Supervision
It’s your role to ensure the organisation provides regular opportunities for reflective supervision.
Principles of reflective supervision
It is widely recognised that there’s still much to be learned about:
- what makes ‘high-quality’ reflective supervision
- how it can be improved
- its impact on important outcomes for staff wellbeing and people accessing services
Research in Practice has identified the following 6 principles of reflective supervision for child and family social work. They will also be useful for social workers working with adults. Applying these supervision principles across your organisations will support social workers to develop reflective supervision skills.
1. deepen knowledge and critical analysis skills
2. enable confidence, competence, creativity and independent decision-making
3. build clear plans for positive change for children and families
4. develop a supportive relationship helping them feel valued, supported and motivated
5. support the development of emotional resilience and self-awareness
6. take part in a learning culture within the organisation.
Defining the quality of supervision
The goal of supervision is to create an environment where practitioners can do their best work. There are some emerging areas of promising practice that offer employers strategic tools to meet this standard.
To measure quality, it’s important to understand what constitutes effective reflective supervision. Use a balanced approach which combines the 4 functions of support, management, mediation and development.
Effective supervision is critical in maintaining and supporting professional standards in social work. A framework for accountability ensures practitioners are responsible for their actions and decisions.
Carpenter’s international review (in References) identifies the following elements of effective supervision. The elements are:
- social and emotional support
- help and support to do the job
- an experienced supervisor
- reflective space
- a positive relationship between supervisor and supervisee
An important challenge for supervisors is measuring how effective supervision is. While the health check assesses each standard based on self-reported views of social workers, there are potential challenges (Wilkins in References).
Self-reported satisfaction should be complemented with observations. There should be a strong, evidence-informed understanding of the nature and purpose of social work supervision in your organisation.
Use co-design to establish clear expectations and develop a structured framework
You should have a policy outlining supervision practice within your organisation. This may include materials and procedures for recording, frequency and models for supervision sessions.
You may consider using supervision contracts for transparency. Its effectiveness depends on practical implementation and continual refinement. Without these, there’s a risk of policy being disregarded or ineffective. It’s crucial for practitioners to contribute to creating and assessing the supervision policy.
Co-design is an important principle in these resources and secures practitioner participation and commitment. It involves using knowledge, skills and experiences at all organisational levels.
While co-design may need more time to set up, it has significant benefits. When individuals can actively contribute, they’re more likely to meet policy expectations.
Develop a learning culture
The organisational culture should encourage reflection and learning. Also, the culture should promote curiosity and self-reflection.
A genuinely reflective organisation will recognise the importance of critical thinking, learning and personal growth. It will help individuals manage the emotional demands of social work.
Provide high-quality professional development and resources
To ensure high-quality supervision, line managers should receive ongoing learning and development opportunities. They should also have access to relevant tools, resources and frameworks.
Employers can either prescribe a specific supervision model or provide a variety of tools and resources, allowing supervisors to select the most suitable ones for their tasks.
Evidence suggests that social workers trained in systemically-informed approaches are more effective. This may be influenced by more frequent evaluation and the limited availability of comparative data.
Creating space for supervisors to reflect is critical
To provide effective social work supervision, supervisors should:
- value diversity
- promote equity
- encourage inclusion
- take part in professional development
This should include supporting practitioners with diverse needs, including those who are neurodivergent. Supervisors should prioritise cultural competence. Also, supervisors should understand the significant challenges experienced by minority group social workers as set out in a report by the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care (in References).
Supervisors should work to solve any problems that might affect supervisory relationships. Also, they should take proactive measures to ensure that their supervision respects diversity and promotes inclusion.
This involves understanding the unique challenges and strengths of different cultural backgrounds. You should create an environment where everyone is valued. Prioritise relationship building and encouraging a sense of safety and security for practitioners. Positive relationships between supervisors and supervisees are essential for effective supervision.
Organisational culture plays an important role in shaping these relationships. You should provide a secure base and learning environment which encourages effective supervision. Research in Practice offers a range of resources to help develop effective relationship-based supervision practice (in References below).
Establish a culture of psychological safety
Psychological safety is very important. The organisation should provide a safe space where individuals feel able to express their thoughts. Practitioners should also be able to raise concerns without the fear of negative consequences.
Psychological safety is vital at all levels as it:
- offers emotional containment
- creates a culture of high support and challenge
- boosts confidence among practitioners
- enables people to learn from mistakes
The resource for Employer standard 4: Wellbeing includes tools to help employers promote psychological safety within their organisations.
The role of leaders
Compassionate leadership is crucial for success. An open-door policy will ensure that support is readily available. Ensure that leaders at all levels of the organisation are emotionally literate, anti-oppressive and anti-racist. And that they understand their responsibilities to employees with protected characteristics.
Leaders play a pivotal role by shaping organisational culture. Also, leaders support employee wellbeing by creating a psychologically healthy workplace culture.
Emotionally literate and reflective leaders:
- serve as examples for the organisation
- show commitment to values, build trust and make sound decisions
- act as role models for ethical conduct and professional standards
- support practitioners and create an environment they can thrive and develop in
- understand the impact of systemic racism and other forms of discrimination and take action to address them
By engaging in their own supervision, leaders show the importance of support at all levels.
References
This is the list of research and evidence sources used to produce this section. Publicly available links are included.
Bostock, L., Patrizo, L., Godfrey, T., & Forrester, D. (2019). What is the impact of supervision on direct practice with children and families? Children and Youth Services Review, 105, 104428.
Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383.
Harlow, E. (2013). Coaching, supervision and the social work zeitgeist. Practice, 25,
Pitt, C., Addis, S., & Wilkins, D. (2022). What is supervision? The views of child and family social workers and supervisors in England. Practice, 34(4), 307-324.
Ravalier, J., Wegrzynek, P., Mitchell, A., McGowan, J., McFadden, P., & Bald, C. (2023). A rapid review of reflective supervision in social work. The British Journal of Social Work, 53(4), 1945–1962.
Research in Practice. (n.d.). Practice Supervisors Development Programme (child and family social work).
Research in Practice. (n.d.). Supervisor development programme (adult social care) tools.
What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care. (2022). Anti-racism report.
Wilkins, D., & Antonopoulou, V. (2019). What does supervision help with? A survey of 315 social workers in the UK. Practice: Social Work in Action, 31(1), 21–40.
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The resources have been developed by
Research in Practice
in collaboration with
DfE.
Published: 30 October 2024
Last updated: 30 October 2024
Published: 30 October 2024
Last updated: 30 October 2024