The functions of social work supervision in the Department of Health and Social Development, Ekurhuleni Region

M.A.This research study intended to explore the nature of supervision as practised in the Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development, Ekurhuleni region. The main goal of this study was to conduct in-depth research to determine how the field social workers and supervisors perceive supervision in terms of the administrative, educational and supportive functions. The objectives of the study were: to conceptualise social work supervision with regard to the administrative, educational and supportive functions, to conduct an empirical study to explore the nature of supervision as implemented in the Ekurhuleni region of the Department of Social Development, and to formulate conclusions and recommendations according to the findings. The study was guided by a research question which was formulated as follows: “How do the field social workers and supervisors perceive the supervision that is practised in the Department of Health and Social Development, Ekurhuleni region, in terms of the functions of supervision, and how can the quality of supervision be improved?” A quantitative research approach was used in this study. The researcher intended to explore and describe, in a statistical way, the nature of supervision as practised in the Department of Health and Social Development, Ekurhuleni region. This study is applied research because it concentrates on the quality of supervision and how to improve the quality of it – which is a practical problem focused on problem-solving. The research design in this study was a randomized, cross-sectional, quantitative survey design, and a group-administered questionnaire as data collection method was used. The research population consisted of the supervisors and social workers in the service of the Department of Health and Social Development, Ekurhuleni Region. A sample of forty-six social workers completed the questionnaires. In analysing the data, non-parametric tests were used. Primarily, the Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskall-Wallis test were used. The literature study emphasised the importance of supervision in social work practice. Supervision is a vital method to enable social workers to grow personally as well as professionally, in order to render an effective and efficient service to the client system. An overall view was provided regarding the definition and objectives of supervision, the characteristics of an effective supervisor, the models of supervision, and the phases in the supervisory process. The study focused mainly on the three functions of supervision – namely, the administrative, educational and supportive functions, which described the different roles of the supervisor comprehensively. The study found that supervision, as it is practised in the Department of Health and Social Development, Ekurhuleni region, is not structured enough, and that more training should be given to newly appointed supervisors, as well as in-service training to supervisors. Recommendations have been made in order to enhance the quality of supervision and, ultimately, service delivery to the client system