The features and use of mentoring as an activity in supervision of newly qualified social workers

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Mentoring, which is described as an activity in social work supervision, is promoted to assistwith the recruitment and retention of newly qualified social workers. However research relatingto the execution of mentoring within the context of social work supervision is limited. Also, alack of supervision of newly qualified as well as existing social workers has resulted in a criticalshortage of social workers in South Africa. This in turn decreases the quality of social workservice rendering to communities in South Africa. In an effort to reverse the aforementionedcircumstances, the South African government introduced the 'Recruitment and RetentionStrategy for Social Workers in 2006. The Recruitment and Retention Strategy for SocialWorkers reaffirmed the value of supervision for social workers as well as the utilisation ofmentoring in order to provide adequate support to newly qualified as well as existing socialworkers. Hence the study was undertaken, first to provide an overview of social worksupervision and second, to explore the use of mentoring in the context of social worksupervision.A combined qualitative and quantitative research approach was utilised to explore theexperiences of social work supervisors in the Department of Social Development (WesternCape), with regard to the use of mentoring as an activity of social work supervision. Themotivation for this study originated from an apparent lack of research relating to the use ofmentoring as an activity in social work supervision of newly qualified social workers within theDepartment of Social Development in the Western Cape. The aim of this study is to gain anunderstanding of the features and use of mentoring as well as how mentoring can be utilised asan activity in social work supervision of newly qualified social workers.The literature study first focused on giving an overview of social work supervision, to provide acontextual basis for mentoring as an activity in social work supervision of newly qualified socialworkers. The literature study then explored the features and use of mentoring as an activity insocial work supervision of newly qualified social workers. The researcher utilised a purposive sample of 20 social work supervisors. These supervisorshave been appointed to the different regional and local offices of the Department of SocialDevelopment in the Western Cape and provide supervision to social workers, specifically newlyqualified social workers. Newly qualified social workers refer to social workers with a maximumexperience of 24 months in the practical field. The researcher utilised an interview schedule as ameasuring instrument. The results of the investigation confirmed that supervision of newlyqualified social workers is essential to ensure quality service rendering. Second, the resultsconcluded that due to the allocation of responsibilities other than supervision, inadequate time isspent on the execution of the social work supervision process. Third, the lack of formal trainingof supervisors in social work supervision, has a negative impact on the execution of thesupervision process, as most of the supervisors provide supervision to newly qualified socialworkers, based on their own experience of supervision as well as the fact that social worksupervision follows a process running parallel to the social work process. Fourth, a majority ofthe social work supervisors execute mentoring on an informal basis. Fifth, most of the socialwork supervisors are in favour of the appointment of multiple mentors for each newly qualifiedsocial worker. Lastly, senior social workers are viewed as important mentors to assist newlyqualified social workers with the acquisition of skills relating to social work service delivery.Recommendations made by this study highlighted the importance of providing accreditedsupervision training to social work supervisors as well as introducing a policy on the executionof supervision, and mentoring as an activity in social work supervision. Furtherrecommendations focused on the provision of training to all selected mentors as well as on theuse of multiple mentors for each newly qualified social worker. Lastly, the use of senior socialworkers both within the Department and organisations in the NPO sector is promoted, especiallyto assist newly qualified social workers to attain those skills relating to the execution of theirstatutory duties and to improve quality service rendering through the enhancement of theirprofessional report writing skills.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University