The perspectives of social work supervisees on the quality of supervision in the Giyani region of South Africa

Abstract

The study was intended to explore the perspectives of social work supervisees on the quality of supervision in the Giyani region of South Africa. A qualitative research approach was adopted to explore, describe and contextualise the perspectives of social work supervisees. The data for the study was collected from social work supervisees through semi-structured interviews by using Creswell (2014) steps of data analysis. The researcher verified study data by utilising data verification process as proposed by Lincoln and Guba (in Schurink, Fouché & De Vos, 2011). The study is ethically inclined and the following ethical issues were considered when conducting the study: informed consent, confidentiality, anonymity, privacy, protection from harm, debriefing of participants, beneficence and management of information. The study revealed that participants have a good understanding of what social work supervision entails. The participants understood that supervision is conducted by means of methods and functions of supervision and that a supervision contract was critical in the supervision process. The findings also revealed that for supervision to be classified quality, supervisors must be appointed to the supervisory position, they must be available and must be involved in the work of their supervisees. The study concluded that majority of the participants are not offered quality supervision by their supervisors in the Giyani region. The participants, amongst other reasons, attributed the poor quality to the fact that they never attend formal supervision sessions resulting in supervision being sporadic. It was also revealed that supervision contracts are merely done for compliance purposes. Based on the research findings recommendations for social work profession, policy-makers and future research were made to improve the provision of quality social work supervision.