Published: 30/01/2020

Author: Alison Domakin

Being a practice supervisor is a skilled and challenging job. They are responsible for the quality of service which children and families receive and also play a key role in supporting supervisees to become emotionally resilient practitioners.

In November last year we launched open access resources aimed at supporting practice supervisors in key aspects of their role; commissioned as part of the Practice Supervisor Development Programme (PSDP). Many of the resources are adapted from teaching materials used on the programme and are drawn from research and practice evidence, as well as learning from the lived experience of children and families.

We have been delighted by the sector’s response to the materials and the way in which the resources have been used. Thank you for all of your support!

We have now released the second stage of materials. This includes two new kinds of resources, developed by a range of contributors from academic and practice contexts in social work:

Knowledge briefings

Each knowledge briefing, written specifically with practice supervisors in mind, is designed to provide a practical and accessible overview of current knowledge and research in relation to ten key topic areas. You can find knowledge briefings in each of the six sections of the website. Topic areas include:

• being a practice supervisor
• understanding the lived experience of Black, Asian and minority ethnic children and families
• promoting emotional resilience
• practising relationship based social work
• the role and functions of supervision
• promoting high-quality practice
• being a social work leader
• enabling evidence-informed practice.

Whilst the PSDP does not subscribe to any one model of approach to social work, we do refer to systemic concepts and ideas in the teaching on PSDP. We are delighted that two of the knowledge briefings have a systemic focus:

• using a systemic lens in supervision
• using the supervision relationship to promote reflection.

Briefings for senior managers

Not only do practice supervisors exert influence within the wider organisation (at a management level), but they are also responsible for overseeing the work of practitioners and the quality of practice with children and families. This dual role has been likened to a bridge, spanning the divide between direct practice and strategic management (Patterson, 2015).  

Learning from practice supervisors who have participated in the PSDP suggests that it’s important for organisations to develop a number of strategies that support them to be effective in role, and equally important that they feel able to ask for such strategies to be put in place if they don’t already exist. These may include:

• Testing out new ideas and sharing learning within the organisation.
• Providing regular, reflective supervision sessions to discuss challenges, test out ideas and receive developmental feedback.
• Meeting regularly with other practice supervisors to share challenges and build a network of support that can contribute to consistent practice and shared ownership.
• Modelling reflection, self-care and emotional literacy throughout the organisation.

The role which organisational leaders play in creating the conditions that enable practice supervisors to encourage emotionally-literate, curious and relational social work practice should not be underestimated. For this reason, our second new set of resources are a series of short briefings for senior managers which have been commissioned to link with each section of the PSDP website. 

The learning resources are organised into six key themes

1. Your journey to being a supervisor.
2. Understanding the lived experience of children and families.
3. Emotions, relationships and resilience in child and family social work.
4. Talking about practice in supervision.
5. Developing a culture of excellent social work.
6. Maximising your impact as a practice supervisor.

Each briefing provides guidance about ways in which senior leaders can foster an organisational culture and positive working practices which support practice supervisors to work effectively in role in relation to each topic area. We hope that these briefings will be shared widely in the sector and prompt discussion about ways in which senior leaders can support practice supervisors to work effectively in role.

We are also currently developing ten more resources, which we plan to release later this year. Topic areas include:

• Observing practice supervisors in supervision and providing feedback.
• Helping practitioners manage relationships with other professionals in a system of concern about a child or family.
• Additional models of structuring group supervision discussions.
• A wellbeing assessment tool to use with practitioners.
• Tools which provide guidance about recent research overviews and findings about supervision in child and family social work.

Join us in talking about how you use PSDP resources and tools on Twitter using the hashtag #PSDP. We are keen to learn from you about how you use the resources in practice.