exercises, and formal performance evaluations to gauge student progress. In practice, however, respondents were likely to highlight the importance of modelling and coaching, indicating the hybridization of ‘harder’ regulatory supervision with ‘softer’ mentoring approaches. This study contributes to global learning about the role of supervision in social work training by analyzing its theory and practice in two understudied countries, highlighting the emergence of new norms of practice within outmoded regulatory frameworks. The research shines light upon the creative ways that social work administrators are improving supervision of social work students’ fieldwork in low-income countries with limited public resources.
RÉSUMÉ
Cet article présente les résultats d’une recherche explorant la conceptualisation et la pratique de la supervision pendant la formation des travailleurs sociaux au Burkina Faso et en Côte d’Ivoire, pays francophones d’Afrique de l’Ouest dont les cadres et processus d’éducation au travail social sont presque absents dans la littérature académique. S’appuyant sur des analyses discursives des programmes de formation ainsi que des entretiens et des discussions de groupe menés en 2014 avec des professeurs, des administrateurs et des étudiants, cette étude souligne le caractère central du travail de terrain dans la formation, et une forte dépendance sur les liaisons université-terrain dans les deux pays. Conceptuellement, la politique de supervision dans ces contextes met l’accent sur la conformité: visites systématisées par les administrateurs de l’institut aux sites de terrain (au Burkina Faso), exercices de simulation enrégimentés, et évaluations de performances formelles pour mesurer les progrès des élèves. En pratique, cependant, les répondants étaient susceptibles de souligner l’importance de la modélisation et du coaching, ce qui indique l’hybridation d’une supervision réglementaire «plus dure» avec des approches de mentorat «plus souples». Cette étude contribue à l’apprentissage global du rôle de la supervision dans la formation en travail social en analysant sa théorie et sa pratique dans deux pays peu étudiés, mettant en évidence l’émergence de nouvelles normes de pratique dans des cadres réglementaires dépassés. La recherche met en lumière la créativité dont fait preuve les administrateurs du travail social pour améliorer la supervision du travail de terrain des étudiants en travail social dans les pays à faible revenu avec des ressources publiques limitées.
Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge the participation of Debbie Landis and Miranda Armstrong, who conducted fieldwork in Ghana and Senegal, respectively, as part of a broader research project in which this study was situated. This research was supported by UNICEF’s West and Central Africa Regional Office (RFP-2013-9107308) with additional support from USAID’s Displaced Children and Orphans Fund Cooperative Agreement DFD-A-00-05-00252-00. The research was conducted under Columbia University’s IRB protocol #AAAB-7134. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the logistical support of Honkuy Stanislas at the Institut National de Formation en Travail Social in Burkina Faso and Daniel Trah Dibi at the Institut National en Formation Social in Côte d’Ivoire.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributors
Mark Canavera is the Co-Director of the Care and Protection of Children (CPC) Learning Network whose secretariat is at Columbia University. The CPC Learning Network convenes academics, policymakers, and practitioners in settings around the world to promote innovative research, to nurture communities of learning, and to build the next generation of researchers and advocates for children and families. He is also a humanitarian aid and development worker who has worked on former child soldier reintegration in northern Uganda, small arms control in Senegal, girls’ education promotion in Burkina Faso, and child welfare system strengthening in Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger, and Senegal. He holds Master’s degrees in Peace Studies from Notre Dame and Public Policy from Harvard.
Bree Akesson is an Assistant Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Faculty of Social Work. Her research focuses broadly on child protection, ranging from micro-level understandings of the experiences of children and families to macro-level projects to strengthen social welfare and mental health systems. She has conducted an evaluation of psychosocial programmes for children in northern Uganda, a mapping of the social work education system in West and Central Africa and Southeast Europe, and a place-based study of the experiences of Palestinian families in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. She is currently working on projects in Ghana, Lebanon, and Afghanistan.
ORCID
Bree Akesson http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6760-7198
Notes
1. Indeed, Ganzer and Ornstein (Citation2004) go so far as to question how a profession that accepted clinical use of relation family systems theory so easily has remained wedded to more traditional, hierarchical uses of supervision.
2. We say ‘administratively Francophone’ to mean that French is the most commonly used official language; however, all of these countries include multiple national languages and, in many cases, scores of local languages.
3. In their 1991 global survey concerning field instruction, Raskin and others found that 89% (n = 24) of the social work training schools in their sample in African countries were university-affiliated (Raskin, Skolnik, and Wayne, Citation1991, p. 266), making it seem that the training institutes in Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire are ‘outliers’; however, it is possible that their study over-represented Anglophone African countries and that the training institutes in Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire are not therefore ‘outliers’ in Francophone settings.
4. Since the time of data collection, the Ministry of Social Action and National Solidarity has been renamed the Ministère de la Femme, de la Solidarité Nationale et de la Famille, or the Ministry of Women, National Solidarity, and the Family. As all of the documents that we reviewed refer to the Ministry of Social Action and National Solidarity, we have retained that name for this article.
5. See INFS, no date, Le Travail Sociale en Côte d’Ivoire for additional historical information. At the time of data collection, the INFTS was administratively linked to the Ministry of State, Ministry of Employment, Social Affairs, and Professional Training (Ministère d’Etat, Ministère de l’Emploi, des Affaires Sociales, et de la Formation Professionnelle) with functional links to the Ministry of Solidarity, the Family, Women, and Children (Ministère de la Solidarité, de la Famille, de la Femme, et de l’Enfant), both of which have subsequently been reorganized.
6. A full listing of all of the theses produced by graduates of the Ecole des Cadres Supérieurs en Travail Sociale can be found in Ecole des Cadres Supérieurs en Travail Sociale, INFTS, MASSN, no date, Thèmes Des Mémoires des Etudiants de l’Ecole des Cadres Supérieurs en Travail Sociale (E.C.S.T.S).
7. Students performing internships outside of Abidjan were reported to receive irregular visits—once or twice per semester—from INFS faculty to ensure the smooth running of their internships.
8. Indeed, Ganzer and Ornstein (Citation2004) find it perplexing that social work supervision retains its hierarchical, authoritarian nature in a profession that is largely relational and egalitarian.