Dr Lovisa Nghipandulwa
Since Independence, the social work profession has expanded exponentially from being housed exclusively in the Ministry of Health and Social Services to six more government ministries, many state-owned agencies, United Nations agencies, institutions of higher learning and the private sector.
This expansion signifies appreciation for the profession, but it also causes uncertainties, as responsibilities are now shared amongst various ministries and the private sector. Moreover, the expansion demands a coordinated response to assure quality in field practice standards.
A 1996 social welfare policy draft that the health ministry initiated needs to move beyond its status quo.
Therefore, one cannot help but ask: which stakeholder should spearhead the development of social service policies or frameworks? Should it be left to a single sector, a combination of many, or to the overarching regulatory body, specifically the Health Professions Council of Namibia (HPCNA)?
The Social Work and Psychology Council (SWPC) is a subsidiary of the Health Professions Council of Namibia, a body that oversees and regulates all the health professions in the country.
The SWPC prohibits social work practice without registration, regulates the registration and practice of social workers and students, protects the public against malpractice, and sets standards for social work education and requirements in the country and abroad.
Despite the extensive regulatory framework, the profession does not have a national supervision guideline or framework to regulate field practice supervision, as is the case in South Africa and other places such as the US, the UK, Sweden and Israel, for instance.
Social work field practice in action
Field practice in social work is an equivalent of work-integrated learning (WIL) or work-integrated education (WIE). Bachelor degrees in social work globally, including Namibia, have a mandatory requirement for extended practical attachments (field practice) for students, overseen by registered social workers (aka field supervisors) through field supervision.
In the case of the University of Namibia’s Bachelor’s Degree (Honours) in Social Work, field practice commences already in the first year with 28 hours of job shadowing, followed by 30 hours of block practicum in the second year, 112 hours of community service in the third year, and a whole six months of practical placement in a workplace throughout the fourth and final year of studies.
At Unam, therefore, a social work graduate would have gone through a total of 720 hours of field learning by the time they exit the institution, a process that helped social work graduates obtain employment easily at home and abroad.
A social work intern is required to register with the HPCNA already from their first year of study, and be issued a registration number before they can interact with clients.
Roles and responsibilities
Field supervision is a specialised and serious function in social work education.
As such, a field supervisor who oversees a student social worker can ethically be held accountable by the HPCNA for the work a student undertakes.
Thus, a field supervisor must be a registered social worker, and must always supervise and guide a student intern.
Moreover, a field supervisor must conduct the student’s final assessment to assist the university to determine their readiness to graduate.
These are done in addition to their normal duties, most of which include managerial and administrative functions, making them wear many hats simultaneously.A recent analysis of field supervisors’ experiences I undertook revealed that they received little to no prior training in field supervision, that they are grappling with high workloads, that they are not fully aware of the supervisory models or theories associated with student supervision, that they struggle to navigate the gap between theory and practice, and that they are not happy with almost no recognition of this role as a specialised function.Another concerning finding in the corporate sector, although only mentioned by 10% of the respondents, was the practice of non-social work practitioners, such as psychologists, supervising social work interns, which is completely against the Regulations of the Social Work and Psychology Act.
Catalyst for employment
Covid-19 is a reminder of what uncertainty is like, and why in the social work profession, interns need to be prepared to deal with uncertainty and risks in the life politics of clients.
Field practice is a real testing ground, a space where students face the rawness of problems that exist in our society.
In a country such as Namibia, which is ravaged by many social ills such as gender violence, high suicide rates and attempts, substance abuse, youth unrest, high unemployment and high income disparities, field practice becomes even more crucial to prepare a well-armed future workforce that can tackle these issues from a proactive developmental and preventative approach in welfare service delivery.
Legal framework
Namibia is rated among the top three countries in Africa – the other two being South Africa and Zimbabwe, with a solid legal framework for social welfare systems in terms of the Social Work and Psychology Act No.6 of 2004, and the Social Work and Psychology Council, established under the same Act.
Ethical, competent, innovative and effective graduates are highly-dependent on the quality of their field practice experiences, and the competencies of their field supervisors. Therefore, a supervision framework or a social welfare policy and guidelines at the national level are urgently needed with clear provisions on student supervision standards of practice.
*Dr Lovisa Nghipandulwa is an industrial social work specialist, employed as an industry relations and cooperative education practitioner at the University of Namibia. She holds a doctorate in Social Work. She writes in her personal capacity.