Introducing The Supervision Space – for busy social work supervisors to access bite-size learning and development opportunities to help with your CPD
“Practice supervisors have to do a lot and be a lot in order to respond to the challenges and demands of the system and the needs of their supervisees and this takes incredible strength and courage”
Image from NASWMO.org
Introducing The Supervision Space
Welcome to the Supervision Space!
Having spent many hours with busy social work supervisors and leaders, it is clear that they are committed to their learning and development AND that accessing these opportunities can be a challenge alongside demanding roles and juggling this with all the other aspects of life.
I have learnt that social workers appreciate an opportunity to step out of their practice and spend time alone or with colleagues processing the emotional landscape of the work and the impact this has on them and the people they work with. Time to reflect and relate to others is an essential component of robust relationship-based supervision and social work and arguably keeps us all safe and well if we can prioritise it.
The Supervision Space provides succinct and engaging learning opportunities for busy supervisors to access virtually, at a time convenient to them. It will initially come via a regular monthly blog which will focus on an aspect of supervision practice and being a supervisor. Each blog will take about 20 minutes to read.
Key theories and research will be shared as an evidence base to support the focus of the month. I will then share a real example of my own supervision practice to bring this to life. There will be models of practice or concepts shared and a set of complementary reflective questions inviting you to link this to yourself and your own practice. The reflective exercises and activities will take about 20-30 minutes. There will be a prompt at the end to guide you in doing the activity with your team or other colleagues if you would like to.
There will also be some guiding questions to help you have a reflective conversation about your learning with a peer or your own supervisor. This will support you in recording your CPD for Social Work England and will be set out in alignment with their recording system to make it easily transferable.
This first blog is to tell you a bit about me and my vision for developing The Supervision Space, and share some links and key information about our national requirements for CPD and supervision practice in England. There will be ways for you to feed back to me directly and share your reflections and ideas for future resources. This resource is for you, so it is important that it is accessible and works for you.
Introducing myself
My name is Jo Williams and I am a social worker by profession. I have worked in social care and social work for over 30 years. Throughout this time I have developed a fascination with what supervision is for, how it helps, who it helps and what good practice looks and feels like.
I started my career in residential services for adults and children with physical and learning disabilities. After qualifying as a social worker, I worked with children and families and my specialist interest was planning adoption and permanence for children in care. Throughout this time I mostly worked as a manager and learned the benefits of emotionally attuned, inclusive and containing supervision which enabled practitioners to undertake good quality practice and feel supported to grow and learn.
I am also an independent supervisor and coach and have been offering individual and group reflective spaces for supervision since 2016. This enables me to keep up to date with my practice and continually make sure that I am congruent with the messages I give in my teaching and research. Being close to practitioners enables me to ensure that everything I do resonates with what it means to be a social worker and supervisor in 21st century social work practice. It is really rewarding to provide another mind to think with and a space for people to bring their feelings and leave with a more digested sense of meaning.
I have worked for 10 years as a social work academic, whereby I have provided learning and teaching offers to those learning to become a social worker and professionals accessing post qualifying qualifications and CPD. Significantly, since 2018, I have been directly working with supervisors and leaders in providing spaces for them to learn how to develop their reflective supervision and leadership skills. This started when I lead the delivery of the national, Department for Education funded Practice Supervisor Development Programme (PSDP), which has been a highlight of my career.
My research interest is focused on the psycho-social and emotional landscape of the social work supervisor, whereby I am interested in how they navigate relationships with their supervisees within the context of practice. My research highlights that practice supervisors have to do a lot and be a lot in order to respond to the challenges and demands of the system and the needs of their supervisees. This takes incredible strength and courage and having felt humbled by my research observations, was a key motivator for me creating this space for learning and development.
Having undertaken systemic training and worked at the Tavistock Clinic for several years, I have developed an integrated theoretical underpinning to everything I practice and teach. This is strongly underpinned by psycho-social and systems-psychodynamic theories which enable us to make sense of individuals, relationships and working in organisations. The ‘psycho’ element enables us to take a deep dive and look ‘beneath the surface’ and explore unconscious processes at play and bring feelings and thoughts to the surface to explore. The ‘system’ and ‘social’ elements enable us to take a helicopter view and look broadly across the system to examine relationships and connections and where the boundaries of these sit.
Although there are many definitions and suggested functions of the task and process of supervision, my conclusion having examined it closely for many years, is that it is ‘the relationship’ that is supervision itself. The supervisor is an essential vehicle that drives this in the right direction and the things that enable us to continue to become the best supervisors we can be are at the heart of The Supervision Space.
My vision for the Supervision Space
Initially the main component will be this monthly blog post. My aim is to make complementary videos to go with each blog, which gives a different way of accessing the learning through a You Tube channel. Watch this space!
By 2027 I plan to extend the space to a podcast, whereby I will speak to other professionals who are close to supervision practice in a variety of ways. This will enable you to hear different perspectives and will generate a broader range of ideas and concepts from practice, research, and learning spaces. I believe that diversity is key to the success of any project within social work and is the beating heart of being a good supervisor. I think the podcast guests will therefore bring a rich addition to the platform.
Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for supervisors in England
As part of our registration every year we are required to submit 2 pieces of CPD. This can be really hard to do within the demands of our role. The Supervision Space is aimed at helping supervisors and leaders to do this as self-directed learning in short bursts that can be picked up and put down at your convenience.
It’s important for credibility that I acknowledge the national policy framework, so, just as a reminder, the Social Work England (2019) standards which set out what we have to do within standard 4 can be found here: The CPD standard – Social Work England
The Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF)
Again, as a reminder, here is some information about the PCF. Many of us in supervisory or leadership roles probably haven’t looked at this for a long time and it is helpful to refresh our knowledge on this.
The PCF remains a vital tool in social work, particularly in England. It serves as a comprehensive framework that outlines the expectations and capabilities required of social workers throughout their careers, which includes supervisors and leaders. The PCF is designed to support professional growth and accountability within the field of social work.
Here is a infographic.
Image from BASW.org
Knowledge and Skills Statements for Practice Supervisors
In 2018 the chief social workers for children and families and adults in England, published post qualifying standards for practice supervisors which set out the things we need to be able to know and do in our role. There are 8 standards for each part of the sector, which can be found here:
The Supervision Space 
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