Introduction

Activities in helping professions require the necessity of following certain rules. In most cases, these rules are contained in the codes of ethics of various professional associations, unions, chambers, and the like. An ethical code should ensure, in our case, safety and protection for the supervisee and the supervisor, but also for the client of supervision, within the framework of professional status as well as the protection of the organization itself. In connection with the provision of supervision, the supervisor, the supervisee, and the head employee of the organization - in our case especially the entity providing social services - enter into mutual interaction. The ethics of supervision in social work, but also in helping professions, should arise from the mission of professionals, while their main task should be support in the realization of possible aspirations that aim at using expert knowledge in order to improve work with the client or to improve the functioning of a specific institution. Providing supervision brings the opening of certain topics and problems, which, on the other hand, is necessary to mediate in a modified form also to the management of the facility. This is not possible without the ethical responsibility of the supervisor.

Ethical Principles

The ethics of supervision in the performance of activities by social workers and helpers in social services can analogously draw on the ethical principles of social work and may have its roots in the ethics of social workers and social work assistants, while their common mission and ethical imperative is the well-being of the client, the protection of his interests, and ensuring the fulfillment of his human needs. From the perspective of Kadushina (2014) and the model of supervision operating in the United States, when examining the ethical standards applied in supervision, there is no problem concerning the definition of the supervisor's duties to act ethically and humanely toward supervisees. It is the ethical obligation of the supervisor to comply with the legitimate demands of the supervisee, to assess objectively and fairly, to avoid abuse of superior power, and to apply supervision conscientiously and responsibly. It is unethical for a supervisor to assign a case to a supervisee who does not have the necessary knowledge and skills for work with the client.

Some authors (Reamer, Kadushin, Howkins, etc.) almost unanimously note that supervisors are morally responsible if they do not meet regularly with supervisees, do not attend to their work, and do not make timely evaluations of performance, or if they fail to detect or prevent negligent treatment of a client.

It is unethical for both the supervisor and the supervisee to present themselves as capable of providing services in which they do not have experience or within which they are not competent. The supervisor is obliged to respect the confidentiality of information provided during the supervision process. If it is necessary to pass on information obtained during supervisory work to another person, the supervisor must inform the supervisee who will be informed and for what purpose. The supervisor's task is to protect the client's interests. If it is evident that the supervisee is unable and incompetent to perform the work of a social worker, it is the supervisor's responsibility to advise them to change jobs or to terminate the working relationship with the client.

The supervisor has a duty to avoid dual relationships with supervisees; the moral responsibility of the supervisor is to clearly express expectations and demands toward the supervisee and to clearly define agreements for mutual cooperation. The supervisor must continuously educate themselves, improve their skills, and monitor their own effectiveness; they must also be available in case of emergency or whenever a crisis decision needs to be made. Throughout the entire supervisory process, however, the primary responsibility of the supervisor is the interests of the client, while the needs of the supervisee are only secondary.

Schavel et al. (2013), and similarly Vaska (2015), also draw attention to the mediation function of supervision. When applying this function, the supervisor becomes an intermediary or "mediator" in cases where, for example, there is a transfer of employees' demands toward the management of a social services facility. Such mediation is conditioned by the consent of the supervisees, and its content may include, for example, problems related to insufficient or unclear delegation of competences, further problems related to the organization of work, excessive workload, non-transparent remuneration, failure to address relationship problems in work teams, and the like.

Ethics of Supervision

Supervision as a professional activity is implemented within many organizations and for various professions. Some professions therefore include supervision in professional national codes of ethics, especially in connection with selected ethical aspects of its performance. In social work, this is done, for example, by the American code of ethics, the Australian code of ethics, and briefly also the British code of ethics. None of these documents focuses on a comprehensive view of supervision as a separate professional activity; rather, it understands it as a professional activity within one's own profession, similarly to research, for example. The same applies to the ethical codes of organizations. However, supervision is not only a "supplementary activity" in individual professions or organizations. It is an independent professional activity that requires not only the fulfillment of high qualification requirements, but often also extends across several professions. Therefore, the formulation of a code of ethics for supervision makes sense. The document seeks to define supervision as an independent professional activity; Gabura, 2018, Vaska, 2012, Schavel, 2013, and Mátel, 2018 more or less agree with this definition and together almost identically state that "Supervision is a method of continuous development of the professional competencies of workers in helping professions and students of these professions, achieved with the help of a qualified supervisor through reflection, support, supervisory methods and techniques. It is a means of improving work, providing feedback, optimizing and verifying the correctness of work procedures, preventing burnout syndrome, harming clients, seeking alternatives and effective procedures in professional work and its management."

The ethical dimension of supervision is, of course, primarily the responsibility of supervisors, which is why it may seem logical that the set of ethical norms of their behavior should form the supervisor's code of ethics. Supervision is always carried out within a certain relational framework and very often also in a specific institutional environment. The participants in supervision and the organizations where it is carried out are therefore jointly responsible for ensuring that the conditions of supervision are created with ethical sensitivity. Precisely because of the need for mutual cooperation among supervisors, participants in supervision, and the organizations where it is carried out, the code of ethics of supervision is an indispensable part of the entire supervision process. In the text of the preamble to the supervision code itself and at its conclusion, it states:

"Ethics is an integral component of the performance of supervision in all its types, forms, and models. It is not limited only to solving complex, problematic, and dilemmatic situations. The supervisor performs supervision in accordance with the code of ethics and according to the legal regulations valid in the Slovak Republic" (Code of Ethics of Supervision, 2018).

Key Values of Supervision and the Structure of the Code

A value is a general term for everything we appreciate, respect, and consider important and meaningful for human beings. Values can be distinguished according to various criteria. According to the nature of the area in which they are realized, they may be cultural, moral, religious, social, aesthetic, political, etc. According to their bearers, they may be individual, family, group, institutional, ecclesiastical, professional, etc. Professional values are formally or informally identified and accepted as important for professional activity. Within individual professions, ethics experts usually try to distinguish those that are most essential for the performance of a given profession and without which something fundamental would be missing. These are usually designated as key values. Their selection is relatively complex and depends on a number of factors. If agreement on their selection is reached within the professional community, they become the focus of the professional code of ethics in a given country or institution. The key values of helping professions are not immutable quantities; rather, they are subject to many changes in society and in the profession itself (Mátel, Romanová, Senáriková, 2017).

From the perspective of professional lexicon, we can understand the professional values of supervision as the beliefs of the professional community about desirable goals and desirable behavior of supervisors that lead to these goals. The ethical principles of the European Association for Supervision and Coaching (abbrev. EASC) 1 state that "ethics identifies values that help a person develop human potential and essence. Values are based on ethical principles that act as guidelines for their realization. These are perceived as deontological norms that guide professional practice. Ethical principles clarify which values people have committed themselves to protect" (EASC, 2016). The Association of National Organisations for Supervision in Europe (abbrev. ANSE) 2 holds in its code of ethics that the fundamental values of professional supervision ethics are justice and care. These are to be respected throughout supervisory practice (ANSE, 2012). The codes of ethics, or ethical principles, of both these international organizations were an inspiration in the process of creating the Slovak Code of Ethics of Supervision. In the Slovak Code of Ethics of Supervision, four key values were explicitly identified, namely: competence, human dignity, the importance of interpersonal relationships, and confidentiality in professional practice. The ethical principles and standards of behavior arising from these values are elaborated in the text of the code itself, which, in addition to the preamble and conclusion, contains four basic substantive articles:

Art. 1 Competence and Further Education of the Supervisor At present, accredited training of supervisors in social work in the scope of 240 hours is provided mainly by the Association of Supervisors and Social Counselors and the Institute of Further Education of Social Workers at St. Elizabeth University of Health and Social Work in Bratislava. After fulfilling the qualification requirements, the participant of supervisory training may apply for entry into the register of supervisors (for the performance of supervision in social services and in the performance of SPODaSK measures), which is maintained by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic. With regard to participants in supervisory training, it is still necessary to state that ethical sensitivity is not expected only after the completion of supervisory training, but already during it, which is an obligation for educational institutions. Obtaining a certificate of completion of an accredited educational program in supervision or being entered into the register of supervisors should not end the supervisor's education. It should be a lifelong process that continues, once the qualification requirements have been met, through further education.

Art. 2 Ethical Responsibility of the Supervisor in Work with Supervisees and Their Clients. The fundamental ethical rule for the supervisor's approach and activity toward the supervisee and their clients is expressed in the ethical principles of EASC by the term respect for the client (EASC, 2016). The principle of trust also arises from the text of the ethical rules of EASC (2016): "The profession of supervisor or coach is based on the trust that the supervisor or coach shows to the client and the client to the supervisor or coach." Trust in supervision is also addressed by the preamble of the ANSE code of ethics (2012): "(Supervisors) will radiate trust in supervision, the potential of the human being, uniqueness, humanity, and will actively deepen it in contact with supervisees and other persons." The fact that human dignity, respect, and trust toward a person cannot be selective, but concern every human being without distinction, is expressed in the code by the anti-discrimination formulation. A practical consequence of trust is the confidentiality of information that the supervisor learns from supervisees during the professional relationship. Another topic in the second article of the code of ethics is professional boundaries. These should be clear to all parties, meaning roles and competences should be clarified in advance. The role of the supervisor is always associated with a certain degree of power, analogously to the relationship between a helping worker and clients. And with power comes the risk of its abuse.

Art. 3 Ethical Responsibility in the Organization Where Supervision Is Carried Out Employing organizations in the field of helping professions are recommended to ensure their employees the possibility of participating in regular supervision. An important part of effective supervision is the creation of a supervision contract. Increased attention is also given to it in transnational codes of ethics for supervision. The current ethical principles of EASC (2016) state that "a prerequisite for work (of supervisors and coaches) is a contract that determines what is the duty of each participant in it." Ethical principles regarding the confidentiality of written records from supervision meetings and informing the commissioner: The provision of supervision is based on the ethical principle of confidentiality. The record from a supervision meeting therefore cannot contain detailed information about the course of supervision and the content of supervision that would have the character of confidential information and could in any way lead to confrontation of the supervisees with the management of the organization.

"The commissioner of supervision must not demand from the supervisor information about employees that could be used in labor-law rewards or sanctions." Again, this is based on the ANSE code of ethics (2012), where it states in the general principles that "supervision as a profession is carried out autonomously and impartially. The autonomy of the supervisor is understood in relation to various supervisees or teams, as well as to clients, colleagues, and the management of the organization. The entire professional integrity of the supervisor stands upon it.

Art. 4 Ethical Responsibility of the Supervisor Toward Colleagues and the Profession The principles of ethical behavior toward colleagues are based on the value of interpersonal relationships, which concern not only supervisees, but also colleagues, who may be supervisors and other professionals. "The supervisor respects their colleagues and approaches them and their work with dignity and respect. The supervisor does not speak disparagingly, disrespectfully, or pejoratively about their colleagues, especially in their absence." "In the event of suspicion of unprofessional or ethically insensitive behavior by another supervisor, the supervisor uses collegial warning as the primary tool" (Code of Ethics of Supervision, 2018).

Conclusion

Ethics is a basic condition that leads the supervisor to provide a morally responsible professional service to professional workers in helping professions. The Slovak Code of Ethics of Supervision is a supporting document that, although it alone will not ensure ethical practice, can make the supervision process more ethically sensitive. Therefore, it should become an integral part of all supervision contracts and supervision programs. The formulation of basic principles for supervisory work arose from a concrete discussion among the participants in the supervision process. The fact is that this area was not given sufficient attention before the adoption of the Code of Ethics of Supervision. Some topics are rare, but they indicate the necessity of adopting specific formulations for ethics in the work of a supervisor. Supervision has been established in Slovakia for only a few years, nevertheless the ethical principles in the work of a supervisor should be binding for all supervisors in social work, but also in other helping professions.

Authors: prof. PaedDr. Milan Schavel, PhD. prof. PhDr. ThDr. Andrej Mátel, PhD.* The contribution was prepared within the framework of VEGA project No. 1/0234/20 Dilemmas of Respecting Human Dignity and Human Rights in Social Work and Social Services.*

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1 The organization was founded in 1994 in Hanover. Its original name was European Association for Supervision (EAS). The addition of coaching and the change of name to European Association for Supervision and Coaching (EASS) were implemented in 2010. Its current seat is in Berlin. 2 Association of National Organizations for Supervision in Europe was founded in 1997 by national professional organizations of supervision from Austria, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. It is based in Vienna.