THE PERSPECTIVES OF SOCIAL WORK SUPERVISEES ON THE QUALITY OF SUPERVISION IN THE GIYANI REGION OF LIMPOPO PROVINCE, SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

This article reports on a qualitative research study which was intended to explore the perspectives of social work supervisees on the quality of supervision in the Giyani region of Limpopo, South Africa. It was important to determine the quality of supervision rendered because social work supervision is intended to capacitate social workers with knowledge and skills and to support them, yet such supervision is fraught with challenges for decades. Purposive sampling was thus used to select study participants from whom data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews. The study findings revealed that the majority of the participants (10 of the 13) were not offered quality supervision by their supervisors. The participants attributed the poor supervision to the fact that their supervisors were delegated not appointed to supervise. The study thus recommends that all delegated social work supervisors in the Giyani region should be permanently appointed to their supervision positions. Keywords: quality supervision, social work, social work supervisee, social work supervisor, supervision