How Critical are we? Revitalising Critical Reflection in Supervision
Keywords:
Supervision, Critical reflection, Reflective practice, Social work, Social justiceAbstract
Reflective practice and critical reflection are problematic terms adopted by social work educators and practitioners. Social workers strive to understand power relationships, navigate oppressive structures and support disadvantaged groups in society in order to effectively improve practice. Supervision provides the professional space for critical reflection of the wider social work environment. This article reports on a qualitative study (Rankine, 2017a) examining critical reflection of practice in supervision within the current context of community-based child welfare services in Aotearoa New Zealand. Data were analysed from interviews with two participant groups: key informants and supervisory dyads. Analysis of the key informant data identified reflective practice as having different stages and critical reflection in supervision as a separate process that illuminated the impact of environmental factors on social work. Within practice, supervisory dyads utilised the supervision session for reflection on a superficial level but rarely used critical reflection to explore the wider contextual issues impacting on practice. Greater examination of the wider socio-political, socio-cultural and structural factors that influence practice and engagement with service users is urgently required. Critical reflection within supervision provides a space for social workers to develop professional practice and strengthen social justice strategies within their work.
References
Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers. (2008). ANZASW Code of ethics (2nd rev.). Christchurch, NZ: Author.
Argyris, C., & Schön, D. (1974). Theory in practice: Increasing professional effectiveness. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
Baines, D. (2017). Doing anti-oppressive practice. Social justice social work. Halifax, Canada: Fernwood.
Beddoe, L. (2010). Surveillance or reflection: Professional supervision in “the risk society.” British Journal of Social Work, 40(4), 1279–1296. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcq018
Beddoe, L. (2015). Supervision and developing the profession: One supervision or many? China Journal of Social Work, 8(2), 150–163. doi:10.1080/17525098.2015.1039173
Beddoe, L., & Egan, R. (2009). Social work supervision. In M. Connolly & L. Harms (Eds.), Social work: Contexts and practice (2nd ed., pp. 410–422). Victoria, Australia: Oxford University Press.
Besthorn, F. (2013). Ecological approach. In M. Gray & S. Webb (Eds.), Social work theories and methods (2nd ed., pp 173–182). London, UK: Sage.
Bhaskar, R. (1978). A realist theory of science. Brighton, UK: Harvester Press.
Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (1985). Promoting reflection in learning: A model. In D. Boud, R. Keogh, & D. Walker (Eds.), Reflection: Turning experience into learning (pp. 18–40). London, UK: Kogan Page.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2013). Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. London, UK: Sage.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1992). Ecological systems theory. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley.
Brookfield, S. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Brookfield, S. (2009). The concept of critical reflection: promises and contradictions. European Journal of Social Work, 12(3), 293–304. doi:10.1080/13691450902945215
Carpenter, J., Webb, C., Bostock, L., & Coomber, C. (2012). Effective supervision in social work and social care. Research Briefing 43. London, UK: Social Care Institute for Excellence.
Carroll, M. (2011). Supervision: A journey of lifelong learning. In R. Shohet (Ed.), Supervision as transformation: A passion for learning (pp. 14–28). London, UK: Jessica Kingsley.
Davys, A., & Beddoe, L. (2010). Best practice in professional supervision: A guide for the helping professions. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley.
Engelbrecht, L. K. (2010). A strengths perspective on supervision of social workers: An alternative management paradigm within a social development context. Social Work & Social Sciences Review, 14(1), 47–58, doi:10.1921/095352210X505490
Eruera, M. (2012). He korari, he kete, he korero. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 24(3/4), 12–19.
Fook, J. (2011). Developing critical reflection as a research method. Creative spaces for qualitative researching. In J. Higgs, A. Titchen, D. Horsfall, & D. Bridges (Eds.), Creative spaces for qualitative researching. Living research (Vol. 5, pp. 55–64). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Fook, J., & Gardner, F. (2007). Practising critical reflection: A resource handbook. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
Gibbs, J. (2009). Changing the cultural story in child protection: Learning from the insider’s experience. Child & Family Social Work, 14(3), 289–299. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2206.2008.00595.x
Gray, M., & Webb, S. (Eds.). (2013). The new politics of social work. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hair, H. (2015). Supervision conversations about social justice and social work practice. Journal of Social Work, 15(4), 349–370. doi:10.1177/1468017314539082
Hair, H., & O’Donoghue, K. (2009). Culturally relevant, socially just social work supervision: Becoming visible through a social constructionist lens. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 18(1–2), 70–88. doi:10.1080/15313200902874979
Hawkins, P., & Shohet, R. (2012). Supervision in the helping professions (4th ed.). Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
Hernández, P., & McDowell, T. (2010). Intersectionality, power, and relational safety in context: Key concepts in clinical supervision. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 4(1), 29–35. doi:10.1037/a0017064
Johns, C. (2009). Becoming a reflective practitioner. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell Publishers.
Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Mezirow, J. (1981). A critical theory of adult learning and education. Adult Education Quarterly, 32(1), 3–24. doi:10.1177/074171368103200101
Mor Barak, M E., Travis, D J., Pyun, H., & Xie, B. (2009). The impact of supervision on worker outcomes: A meta‐analysis. Social Service Review, 83(1), 3–32. doi:10.1086/599028
Noble, C., & Gray, M., & Johnston, L. (2016). Critical supervision for the human services: A social model to promote learning and value-based practice. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley.
O’Donoghue, K. (2015). Issues and challenges facing social work supervision in the twenty-first century. China Journal of Social Work, 8(2), 136–149. doi:10.1080/17525098.2015.1039172
Rankine, M. (2017a). What are we thinking? Supervision as the vehicle for reflective practice in community-based child welfare services (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Auckland, NZ.
Rankine, M. (2017b). Making the connections: A practice model for reflective supervision. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 29(3), 66–78.
Ruch, G., West, L., Ross, F., Fook, J., & Collington, V. (2015). Researching critical reflection: Multidisciplinary perspectives. London, UK: Routledge.
Schön, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Social Workers Registration Board. (2016). Code of conduct. Wellington, NZ: Author.
Taylor, C. (2013). Critically reflective practice. In M. Gray & S. Webb (Eds.), The new politics of social work (pp. 79–97). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Tsui, M.-S., O’Donoghue, K., & Ng, A. K. T. (2014). Culturally competent and diversity-sensitive clinical supervision. In C. E. Watkins Jr & D. L. Milne (Eds.), The Wiley international handbook of clinical supervision (pp. 238–254). Chichester, UK: John Wiley and Sons.
Weld, N. (2012). A practical guide to transformative supervision for the helping professions. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley.
White, S., Fook, J., & Gardner, F. (Eds.). (2006). Critical reflection in health and social care Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2018 Australian and New Zealand Social Work and Welfare Education and Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Advances in Social Work & Welfare Education by Australian and New Zealand Social Work and Welfare Education and Research (ANZSWWER) is licensed under CC BY 4.0
