Throughout the PSDP practice supervisors have told us about how essential it is to provide a supportive and containing space for social workers to reflect on practice with children and families in supervision. They have also told us how difficult it can be to do this consistently in busy and challenging work contexts. We need to make sure that practice supervisors have the space and time they need in order to continue to develop skills in facilitating curious, reflective and containing discussions in supervision.

The more I have been able to ask my worker ‘well what do you feel we should do?’ the more I have been able to think. It’s allowed me to not rush into decisions and really reflect on things more.

What we have been able to achieve

We are very proud of our achievements working with practice supervisors and the supervisors of practice supervisors. In March 2021 we ended our third year of PSDP which included 27 cohorts for over 400 participants. We would like to share with you some of our key successes and challenges through an unprecedented year.

YEAR 3 REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Hearing from practice supervisors and managers about the impact of the PSDP

In January 2021 we asked practice supervisors and managers who attended the PSDP to talk to us about the impact of the PSDP. The result was a number of filmed interviews in which they reflect on how the PSDP encouraged them to work differently in supervision and identify what changed as a result. The films were recorded during lockdown conditions and, as a result, picture and sound quality fluctuates, at times, in some films dependent on the internet connection.

These unscripted films are inspiring to watch and provide evidence about the changes which can result when practice supervisors and middle leaders have time and space to reflect on dilemmas, embrace new learning and ideas and connect with peers in order to explore how they can improve supervision in children’s social care.

Please feel free to dip in and out of the films. Each clip is 2-3 minutes long. They are not presented in any particular order. As well as hearing directly from practice supervisors and middle leaders who have attended the PSDP, you can also listen to senior leaders and facilitators who deliver PSDP teaching reflecting on the impact of supporting practice supervisors to continue to develop their skills in providing emotionally literate, curious and containing supervision. Do let us know what you think of the films on Twitter using #PSDP

Film-movie IconWorking collaboratively with the sector to promote a culture of reflective supervision in children’s social care PSDP

In this interview with Dr Sylvia Smith PSDP facilitator, Dez Holmes (Director of Research in Practice and Lead PSDP Consortium Partner) explains the PSDP’s vision of building a culture of reflective supervision in children’s social care and how this has influenced our approach to working collaboratively with the sector in order to share our learning from working with 1000 plus practice supervisors and middle leaders in England who have attended the PSDP.

Celebrating learning from the PSDP’ online conference

In 2021 we held our first online conference ‘Celebrating Learning from the PSDP’ to which all practice supervisors and middle leaders who have attended the PSDP were invited. We have made the four keynote presentations from the conference available for you below. Each of which highlights learning from PSDP as well as key challenges and opportunities for supervision in children’s social care. We hope you enjoy the presentations.

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