Supervision in Youth Work - Term Paper Example

 Supervision in Youth Work Supervision in regards to the youth work is a meeting with supervisors on a regular basis to discuss on matters that have been arising while doing their work. The meetings provide some time for the workers off their work in order to reflect on their duties and cone up with approaches that facilitate their future activities. Supervision aims at having the supervisee and the supervisor to have a meeting so that the latter can improve on service provision (Hawkins and Shohet 2000, p 50). Such definition regards to managerial supervision at different levels. At youth work activities, other forms of supervision do occur. Supervision could be done out in groups where the manager/supervisor schedules meetings with a number of youth workers simultaneously. Peer supervision is where a group of working youths meet and involve in the processing of their work in the context of mutually supporting each other. In such a meeting, no one can be regarded as taking the role of the supervisor. Supervision at times also takes some form of non-managerial context. The supervisor in this case is sourced out of the organization’s agency. However, this paper focuses more on the aspect of supervision at the youth personal level. Youth Work Supervision Prevalence The extents to which organizations involved in youth work implement formal systems of supervision vary. The experience of youth workers at times makes supervision be given low priority. It is at times only needed when challenges or difficulties arise at the work place. Many authors are of the view that supervision is not so much prevalent among youth duties and works. Back in 2009, relating this to supervision, Ofsted reported that many are the times when individual support sessions are sacrificed in preference of other priorities or because they failed to give a challenge on the current state of activities and achievements (2009, p. 23). Sapin observes that most of the youth workers are either under poor supervision or are not supervised at all which is quite discouraging (2009, p. 190). The observation sharply contrasts with other professions that offer help such as counselling where frequent guidance is needed and also an ethical requirement (McKay, 2007). Although, talking of youth work guidance as a profession is known to focus on the needs of the youths, the needs of other workers and staff should also be by large given the appropriate attention Reasons for supervision in youth work Duties involving the youth by nature are stressful occupations that are characterized by long continuous hours. The schedule is hectic as it involves working with groups of people facing different difficulties, and with limited resources. Youth workers ought to be familiar to work under pressure while dealing with many conditions that need their attention. The role of the supervisor is under variations as it can involve giving responses to the requirements of young people. The role also involves the role of funding bodies, the increasing administrative duties, and maintaining relationships with the management and colleagues (Sapin 2009). As it applies with other helping professions, the youth’s supervisor tools of work are he/she. The workers end up spending most of their time giving back to the society as they try to motivate, engage, care and empower the young people around their duties, as well as other aspects of the job. The outstanding level of personal output from the working youths can be sustainable in the long term if they are given resources and supported in their work (Sapin 2009). Biggs notes that working with troubled youths makes their duties difficult. The work also demands market experiences and he asserts that it is important that the team members need the space to think on issues concerning the anxieties brought up by the nature of the work and what impacts they get from the anxieties (Briggs, 2002, p. 92). While highlighting the necessity for supervision, it is necessary to single out the levels of burnout within the youth’s activities (McNamara et al., 2008). He asserts that supervising the youths comes with mitigating stress effects in youth work. Supervision is needed as the worker can be supported by provisions such as a safe working place that enable them explore and solve issues that they encounter while doing their work. Doug Nicholls, says that guidance is the most important thing that can improve youth work policies and employment practices (1995, p. 55). The nature of supervision The reason as to why guidance is not sufficiently established in youth work is both misunderstanding what it entails or the lack of understanding of the whole concept. Engaging in things that are understood in the wrong terms is always met with anxiety and lack of motivation from both the supervisors and workers. While providing training for organizations that involve youth work, participants always respond by saying the helpful context of training involves the examination of nature and contents in guidance. Participants who were involved in some mentoring and guidance project at Cork YMCA said that it was a valuable aspect in their first training. Getting a clear reflection of supervision elements gives a framework on which the supervisors can base their practices as well as having a platform where supervision processes can be evaluated (Sapin 2009). The main functions of supervision It is often associated with the supportive duty where the objective of the process is listening, supporting, and providing a safe space in relation to their duties at work. It targets at helping the working process, how they are affected by the work they engage in and help them overcome the obstacles that they encounter. It is a good thing to celebrate the youth workers success and recognize what they achieve. It also helps the workers in developing strategies that relate to what is addressed in the guidance. In situations where the guidance is done by the manager, there are clear managerial features in the process that involves monitoring the tasks and workload expected from the worker. In their part, the supervisor meets their responsibility by ensuring that the duties and work of the supervisee are made per the ethical, organizational, and legal requirements. It also concerns ensuring that the worker understands the responsibilities and roles for which he/she was hired to undertake. Most of the time, it requires the supervisor to introduce elements of change in the process. The supervisor, for instance, can identify some characteristics of the worker that are unethical, unethical, and contradict with the agency policy (Sapin 2009). Most of the authors acknowledge the differences that at times exist between the managerial and supportive functions while supervising (Hawkins & Shohet 2000). It is difficult and almost impossibility for one to be honest on his/her weaknesses, feelings of dissatisfaction, or failing with a person who is tasked to either renew the contract or not. Tensions will always exist within the supervisory, managerial relationship. It is, therefore, vital to address such a factor while still aiming at optimizing the levels honesty and trust within the relationship. To overcome the challenge, the supervisor is involved in assisting the supervisee feel valued, received, and understood. It is then assumed that the youth worker will think they are safe and have the will, therefore, be ready for reviews and counter challenges. Another purpose of supervision is the educative function. The plan focuses on the development and learning promote their skills and understanding. It encompasses helping the youth workers identify their needs that will help them develop their skills though it is not the worker alone who benefits from it. In the guidance, both sides of the company are in a continuous learning process. Supervision is a developmental process where both the supervisees and supervisors learn from each other, work and identify ways on how to progress (Sapin 2009, p. 187). In addition to this educational function, guidance is the best and most useful forum where people get to learn of their duties (Turnbill, 2005,p. 216). The last function involved in supervision is mediation. Mediation in supervision of youth work refers to how it facilitates understanding and communication between the management and workers. For instance, guidance can bring about implementation of changes that are brought forward by the management. Mediation supervision role facilitates the channeling of workers issues and needs and makes them known by the management. The issues can relate to training, practical matters, and resources. The workers can, for example, address the issue of conducting staff meetings at lunch time that is their only free time. The supervision process One of the challenges in managing guidance is when different levels of responsibility and understanding are involved in the process. One of the parties might be of the view that supervision is valuable and important aspect in youth duties while the other party may be blind on such an aspect. Different factors are responsible for people’s perceptions regarding guidance. The degree of understanding and clarity, prior experiences of guidance, commitment, and agency’s management while managing the guidance. At the start of the training, supervisors present had a different understanding regarding what is supervision. All the members had variations on how supervision is conducted in terms of the content and frequency. The supervisors lacked clarity, format, design, and the elements of supervision. Hawkins and Shohet drafted some of the pressure’s supervisors feel at times. Some supervisors assume that they have to be competent, always have answers, be in control, and comfortable. When the supervisors are given training and mentored, various factors help them reduce anxiety. The supervisors also boost their confidence levels (2000,p. 111). Clarity around functions of supervision Supervisors find it helpful in understanding guidance about the functions outlined in the above section. Establishing a framework that identifies the managerial, supportive, educative, and mediation essential in supervision gives them frameworks from where to start their work. Training supervisors also highlights some of them operate out of essentials or in negligence of some of the elements. Some youth supervisors overweight their roles from the supportive role. When supervisors receive the right training, they get the importance of balancing the elements in their duties (Richmond 2007). Exploring supervision histories An influential factor in the understanding and approach of guidance is based from past experiences of receiving guidance. If the supervision is viewed as a forum where the youth’s duties are criticized and the “to do” list is lengthened, then bad reservations regarding supervision are always carried forward in every other duty. In the supervision training, the supervisors were asked to reexamine how their histories while performing their duties had influenced their way of life and work. The members were enlightened and came to the realization that most of the time was when they valued their own practice. The value in their practice was as a result of their past positive experiences. The same applies to negative experiences as they hinder the supervisor’s responsibility and understanding. The exercise was a useful tool where the supervisors were able to engage their supervisees and helped them put clarity and share expectations regarding future supervision (Richmond 2009). Supervision contract The concept of developing supervision contracts is new to most supervisors. Developing a contract at the start of a supervisory role provides a way of recording and discussing the expectations, practical arrangements, and ground rules expected in the supervision (Sapin 2009). Both parties should draw a contract jointly to include the purpose of supervision, punctuality, expectations, practical arrangements, cancellation arrangements, evaluation of the guidance, confidentiality, and the responsibilities of each party in formulating and recording agendas. Most of the times are when supervisors take contracts casually and in a relaxed mode. The supervisors who use it in their work valued the focus and clarity it brought to the whole process, such supervisors motivated others in incorporating contracts into their works. One challenge that is evident in contracts is when one member is not contented with the process but finds it hard to raise the concerns with the other party (Morrison 2001). The supervisor, for example, may reschedule or cancel a supervision session or the supervisee presents him/herself in the session while unprepared for the planned agenda. Having an agenda discussion at the beginning of the supervisory relationship with the help of a contract can prevent or reduce the onset of such issues from arising. When the unexpected issues arise, the contract can be used to find the source of the mishap. It is always easier to solve issues that had been discussed earlier than solving a problem encountered for the first time. Format of a youth supervision session Supervisors have anxieties in determining what format a supervision session should take. How should it look like? How does the supervisor know that the session has covered what needed to be discussed? Moreover, what if the supervisor spends all the time on one problem and sidelines the rest? What if the supervisor presses on a particular problem and a supervisee misses it? Such questions led to the development of simple supervision format that supervisors should include in their training programs (Turnbull 2007). The correct supervision format is as below; • An overview of the past weeks since the last supervision • Identification of the lowlights and highlights • Subjects or matters for further discussion • The supervisor’s agendas and items of the session • Exploration and discussing the issues on the agenda • Reviewing and identifying points of action By undertaking all the listed activities, the supervisor gets a general qualitative overview of the supervisee’s work. The supervisor also explores and focuses on other arising issues. Designing a simple such as the one above assists in simplifying the supervision process (Turnbull 2007). Types of supervision 1) Peer support It can be used in supervision of services that lack the finances to hire professional supervisors. The peer supervision can also be used for services found in rural areas where finding the appropriate supervisor is hard. An example is where two workers with almost the same knowledge and skills meet and share their work practice experiences in an effort to help each other. Both parties support each other (Wheeler & Richards 2007). 2) Group supervision Group supervision has similar practices as the peer support with the exception that it can have more than two people. All members have a responsibility to support others. Group supervision is about reflecting on challenging work methods and should, therefore, involve other participants who are not attached to the organization. Co-workers should be exempted from this guidance as friendship bonds do exist (Wheeler & Richards 2007). 3) Team supervision It is a supervision where the supervisees are two or more and the supervision takes place in a team setting. It consists of an independent individual who supervises all the people in the team. This supervision has an advantage as business issues can be discussed and the team can also work together to achieve common techniques and vision (Sapin 2009). Group supervision, peer support, and team guidance should have clear agreements about the objectives of the guidance. Each participant should have equal time, role, confidentiality, and on how the confidentiality is to be provided (Sapin 2009). Outcomes of Youth Supervision Involving the youth workers, young leaders, and volunteers in a reflection of what they ought to do and achieve in their work helps them; Generate new understanding of how reality is by providing them with opportunities to reconstruct and rethink of their duties Draw solutions and conclusions from their own steam and thinking To mold and check on the best practices Get lessons from experience, Through careful dialogues, they can promote and confirm their interests on youth work By supporting you emotionally, it can improve job satisfaction, lower stress and enhance their morale (Sapin 2009). Although many argue that not all people require guidance, the work done by youths dictates either professionally or ethically, all practitioners should engage in supervision. References Hawkins, P. & Shohet, R. 2000. Supervision in the Helping Professions 2nd Ed, Open University Press, London. McKay, A. 2007. Non-Managerial Supervision, National Youth Bureau and Council for Training in Youth and Community Work, Leicester. McNamara, Y., Lawley, M., & Towler, J. 2008. Supervision in the context of youth and community work training. In Youth and Policy Morrison, T. 2001. Staff supervision in social care: Making a real difference for staff and service users, Pavilion Publishing Ltd, Southampton. Nicholls, D. 1995. Employment Practices in Youth and Community Work,Russell House Publishing, UK. Ofsted 2009. Engaging young people: Local authority youth work 2005-2008, Crown copyright, London. Richmond, D. 2009. Using Multi-layered supervision methods to develop creative practice. Reflective Practice. Sapin, K. 2009. Essential skills for youth work practice, Sage, London. Turnbull, A. 2005. Using line management.Working with young people, The Open University in association with Sage Publications, London. Wheeler, S., & Richards, K. 2007. The impact of clinical supervision on counsellors and therapists, their practice and their clients. A systematic review of the literature,Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 7(1), Read More