Exploring the relationship between supervision and practice with children and families

About this episode

The episode explores the relationship between supervision and practice in social work with children and families, questioning the effectiveness of supervision in improving outcomes for families.

Supervision and home visits are central to social work with children and families, yet the interaction between them is rarely considered. Given the importance that social workers place on them both, it seems strange that we tend only to evaluate the influence of supervision through its impact on social workers, without gathering any empirical evidence around whether it is directly improving the outcomes that it has on the families we support. New research using a case study approach in two local authorities in Wales, including observations of supervisions and home visits as well as interviews with practitioners and their supervisors, is now attempting to bridge this gap. While there is much discussion around social worker’s experiences of supervision and expectations of what supervision should be, this research goes a step further in questioning whether supervision is delivering what it should in theory be doing, or if it’s merely creating the illusion of effectiveness in a child protection system predicated by surveillance and procedure, thus fostering a culture of anxiety, fear, guilt and shame felt by practitioners, supervisors and families in different contexts. Joining Jonny…

People in this episode

Host: Jonny Adamson

Guests: Dr Lucy Treby, Matthew Gibson, Laura Harper

Topics covered

• supervision
• social work
• children and families
• research
• child protection
• practitioner experiences

Keywords

• supervision
• social work
• children
• families
• research
• outcomes
• practitioners
• child protection
• Wales

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BASW

Places: Wales

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