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Ananias, Janet Nghipandulwa, Lovisa Kandali 2025-09-19T09:44:48Z 2025-09-19T09:44:48Z 2024 http://hdl.handle.net/11070/4130 A Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Social work Supervision of social work interns is a mandatory specialised function that requires additional skills and knowledge to be executed optimally. Little is known about the experiences and needs of field supervisors within a Namibian context. This study explored the needs, experiences, and current practices of student supervision amongst the social workers and student social workers in the Khomas region of Namibia. The outcomes of the exploration led to the development of an evidence-based intervention programme to empower social workers in the field supervision role. This was an intervention research, conducted in three phases. Phase one was a situational analysis embedded in a qualitative approach and phenomenological design, and its data were collected from purposively selected 20 social workers and 10 social work students, using open-ended questions to conduct in-depth interviews. The data was analysed using the Tesch method of qualitative data analysis. This was followed by the design and development of a training programme in Phase Two, and programme evaluation by experts in Phase Three. The main findingsreveal that field supervisorsreceived little prior training in field supervision, are not fully aware of the supervisory functions associated with studentsupervision, have challenges with the integration of theory into practice, and that there are no comprehensive training programmes for field supervisors in Namibia. These findings led to the development of a comprehensive training programme and implementation guidelines , which became the outcome product of this study. The programme was found to be viable and feasible by international and local social work experts in student supervision. They assessed the programme’s feasibility and viability, specifically focusing on adequacy of learning content, appropriateness of facilitation methods and allocated times. They further made suggestions for improving the programme. The experts expressed satisfaction with the programme content and relevancy of topics and acknowledged its potential to put the social work field education at the forefront. This study’s emerging knowledge is solidified through the developed training programme, as well as description of unique experiences of field supervisors and student social workers from a Namibian context. The study’s recommendations underscore the importance of CPD and post-qualifying training in field supervision, and that a supervision framework for Namibia need to be developed urgently, to re-engineer field supervision processes. Future research could evaluate the impact of the developed training programme on field supervisors’ competencies, both from the field supervisors and student social workers’ perspective en University of Namibia Field supervision Field supervisor Field education Social work student Training programme Social workers Namibia University of Namibia A training programme to support social workers in the facilitation of field education supervision Thesisopen.access