We’re pleased to be able to share with you the ANZASW Supervision Strategy.
We have developed this sector-wide Social Work Supervision Strategy to support lifting the quality of social work supervision in Aotearoa New Zealand. This has been developed with input from members and others across the sector.
Read the ANZASW Supervision Strategy
View the Supervision Strategy Launch Recording
ANZASW has a strong history of leading policy and practice recommendations for social work supervision in Aotearoa New Zealand. As an organisation, we have been the authors of multiple national supervision policies.
Since 2009, both the Social Workers Registration Board (SWRB) and ANZASW had different supervision policies, with the SWRB policy applying to registered social workers and the latter to ANZASW members. With the introduction of mandatory registration for social workers in 2021, the need for a joined-up approach to professional requirements for supervision rather than two policy statements became evident.
Upon speaking with the sector, we found that experiences of social work supervision and adherence to existing policy settings vary. We identified the need to explore and seek to address the drivers behind this variance, some of which we hypothesised sat outside of the supervision policy settings. Subsequently, we found that innovative solutions and a paradigm shift are needed to achieve the aims of any future supervision policy. It is for this reason, we decided to develop this strategy to strengthen the quality of social work supervision in Aotearoa.
Lifting the quality of social work supervision will require a collective effort from social workers, supervisors, employers (including managers), professional bodies and our regulator, funders, and educators.
We want to lift the quality of social work supervision for all social workers. Drawing on the Pā Harakeke model, we articulate different roles and responsibilities that supervision plays in supporting social workers.
Our proposed approaches consider the needs of both social workers and the sector, including:
ANZASW will produce an annual implementation plan to accompany the Supervision Strategy. It will be available here once developed.
The implementation plan should demonstrate the application of He Awa Whiria, consistent with the guiding framework of this strategy. This will ensure actions which work towards achieving equity for Tangata-ō te Whenua and Tangata-ō te Moana in the supervision space are identified and prioritised.
Initially, activities will focus on things which ANZASW can lead, but may, with the collaboration of partner agencies, grow to include projects or changes led and directed by other relevant organisations.
We anticipate initial implementation activities will include:
We received feedback from over 100 social workers, supervisors and organisations on our draft Strategy back in 2023. Ka rawe! - thank you so much for letting us know what you thought.
As a result of your feedback, some changes have been made to the final published version.
You can read about these changes, our engagement process, and a summary of feedback themes in our feedback summary document.
For those who would like to view shortened versions of the Supervision Strategy to share with others, and/or the evidence base behind our recommendations, two additional papers are available below.
Executive Summary