Experiences of Agency Social Work Supervisors in Gaborone

Abstract

Agency social work supervisors contribute to the learning experience of students during field practicum, but little is known about the knowledge these supervisors have on the expectations of the social work practicum, the challenges they face in supervising students and how they can be supported to provide effective and efficient supervision. A study to identify the supervisory gaps, problems, and inadequacies in social work fieldwork practicum was conducted in Gaborone to complement the body of knowledge. This qualitative study triangulated the exploratory, explanatory and descriptive research designs to appreciate the supervisors’ experience. The researcher interviewed 20 agency based supervisors in the health settings, Social and Community Development Departments and Non-Governmental Organizations. Huberman and Miles (1994) framework was used to analyze data following the purposive non-probability sampling technique to get data from the respondents. It was established that some agency supervisors lacked supervisory skills and were ineffective to engage diversity in practice. Moreover, they were unable to deliver according to the Department of Social Work (UB) expectations. It was further discovered that there are three other challenges agency supervisors encountered, which are; lack of social work student passion to learn, negative attitude/behavior of students, and short duration of fieldwork. It was recommended that there is need to train agency supervisors to upgrade supervisory skills to maximize the benefits for social work students. The key terms are; supervision, agency, fieldwork, and social work.