The features and use of mentoring as an activity in supervision of newly qualified social workers
Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Mentoring, which is described as an activity in social work supervision, is promoted to assist with the recruitment and retention of newly qualified social workers.However research relating to the execution of mentoring within the context of social work supervision is limited.Also, a lack of supervision of newly qualified as well as existing social workers has resulted in a critical shortage of social workers in South Africa.This in turn decreases the quality of social work service rendering to communities in South Africa.In an effort to reverse the aforementioned circumstances, the South African government introduced the "Recruitment and Retention Strategy for Social Workers" in 2006.The Recruitment and Retention Strategy for Social Workers reaffirmed the value of supervision for social workers as well as the utilisation of mentoring in order to provide adequate support to newly qualified as well as existing social workers.Hence the study was undertaken, first to provide an overview of social work supervision and second, to explore the use of mentoring in the context of social work supervision.A combined qualitative and quantitative research approach was utilised to explore the experiences of social work supervisors in the Department of Social Development (Western Cape), with regard to the use of mentoring as an activity of social work supervision.The motivation for this study originated from an apparent lack of research relating to the use of mentoring as an activity in social work supervision of newly qualified social workers within the Department of Social Development in the Western Cape.The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of the features and use of mentoring as well as how mentoring can be utilised as an activity in social work supervision of newly qualified social workers.The literature study first focused on giving an overview of social work supervision, to provide a contextual basis for mentoring as an activity in social work supervision of newly qualified social workers.The literature study then explored the features and use of mentoring as an activity in social work supervision of newly qualified social workers.
Author: Veronica Cloete
Language: English
Subfield: Public Administration
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2105629698