The professional supervision model provides the overarching approach that guides supervision practice in Child Protection in Victoria. The model comprises 3 complementary supervision modes:
- individual supervision
- live supervision
- reflective group supervision.
Individual supervision is based on the 4x4x4 model, first developed by Tony Morrison in 2005, and later built upon further by Jane Wonnacott (2012).
The 4x4x4 model has practical application and promotes reflective supervision.
It identifies 3 primary components:
- the stakeholders in supervision
- the functions of supervision
- the elements of the supervisory cycle.
Each component comprises 4 essential ingredients hence the 4x4x4 name. To read more on the application of the model, refer to the Professional supervision in Child Protection operational practice guide
Management:
- Ensures practitioners understand their roles and responsibilities as child protection practitioners and public servants.
- Reinforces understanding and adherence to policy, procedures and legislative mandates and obligations.
- Manages resources including leave arrangements and access to resources and training required to carry out their roles and functions.
- Promotes accountability. Reinforces the ‘structural scaffolding’ that legislated delegations provide. These delegations are attached to different levels and classifications of the organisational structure.
- Human resources related processes such as PDPs, probation plans and performance improvement plans.
Development:
- Supports practitioners to develop and more deeply embed risk assessment, decision-making and planning.
- Offers space to reflect on the 5 components of professional judgement. It does this by:
- building skills and knowledge
- exploring values
- developing practice wisdom
- examining emotional awareness
- honing analytical and reasoning skills.
- Supports professional development and growth against the identified goals in the practitioner’s PDP between formal review events.
- Encourages exploration and clarification of individual learning styles.
- Helps identify and access learning or professional development opportunities such as formal training, shadowing and mentoring.
- Supports the identification of development and support needs and explores live supervision opportunities to build capability and confidence or cases for reflective group supervision.
Support:
- Provides a safe and confidential environment where the supervisory relationship:
- develops mutual trust and respect
- promotes open and honest communication.
- Offers opportunities to recognise and reflect on the impact of the work on the practitioner.
- The supervisor models and encourages safety and wellbeing practices. This includes exploring supports that may be needed such as the Child Protection Specialist Counselling Program and Employee Wellbeing and Support Program
- Enables practitioners to reflect on professional boundaries, lived experiences and their own values, attitudes, and beliefs and how these may affect or influence their work.
Mediation:
- Engages the practitioner with the system they work in. Considers both their own organisational context and the broader service sector.
- Considers individual and structural factors that affect the practitioner in their work such as:
- power and authority
- cultural safety
- gender.
- Helps a practitioner develop organisational awareness in the program, beyond the phase in which they work.
- Develops awareness of the broader service sector and the importance of multi-agency approaches and stakeholder relationships in improving opportunities for clients and organisational efficiencies.
Practitioners across all classifications require a minimum of 60 minutes of individual supervision per month from their line supervisor. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to enter the session into ESS and ensure supervision records are securely stored in a supervision folder. See ESS and Reporting
Live supervision is when a supervisor or other senior practitioner (CPP5 or above) directly observes a supervisee interacting with a client or professional to give feedback on practice. Live supervision is essential to ongoing practitioner support and development.
Live supervision can include:
- the supervisor observing the supervisee
- role modelling
- mentoring or
- coaching.
Live supervision can cover any single or combination of the 4 functions of supervision (management, development, support and mediation). Supervisors and supervisees identify an area of development, which may align with PDP goals, and then plan for the live supervision activity, including pre-session planning and post-session reflection and feedback. Depending on the area of development, the supervisor may arrange for another person, with a particular expertise, to facilitate the live supervision activity.
For detailed guidance on the process, access live supervision templates and tools and practice activity suggestions for live supervision, please refer to the Professional supervision in Child Protection operational practice guide.
The completed live supervision feedback template is stored in the practitioner’s supervision folder and the live supervisor is responsible for entering the session into ESS.
Live supervision contributes to the overall monthly supervision hours received by practitioners. For more information on live supervision refer to the Professional supervision in Child Protection operational practice guide.
Reflective group supervision helps practitioners develop and strengthen their professional judgement and practice in a way that is not burdensome or focused on to-do lists.
Reflective group supervision encourages collaboration, reflection, collective accountability and development. It is not a decision-making forum. The emphasis on reflection over decision making is an intentional design feature.
The reflective group supervision approach centres around team structure, as defined in the Child Protection Operating Model (CPOM) for practical accessibility and to build trust and positive relationships. While group structures may be adapted to reflect local context and composition, the integrity of reflective group supervision must be maintained.
To learn from experience and improve practice, the session cycles through 4 phases:
- Phase 1: Experience (the telling)
- Phase 2: Reflection (feeling)
- Phase 3: Analysis (thinking)
- Phase 4: Action (the doing)
For more information about the reflective group supervision mode and tools, refer to the Professional supervision in Child Protection operational practice guide.
Embedding reflective group supervision requires sustained leadership commitment and protected time for practitioners to participate meaningfully and without interruption. This is supported through area and division-wide coordination and scheduling to ensure appropriate team coverage. When prioritised, reflective practise is clearly positioned as a valued and integral component of practice and development, reinforcing collective accountability.
Attendance at reflective group supervision is mandatory to encourage consistency and engagement of team members and to effectively adopt and embed the model across the workforce. If a practitioner cannot participate in the reflective group supervision session, they should advise their line supervisor and the coordinator as soon as possible and arrange to meet their minimum supervision hours for the month via other modes of supervision.
The practice leader/supervisor is responsible for entering the session into ESS for each participant as it contributes to the overall monthly supervision hours received by each practitioner.
Good supervision is a responsibility shared by the supervisee, supervisor, and the organisation.
All parties to the supervisory relationship should be motivated and committed to ensuring the health and effectiveness of the supervision process, and to resolve any issues or difficulties in a timely and appropriate manner. Each party brings strengths and value to the supervision process and contributes to the development of a trusting and safe supervision environment.
Supervisors and supervisees may sometimes feel a level of discomfort during supervision – particularly when giving or receiving feedback. This alone should not be viewed as a sign of a lack of psychological safety. Instead, it should be expected and seen as something that can help people openly explore practice, learn and grow.
As with any other relationship, challenges can arise, and as such – both have an equal responsibility to ensure issues are identified and tackled at the earliest possible opportunity. Development of a supervision agreement at the outset should reflect the agreed conflict resolution or troubleshooting strategies to mitigate risk of delay in matters being addressed early. Respectful and open communication between supervisor and supervisee must be maintained throughout.
Supervision tools and templates have been developed, along with an operational practice guide for supervision, to support consistent application of the different modes across the Child Protection workforce.
Tools can be accessed via the Child Protection Learning Hub and include:
- Individual supervision agreement (template)
- Individual supervision record with agenda (template)
- Reflective case supervision tool (template)
- Case supervision and decision record (template)
- Self-care and wellbeing plan (template)
- Supervision reference card and checklist for supervisors
- Live supervision agreement template
- Live supervision feedback template
- Collective agreement template
- Reflective group supervision presentation planning tool (template)
- Reflective case supervision tool (template)
- Reflective group supervision roles and responsibilities card
- Reflective group supervision notetaking template
The operational practice guide provides more detail on the professional supervision model and the use of resources in practice. This includes prompts and questions to practice.
See Professional supervision in Child Protection- Operational practice guide
Who provides supervision?
The professional supervision model shares the responsibility for supervision across designated roles to foster development and to share specialised expertise across areas and divisions. The supervision operational practice guide provides further detail about where responsibility for the provision of each supervision mode lies.
Supervisor capability
Supervising and managing practitioners often requires the development of new skills and knowledge.
All supervisors of practitioners should be appropriately supported to transition to supervisory roles. Supervisors should enrol in and complete training via the Professional Development and Training unit prior to, or soon after commencement as supervisors.
Reflective group supervision can only be performed by leaders (CPP 5.2 and above) who have completed the full 2 day supervision training.
Supervisors continue to require their own individual professional supervision, and care should be taken to ensure that their needs continue to be met through supervision.
All supervision records must be stored in line with the department’s Teams first approach, in a designated Microsoft Teams folder with access restricted to the supervisor and supervisee to maintain privacy and confidentiality. See Teams First Approach
Frequency and duration of supervision
Supervision compliance is met when a practitioner, in one month, completes:
- at least one 1-hour session of individual line supervision, and
- the total monthly supervision hours set for their classification.
The table below reflects the minimum monthly supervision requirements by classification. There is flexibility for practitioners to access more supervision time and move between supervision modes depending on their identified needs, as long as monthly supervision requirements are met.
| Supervision mode (and duration) | CPP2 | CPP3 | CPP4 | CPP5 | CPP6 |
Individual (60 minutes) Minimum | 1 each month | 1 each month | 1 each month | 1 each month | 1 each month |
Live (30 minutes) Recommended | No minimum | 2 each month | 1 each month | 1 each month | No minimum |
Reflective group (90 minutes) Recommended | 1 each month | 1 each month | 1 each month | 1 each month | 1 each month |
| Total monthly supervision | 2.5 hours | 3.5 hours | 3 hours | 3 hours | 2.5 hours |
Line supervisors are responsible for recording individual and reflective group supervision in ESS while live supervisors are responsible for recording supervision in ESS for their sessions.
To ensure accurate and complete recording, the line supervisor must ensure any supervision given by others is recorded in ESS before the end of the monthly reporting cycle. See ESS and Reporting
Child Protection directors and leadership teams are ultimately responsible for ensuring supervision is occurring, is recorded in ESS and supervision folders in line with recordkeeping requirements.
Further guidance about supervision compliance can be found in the Professional supervision in child protection- operational practice guide.
- Area child protection workload review and monitoring panels
- Practitioner supervision Tools and templates
- Professional supervision in Child Protection practice - Operational practice guide
- the Code of Conduct
- Management of unsatisfactory work performance policy and guideline
- Supervision in Child Protection practice - Operational practice guide
- Inclusion of the PDP- Career Development and progression Plan into the model (via Our People)
- Child Protection Learning Hub SharePoint site