Épisodes

  • Supporting social workers to flourish in their careers

    Supporting social workers to flourish in their careers
    Sep 23 2025
    This new three-part series, is created in collaboration with North Lincolnshire’s Children and Families Service and explores career progression, well-being and social work practice.

    In its most recent 2022 Ofsted inspection, North Lincolnshire Council's Children and Families was rated outstanding in all areas by Ofsted, with inspectors citing an “exemplary” commitment to children as one of its strengths.

    The council’s grow your own approach contributes positively to the service’s succession planning and a focus on supporting social workers in their preferred continuous professional development pathway has resulted in highly motivated, enthusiastic and loyal workforce, the report says.

    In this episode on career progression, you’ll hear from two practitioners at different stages in their career. Rachel Smith, who started her career at North Lincolnshire over 20 years ago and is now director of children’s services, and Louise Stretten, who has worked across a number of teams including disability and child protection in her 13 years at the council and is now lead officer in Family Help. They talk about how they have been supported to grow in their careers.

    Please find the transcript here.
    Voir plus Voir moins
    26 min
  • Hampshire Hive: Exploring myths around fostering with Andrea and Johnny

    Hampshire Hive: Exploring myths around fostering with Andrea and Johnny
    Sep 18 2025
    Hampshire Hive is a support network funded by Hampshire County Council, that assists fostering families across the county.

    In this podcast episode Hampshire Hive foster carers Andrea and Johnny, explore some of the myths often associated with choosing fostering as a career.


    Andrea highlights the flexibility fostering offers and talks about how she initially combined her career as a mental health nurse with fostering before deciding to commit full time to the role.


    Johnny, one of the first male foster carers in Hampshire County Council’s fostering service, explodes the myth that only women can be foster carers. He shares his experience of being the main foster carer in his household and why it was important to establish a support group for male foster carers.


    This podcast is the second episode in a three-part series called Hampshire Hive: Fostering Through a Community of Families.


    Fostering in Hampshire
    Hampshire Hive is a support network funded by Hampshire County Council, that assists fostering families across the county. To date, the network helps 27 Hampshire Hive groups with 23 foster care support workers and over 500 registered foster carers collectively.


    If you would like to find out more about fostering with Hampshire County Council, please visit hants.gov.uk/fostering to download their comprehensive information pack. You can also sign up for one of their upcoming virtual Q&A sessions attended by both a member of our recruitment team and a Hampshire County Council foster carer.

    Please find the transcript here.
    Voir plus Voir moins
    20 min
  • Social work around the world: Ghana

    Social work around the world: Ghana
    Sep 4 2025
    As part of the ‘Social work around the world’ series, this episode features two social workers who have practised in Ghana and England.

    Although social work practice in Ghana mirrors much of what is taught in the UK, a lack of government funding and an emphasis on cultural values that promote community mean that social work in practice is quite different in both countries.

    It is commonplace for family members to informally adopt children than them going into care and similarly, elderly family members are retained within the family network rather than being house in residential homes.

    Jemimah, who qualified in social work in Ghana over 20 years ago, and Emmanuel, who qualified in Ghana in 2021, share their unique experiences of supporting children and adults in both countries.

    In the discussion, Jemimah refers to an organisation called FIDA Ghana, which stands for The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Ghana). https://www.fida-ghana.org/know-fida/

    About The Social Work Community Podcast The Social Work Community Podcast explores the issues that matter to social work practitioners in their working lives. Senior commercial editors Kirsty Ayakwah and fellow host Sharmeen Ziauddin, interview experienced and inspiring guests, including frontline social workers who speak from the heart about their jobs, the sector and society.

    It was nominated in the podcast category at the 2024 BASW Social Work Journalism Awards following its first season, which ran from October 2023 to April 2024. It can be found on all major podcasting platforms including:
    • Spotify
    • Apple Podcasts
    • Spreaker
    Click ‘follow’ or ‘subscribe’ on your podcast app so you know when a new episode is published. You can also listen to the episode here:

    Read the transcript.
    To whet your appetite for season three, check out our podcast page to listen to previous episodes from seasons one and two.
    Voir plus Voir moins
    44 min
  • What to expect from your first job in social work

    What to expect from your first job in social work
    Aug 26 2025
    This is a special episode of our live webinar which was recorded in June 2025.
    Guests include Curtis Powell, podcaster and deputy team leader and two newly qualified social workers, Kai Tutton (adults) and Lashonte Royal (childrens) and was chaired by Sharmeen Ziauddin, an editor at Community Care.

    They talk about their respective jobs on the ASYE programme, how they prepared for their roles and how they overcame challenges. How helpful were their universities in preparing them for life as a social worker? How do they manage their caseload as well as working on the ASYE portfolio? What is the best way to learn how to write assessments?

    Listen to the answers of this and many more questions which were sent in by the audience.

    Essential listening for all social work students and newly qualified social workers.

    Watch it on The Social Work Community
    Voir plus Voir moins
    55 min
  • Hampshire Hive: a fostering support network - a conversation with Amy and Johnny

    Hampshire Hive: a fostering support network - a conversation with Amy and Johnny
    Aug 21 2025
    Welcome to a new three-part series, in collaboration with Hampshire County Council’s Fostering Service, called Hampshire Hive: Fostering Through a Community of Families.

    Hampshire Hive is a network established by Hampshire County Council to provide support to foster carers in the county. We speak to Hampshire Hive manager Amy and foster carer Johnny about how the Hive works

    Hampshire Hive is a unique support network funded by Hampshire County Council, that assists fostering families across the county. To date, the network helps 27 Hampshire Hive groups with 23 foster care support workers and over 500 registered foster carers collectively.

    In this episode, you will hear from one of these foster carers - Johnny who was involved in the original pilot scheme for the service back in 2021 - and Amy, the team manager of Hampshire Hive. Both highlight how this community-focused fostering support network has been so transformational for the families they support.

    If you would like to find out more about fostering with Hampshire County Council, please visit hants.gov.uk/fostering to download their comprehensive information pack. You can also sign up for one of their upcoming virtual Q&A sessions attended by both a member of our recruitment team and a Hampshire County Council foster carer.

    Please find the transcript here:
    Voir plus Voir moins
    15 min
  • #9 Ask The Experts: I am scared to go back into frontline work

    #9 Ask The Experts: I am scared to go back into frontline work
    Aug 18 2025
    In this episode, Dame Lorna Boreland-Kelly, Claire Barcham and Kayleigh Rose Evans offer advice to an experienced social worker who is looking for a role that offers career progression opportunities after going through some challenging experiences in practice.

    Read the transcript here

    Send us an email at: careersadvice@markallengroup.com

    You can catch up on all the Ask The Experts episodes on The Social Work Community, our forum for social workers at all stages of their career.You can also read past career questions from social workers – and our experts’ responses – on the Community Care website.
    Voir plus Voir moins
    18 min
  • Social work around the world: Zimbabwe

    Social work around the world: Zimbabwe
    Aug 4 2025
    This is another episode from the Social work around the world series!

    This month the focus is on Zimbabwe. Sharmeen Ziauddin speaks to Theresa Kambani and Weston Mudimu about their careers as social workers in Zimbabwe to working in local authorities in England.
    What are the key differences in practice in the two countries? What challenges did both practitioners face when they moved to England? What unique skills have they brought over with them? What do they miss about Zimbabwe and what made them choose England?

    Theresa mentions 'ubuntu', a philosophy originating from Southern Africa, that promotes humanity towards others. It can be loosely translated to, "I am because we are", meaning the emphasis is on the interconnectedness of humanity and the importance of community, and this is at the centre of her practice.
    A really informative discussion with a lot of learning for all practitioners.

    Read the transcript.

    About the podcast

    The Social Work Community Podcast explores the issues that matter to social work practitioners in their working lives. Sharmeen and fellow host Kirsty Ayakwah interview experienced and inspiring guests, including frontline social workers who speak from the heart about their jobs, the sector and society.


    Click ‘follow’ or ‘subscribe’ on your podcast app so you know when a new episode is published.

    Join the Social Work Community
    Voir plus Voir moins
    51 min
  • Career Transitions: From considering a career with the police to children's social worker

    Career Transitions: From considering a career with the police to children's social worker
    Jul 21 2025
    Senior social worker Faisa Abdirahman initially had her sights set on entering the police after gaining a BSC in criminology.

    However, she pivoted to social work after learning that looked after children were at more risk of being criminalised in the criminal justice system compared to those that are not care experienced.

    In this episode of the Social Work Community Podcast with senior careers editor Kirsty Ayakwah, she explains why her desire to support children and young people, earlier on in that journey resulted in her pivoting away from a career in the police force into social work.


    Read the transcript of the interview here.

    You can listen to our previous episodes in the Career Transitions Series.

    *According to 2022 data from the Office of National Statistics, more than half (52%) of looked-after children born in the academic year ending 1994 who attended school in England had a criminal conviction by the age of 24 years compared with 13% of children who had not been in care. We’ll leave more details about the ONS statistics in the show notes.
    Voir plus Voir moins
    29 min