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Social Work vocabulary · Practice Approaches

Supervision

Meaning in social work, with examples

/ˌsuːpəˈvɪʒn/nounCore term

In social work, supervision means: Regular protected meetings in which a social worker discusses cases, decisions, workload, learning and wellbeing with a more experienced manager or colleague.

In Turkish: süpervizyon, mesleki danışmanlık

How it is used

Seen as essential for safe practice. Supervision usually combines case management, professional development and emotional support, and key decisions are recorded on the case file. People have, receive or provide supervision.

Example sentences

  1. I'll bring the case to supervision on Friday before we make a decision.

  2. Regular supervision helped her cope with a very difficult caseload.

Common collocations

  • have supervision
  • reflective supervision
  • supervision notes
  • group supervision
  • reflective practiceThinking carefully about your own work, feelings, assumptions and decisions in order to learn from them and improve future practice.
  • caseloadThe number of cases or clients that one social worker or team is responsible for at a given time.
  • burnoutA state of physical and emotional exhaustion caused by long-term work stress, often with feelings of detachment and reduced effectiveness.
  • social workerA trained professional who helps individuals, families and communities cope with problems such as poverty, abuse, illness or disability, and connects them with support and services.

More terms: Practice Approaches

Practise with graded reading

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