Exploring the Development of Professional Identity with Newly Qualified Social Workers

Moorhead, Bernadette; Bell, Karen; Bowles, Wendy

doi:10.1080/0312407x.2016.1152588

Cited by 25 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(31 reference statements)

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“…The paper then outlines the qualitative study that sought to explore lived experience of professional identity during the first twelve months post-qualification period. Whereas findings on a sub-set of data relating to how the participants experienced the research process have been reported in a previous publication (see Moorhead, Bell, & Bowles, 2016), this paper reports on a different aspect of the study that explored how the participants constructed and navigated professional identity. The findings highlight a number of identity challenges the participants had to manage within a landscape of intersecting discourses, which offers insights into implications for social work stakeholders.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…The dearth of literature informed the development of an in-depth qualitative study to explore lived experience of professional identity with newly qualified social workers. As described earlier, findings based on a sub-set of data about experiences of the research process, were discussed in Moorhead et al (2016). This paper reports on findings from a different part of the study related to how the participants constructed and navigated professional identity within their social contexts.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 96%

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A Landscape of Intersecting Discourses

Moorhead

2018

csw

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This paper discusses the social contexts that influence lived experience of professional identity for newly qualified social workers during the first twelve months post-qualification. It is argued that the human services sector is impacted by competing discourses that influence ideas about the nature of problems and social service delivery, which do not always sit comfortably with social work values such as social justice and human rights that are reflected in professional identity. There is little understanding of how newly qualified social workers construct and navigate professional identity within these social contexts. An in-depth study underpinned by hermeneutic phenomenology and critical social work theory was undertaken with 17 newly qualified social workers in Australia. From a series of interviews, the participants’ descriptions revealed several intersecting discourses that influenced perceptions of social work, as well as tensions between the participants’ job-role and professional identity. Participants identified strategies to consciously navigate and resist aspects of these discourses to strengthen and make a social work identity more visible in the workplace. Implications for social work educators, supervisors, and professional associations concerned about professional identity are outlined to emphasize preparing and supporting practitioners for identity challenges.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 96%

A Landscape of Intersecting Discourses

Moorhead

2018

csw

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“…Supervisory support has been found to be positively linked to job satisfaction, particularly in child welfare social work (Burns, 2010), retention (Chen & Scannapieco, 2010;Dickinson & Painter, 2009), stress levels (Engstrom, 2017), developing professional identity (Moorhead, Bell, & Bowles, 2016) and greater perceptions of wellbeing (Mänttäri-van der Kuip, 2014). While licensing or full registration of social workers frequently mandates minimum hours of supervision, research demonstrates that compliance with such expectations can be patchy, as research in both Australia and England reported that practitioners did not receive regular supervision (Baginsky et al, 2010;Egan, 2012;Robinson, 2013;Turner-Daly & Jack, 2014).…”

Section: Supervision For Newly Qualifi Ed Social Workersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supervision, support and professional development for newly qualified social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand

Beddoe

Ballantyne

Maidment

et al. 2020

ANZSWJ

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INTRODUCTION: Many social work professional bodies and regulators mandate regular supervision and professional development. Supervision is believed to support continuing development of professional skills, safeguarding of competent and ethical practice, oversight of the practitioner’s work for adherence to organisational expectations, and support for practitioner wellbeing.METHOD: Phase two of the Enhancing the Readiness to Practice of Newly Qualified Social Workers (Enhance R2P) project employed a mixed methods study (surveys and interviews) to explore how well prepared newly qualified social workers (NQSWs) are, in their first two years of practice, to enter professional social work. A survey of managers/supervisors and NQSWs in Aotearoa New Zealand about the readiness to practise of recent graduates was conducted.FINDINGS: Questions about supervision and professional development were included in the survey and in interviews with both NQSWs and supervisors/managers. Around half of NQSWs were supervised at least once every two weeks, but another half were supervised monthly or less frequently. Observation of practice by supervisors was either very infrequent or entirely absent from the professional development of NQSWs.IMPLICATIONS: Study findings revealed great variability in the formal supervision and other supports available for NQSWs which may impact on retention and practitioner wellbeing. More integrated systems of supervision, peer support and planned professional development are needed.

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“…Where studies do exist, most tend to rely on statistical associations between supervision and practitioner outcomes, such as stress, wellbeing and retention (Carpenter et al, 2013a). Rarely have outcome studies reported what happens in supervision, making it difficult to unravel what it is about supervision that makes a difference to social work practice (Bates et al, 2010;Jack and Donnellan, 2010;O'Donoghue and Tsui, 2012;Berry-Lound and Rowe, quality assess conversations that are held within supervision? Some studies have attempted to describe in detail what happens in supervision.…”

Section: What Is the Quality Of Supervisory Practice?mentioning

confidence: 99%

How do we assess the quality of group supervision? Developing a coding framework

Bostock

Patrizo

Godfrey³

et al. 2019

Children and Youth Services Review

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How do we assess the quality of group supervision? Developing a coding framework, Children and Youth Services Review, https://doi.Abstract The importance of supervision for social work practice is one of the most widely accepted tenets of the profession. Yet, surprisingly little is known about what happens in supervision, making it difficult to unravel what it is about supervision that makes a difference to social work practice. This paper describes the development of a framework for assessing the quality of group supervision. It focuses on one subcategory of group supervision -systemic group supervision -and draws a wider evaluation of systemic social work practice in the UK. It is based on 29 observations of "live" of supervision to illustrate differences in quality of supervisory practice. The process of developing the coding framework was cyclical, and ultimately resulted in a three-point ordinal grouping for assessing systemic supervisory practice. Analysis of observational data assessed group systemic supervision as follows: 8 as non-systemic (28%); 12 (41%) as demonstrating some incorporation of systemic ideas into interactions, described as "green shoots" (or showing encouraging signs of development but not yet reached its full potential); and 9 (31%) supervision sessions demonstrating a full incorporation of systemic concepts and practice. What marked "systemic" sessions from "green shoots" supervision was the move from hypothesis generation about family relations and risk to children to purposeful, actionable conversations with families: the move from reflection to action. This paper supports a small but growing body of evidence about the fundamental characteristics of successful or effective supervision within children and families social work.

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Exploring the Development of Professional Identity with Newly Qualified Social Workers

Cited by 25 publications

References 18 publications

A Landscape of Intersecting Discourses

A Landscape of Intersecting Discourses

Supervision, support and professional development for newly qualified social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand

How do we assess the quality of group supervision? Developing a coding framework

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