Publications from ODSW Social Work Supervsion | Page 11

Opening Address

Mr Chan expressed that a lot of the learning can also take place at the workplace and this
is when good supervision and supervisors will come in. At the Principal Social Workers’
Seminar organized by the Office of the Director of Social Welfare in February 2015, a
workgroup on supervision recommended that change has to occur on 3 levels in order to
strengthen social work moving forward. They commended that social workers need good
supervision and support for their day-to-day work. And they need it for professional
growth in knowledge and skills and in the transmission of tacit knowledge and values. They
need it in order to reflect on their practices and what they are doing. To strengthen social
work supervision, they recommended changes at three levels. Firstly, at the professional
level, the social work fraternity must stand together to promote social work supervision
and to be willing and deliberate in sharing practice wisdom. This means being clear in how
one supervises and how one transmits values and practices. It is important not just to be
willing, but also to be deliberate and competent in doing so. Secondly, at the
organizational level, employers and the management have to support and create a culture
of supervision. It is important to set aside time for effective supervision, not to overload
experience social workers with case work without effective supervision. Thirdly, as a sector,
the social work fraternity must regularly get together to assess the state of social work
supervision and undertake collective efforts to improve it.
Mr Chan opined that Singapore has to build the social work supervision system and
competencies for supervision faster with greater determination and momentum. This is
because services and pipelines are expanding fast. There is a need to ensure services are
not only expanded but provided well, to ensure that learning does not stop for young
graduates once they enter into the workplace and to ensure that there is no disjoint
between what graduates learn in the university and what they practice.
He emphasized that there must be a collective effort among the government, employers
and social workers to strengthen the supervision framework. He assured the participants
that MSF and NCSS will give their full support and to play more involved roles (eg. the
development of the National Social Work Competency Framework and what NCSS is doing
through SSI) where useful and appropriate.
Conclusion
Mr Chan concluded with saying that he believes that the excellent response for this
seminar is a good start and a promising sign of the sector coming together to move the
profession forward. He stated that he has great confidence that the sector can succeed to
build a stronger social work fraternity that lies at the core of a collective effort to build a
more caring and inclusive society.

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