THE ROLE OF SUPERVISION IN THE EDUCATION OF SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS

This paper presents some of the key organisational aspects of conducting field practice for the students of social work in six study programs of social work in the Republic of Croatia and the region in the light of the results of current research and key understanding of experiential learning and the demands imposed by the Global standards for the education of social workers. The purpose of the paper is to deepen our understanding of the representation and the role of supervisory support to students during experiential learning in the field practice but also to provide insight into the context within which field practice is conducted within individual study programs. Social work as a profession puts great demands on experts and raises numerous questions about how to act and why to act in casework, what are the values and standards connected to a particular situation and decision, and to what extent are we aware of our blind spots and how to address the norms and rules of an individual role, position, organisation and wider environment, both professional and social one. Social workers can find the answers to these and many other questions that derive from immediate practice in supervision. Supervision, as a specific manner of providing professional support, aims to find answers to such questions through the reflection of one's actions, promotion of professionalism and finally, through the preservation of quality of service provided to the ultimate user. Supervision has proved to be not only an effective way of monitoring and providing support to students during practice, but also an appropriate way to acquire new knowledge and skills. Additionally, due to its theoretical and ethical essence, given specific features of learning in adult age, supervision provides a good place for reflection and it encourages the development of the professional identity of future social workers. These are also the processes that are intensely taking place during the study, so this paper will focus on the supervision of the students of social work as an approach and tool that is important for facing new challenges of study and work.