Supervisor or Superhero: New Role Strains for Frontline Supervisors in Human Services

Abstract

Representing a meeting point between professional and organizational interests, supervision has become a contested site of change and resistance in the re-configuration of human services. This paper argues that initiatives to introduce and implement policies and standards for supervision are illustrative of a more strident professional response, but that a much more far-reaching re-appraisal of the purposes and forms of supervision in social work is required.