Social Work - Theses
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ItemSocial work supervision practice in Australia: does the rhetoric match the practice?( 2012)This research explores the practice of social work supervision in Australia. The thesis uses a mixed method design to collect data about current supervision practice. Quantitative data was collected through an online survey with 675 respondents completing the survey. The preliminary data from the survey was then used to conduct semi structured focus groups, separated for supervisees and supervisors, from the statutory, non-government and health/counselling sectors. Using Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and field, this research challenges how social work supervision is practised, spoken about and used in the current neoliberal environment. The thesis is that social work supervision in Australia has become a mechanism by which the ethical mandate of social work practice is compromised under neoliberalism. The research showed that a quantitative mapping of supervision in the field provides a picture consistent with traditional or orthodox modes of supervision as detailed in the literature. However, the qualitative research provided contrasting information that suggested that the orthodox picture is not complete. Beneath the surface it was seen that supervision was posing challenges to social work practice not only in its modes and methods, but also by its omissions, where professional focused supervision is not provided or reduced, challenging the support practitioners need to act in a manner consistent with social work’s ethical mandate.