Supervisory Practices and Students’ Professional Development: An Empirical Study of Social Work Field Education in Punjab

Abstract

Social work field education is considered the signature pedagogy which provides students with necessary opportunities to combine theoretical learning with the practice. Supervision is an important process in field work practice that can help social work students to attain professionalism. The present research analyzes how supervisory practices are used to improve the professional skills of social work students in Punjab, Pakistan. The current study is cross sectional in nature. By employing quantitative research technique 220 students of BS social work were selected from all the four public sector universities of Punjab where BS in social work was being offered. Proportionate random sampling method was applied to select the respondents and a standardized questionnaire was adapted for collection of data. Moreover, to determine the relationship between supervisory practices and development of professional skills, simple linear regression was applied. The results revealed that, supervisory practices were highly significant in terms of professional skills development among the students. The results highlighted that students demonstrated increased competency levels in many aspects e.g. time management, ethical decision making, communicating with clients, and applying theory to practice. With these findings in mind, it is advisable that the universities would establish structured and consistent coordination with field agencies and trainings of internal and external supervisors would facilitate the production of competent social work professionals in Pakistan.