Summary

Social work practice is extremely demanding on the practitioner. Social workers, especially in the public domain, handle high caseloads whilst simultaneously conducting group and community work amidst the demands of administration associated with their jobs. The ever-changing landscapes of social contexts, political contexts, local governments, and health aspects of countries brought forth by globalisation and technological ties exerts increased challenges on social work practice. To deal with these challenges, the profession has commissioned supportive social work supervision to help social workers deal with work-related pressure and stress coupled with their emotional, psychological, and familial problems. Consequently, the study was intended to explore and describe the nature and the extent of supportive supervision amongst social workers in Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. A mixed methods research approach, i.e. the QUAN-qual sequential dominant status-design was adopted. To collect quantitative data a self-developed questionnaire was administered to social workers. Within the qualitative section of the study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with social work supervisors. The data was then analysed by means of univariate data analysis as well as thematically respectively. From the findings, it was established that although some social workers are supported, there are pockets of social workers who were not supported. It was also evident in this regard that of those social workers who were supported, the support was inadequate. The supervisors revealed that their most critical challenge was inadequate support for social workers principally because they are over worked. The study was significant because supervision has implications for social work practice. \ 

Keywords (separate with commas)

Social Work, Social work supervisor, social work supervisee, social work supervision, supportive supervision

Summary

Background: Framed by the persistence of colonial epistemologies perpetuated in social work education which resulted in the trauma, dispossession and genocide of First Nation, Black, Asian and minority ethnic peoples, decolonisation scholar activists have called to decolonise social work education including practice learning placement. Yet whilst much has been written about decolonising the social work curriculum, limited research exists on decolonising social work practice learning placement. This paper reports on an ongoing international research study that explores the literature on decolonising social work practice learning placement.  Methods: A scoping review of international published papers on decolonising social work practice learning (n=403) were imported for screening and (n=312) studies were screened. This included non-English language publications and hand searches from local countries such as Australia, England, Finland, India, Israel and Sweden. Scopus, PsycINFO (OVID), CINAHL (via EBSCO), Informit: Indigenous collections, Web of Science, ProQuest ERIC and ProQuest Central were searched for articles published prior to November 2022. Results:  The emerging findings suggest social work practice learning placement is not immune to the centring of a dominant Eurocentric White epistemology and needs to change to embrace other ways of knowing, being and doing. Recommendations on decolonisation include creating safe spaces for students and practice educators (field instructors) to reflect on potential value conflicts, including Indigenous epistemology in practice learning. Examples include embedding cultural safety training as well as using Indigenous approaches such as yarning, storytelling, collaboration and respecting different perspectives.  Implications for Social Work: Although social work practice learning placement is underpinned by anti-oppressive practice theories, ways of knowing, being and doing are predominately shaped by Eurocentric White epistemology. Decolonising social work practice learning placement provides a unique opportunity to explore other epistemologies. 

Keywords (separate with commas)

Decolonisation, social work, practice learning, field education, conflict zones

Summary

Church and local faith-based social work practices are often first responders to emerging social needs in local communities. They are primarily motivated by faith ethics, such as love and relational attitudes rather than social work principles. As a result, these practices exist in a tension between a faith-based and professional ethos. Empirical findings from a doctoral project, “Soap-Soup-Salvation, he role of faith for practice development in a secular context”, Salvation Army (TSA) congregational practices in Norway is used as a case to describe knowledge and methods used in congregational social practices. The project also identified a need for increased competence and professionality. The case study reveals how practitioners navigate the tension between a faith-based and professional ethos by developing social practices with faith inspired methods similar to methods in professional social work, such as empowerment, inquiry-based methods and an asset-based approach but they still experience that they are not always recognised by the surrounding secular context. The parallel structures between faith-based concepts and professional social work key components and ethics, has motivated an exploration of professional development in congregational –based social practices.Combining faith and professional ethos's, “Vocatio” is translated as motivation and a divine calling and as a parallel to a professional vocation. “Advocatio” is connected to the Biblical concept of justice and the diaconal core value of working for the most marginalised in society and is related to advocacy and working towards structural change. “Provoactio” is reflecting how Jesus exposed situations of injustice and presented solutions based on faith ethics, similar to human rights. This paper proposes the diaconal “Vocatio- Advocatio- Provocatio", VAP framework as a way for informal and local faith-based social work practices to enhance professionality as they support people in vulnerable situations.   

Keywords (separate with commas)

faithbased, diaconia, ethics, salvationarmy

Summary

In this presentation, I critically examine the procedural and relational ethics of conducting social justice-oriented, social work and development research in El Salvador, Central America during the country’s state of exception. As a partnership between academics and civil sector organizations, the purpose of the research was to explore the “resilience to trauma” of Salvadorans living in El Salvador, and of those living as members of the diaspora in Canada as a framework for addressing interpersonal and community violence, gender inequities, crisis-driven migration, and social and economic development.\ The “state of exception” was a declaration made by the Salvadoran government in March 2022 that suspended the constitutional rights of its citizens, including freedom of speech, protest rights, and the freedom of association and movement. I begin by describing the complexities and conditions of our work, next moving to an exploration of the unique relational and procedural ethics that had to be mitigated.\ As an active reassertion of my commitment to human rights and social justice, I conclude with “lessons learned” in an effort to support the work of others sharing similar commitments.

Keywords (separate with commas)

social work, community-based participatory action research, ethics, human rights, international research, peace-building,\