Identifying the Potential Benefits and Challenges Between On-Site and Off-Site Supervision

Essay for a Social Work Class
Student Full Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Full Title
Instructor Full Name
Due Date
Essay for a Social Work Class
The off-site supervision model entails placing the supervisee in an agency where he or she reports to an on-site task supervisor. However, the field instructor conducts regular individual supervisory meetings. On the other hand, the on-site supervision model involves placing the supervisee under constant supervision of an administrator who assigns and reviews day-to-day assignments. On the other hand, the on-site supervisor (who is an employee of the agency the supervisee is attached to and not necessarily a social worker) is responsible for orienting the supervisee to the agency, aligning assignments with social work practice and theory, preparing for ending evaluation, and coordinating with the off-site supervisor.
Both supervision models have their unique benefits and challenges and could benefit my work with clients, social justice, and field placement role in differing ways. For instance, the on-site supervision model uses non-master of social work (non-MSW) task supervisors, thereby providing several opportunities for social work programs to place students in nontraditional agencies. Nontraditional agencies have different community experts from diverse disciplines who could impart their broad experiences and knowledge. The danger of relying on the supervision of MSW field instructors alone is that it may result in the prioritization of “mainstream ways of knowing over more alternative perspectives on social work” (Maynard et al., 2015). Nontraditional field placements involving non-MSW supervisors have the advantage of availing opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and enhancing the profession's visibility as a whole. The on-site supervision model encourages a broade...