COACHING, MENTORING AND CONSULTATION: THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES IN SUPERVISION OF SOCIAL WORKERS IN SOUTH AFRICA?

Lambert Engelbrecht

doi:10.15270/48-3-90

Abstract

The historical roots of the supervision of social workers in South Africa can be traced back to the year when the country first became a Republic (Pieterse, 1961). An official definition of social work supervision was provided ten years later (Vaktaalkomitee vir Maatskaplike Werk, 1971) and it was only another decade later that supervision was presented as a postgraduate course at some universities (Hoffmann, 1987). Academics such as Botha (1985), De Bruyn (1985), Hoffmann (1987) and Pelser (1985) played a significant role in conceptualising and theorising supervision as an important and essential activity in social work. In due course the transition to a new political dispensation and welfare system in the country in the 1990s led to, inter alia, a “brain drain” of supervision expertise (Engelbrecht, 2006), which was counteracted by the Department of Social Development in the first decade of the new millennium by means of a recruitment and retention strategy, and by declaring social work a scarce skill (Department of Social Development, 2006).

Highlights

The historical roots of the supervision of social workers in South Africa can be traced back to the year when the country first became a Republic (Pieterse, 1961)
In a move intended to improve the capacity of the social work fraternity, the South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP) and the National Department of Social Development (DSD) embarked on a process to construct a supervision framework for the social work profession (DSD & SACSSP, 2012)
This view is attested to by Cloete’s (2012) research, as she affirms the need for mentoring in supervision with an eye to the retention of newly qualified social workers, in the light of social work being declared a scare skill in South Africa (Department of Social Development, 2006)

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The historical roots of the supervision of social workers in South Africa can be traced back to the year when the country first became a Republic (Pieterse, 1961). Gallacher (1997) rightfully attests that the concepts concerned must be carefully examined in order to illuminate the similarities and differences, as these concepts, when operationalised as activities, form the backbone of social work’s aspiration to render the best possible services to service users (Kadushin & Harkness, 2002) Authors such as Taibbi (1983) outlined the rationale for the use of concepts such as mentoring and supervision decades ago, Collins-Camargo and Kelly (2006) observed that this is rarely discussed in international academic literature. The core determinants of each concept will be examined with a view to presenting a South African context-specific approach to social work supervision activities This contribution hopes to stimulate critical debate on the use of theoretical concepts concerning supervision of social workers, in public and organisational policy-related documents, which potentially have drastic implications when operationalised in practice

SUPERVISION OF SOCIAL WORKERS

CONCLUSION

Newly qualified