Social work supervision in Hong Kong

Abstract

Supervision is viewed as a quality assurance mechanism of service delivery, a kind of support for social work practitioners, and a recognition of professionalization in social work. There has not been much debate in Western countries about the importance of these. However, there has been a lack of a mandatory demand for a code of supervisory practice in Hong Kong. This chapter portrays a historical landscape of the development of social work supervision in Hong Kong. There are various stakeholders, which include academia, the responsible governmental department, the regulatory body, the social work organizations, and the frontline workers, with each playing their respective roles and providing a function for promoting the uses of supervision in a local context. The authors also introduce and discuss the issues of continual professional development, as well as the alternatives for practicing supervision in person. It is expected that this chapter can be a significant reference to those people seeking for a way to improve, to develop, and advance social work supervision practice locally and globally.