Ola Finch knew from the age of 14 that she wanted to be a social worker. Privately fostered to white families months at a time when her Nigerian parents returned home to study, she understood first-hand the power the profession has to help change lives. “I was being fostered in Norfolk and I think at that time in the 1980s they didn’t really know what to do with this black child,” says Finch. “There was pressure on me to return home, but my social worker advocated for me – she was the first person to listen to me in order to work out the best outcome for me. This experience fuelled my desire to be a social worker – I wanted to be able to do something like this for somebody else.”
Finch, 49, a senior services manager for learning disability services with more than 20 years’ experience in adult social services at Norfolk county council, says it is a perfect career choice if you are interested in community and society. “Using your position to develop a strategy with people who use the service and to make changes can be very empowering,” she says.
That is a view shared by Vava Tampa, 36, deputy head of social work and social care at Central and North West London NHS foundation trust. “When I was growing up I saw how trauma and social issues had an impact on mental health, that’s what led me to this job – I wanted to improve things for black people and their mental health.”
The desire to change lives is what motivates people to train as a social worker, especially those who have decided to switch careers. Natalie Maxim opted to make the swap while working during Covid in adult social care recruitment and retention for Surrey county council. “I was supporting staff in care homes who were going beyond, and doing everything they could in the most extraordinary circumstances,” she says. “I was inspired by what I saw and it made me question whether I was getting enough satisfaction from the role I did.”
Today, Maxim, 44, is following a social work degree apprenticeship, which allows her to apply her learning in the workplace. “Managing the study while working is hard, but I am applying what I learn every day at work. I think my 20 years of life and work experience are worth quite a bit. I’m not fazed by much, which is probably a benefit.”
Helen Gormley, who gave up her job as a bank manager to become a social worker, says it was the opportunity for career progression that attracted her to the profession. “In my old job after four or five years you’d be expected to leave and move on. But in social work, I can do something different and still develop my career and go down different pathways,” says the 52-year-old child protection team manager for Gloucestershire county council. “Now if I wanted I could move into adoption and fostering for example – my degree isn’t wasted.”
A social work degree can open doors to new career paths across the public and voluntary sectors, such as teaching and research, management and leadership, social policy, campaigning and advocacy. Ruth Allen, chief executive officer at the British Association of Social Workers, says: “I don’t think we are overt enough about that. I think there is such a focus on the need to fill statutory roles [in children and adult services] that you can easily paint a picture that the career is a bit of a cul-de-sac rather than an opportunity.”
Ruth Tudor-Robb, deputy team manager in adult social care at Essex county council, says knowing the degree guaranteed a definite career was a big pull when she was forced to give up her job as a peripatetic singer and instrument teacher in county primary schools because of osteoarthritis in her hands and wrists. “It took me a few years in the profession for me to realise that my music background had given me numerous transferable skills,” says 55-year-old Tudor-Robb. “As a musician I was constantly reflecting on my work and what I would do differently next time – skills which absolutely apply in social work.”
There is a tradition, says Allen, of career changers coming into social work and bringing their life and work experiences with them, which “enrich” the profession. Typically, about 40% of students on postgraduate social work degree programmes are career changers. Last year, 33% of graduates who joined the mental health social work programme Think Ahead had switched careers.
Catherine Andrews, 32, is a career changer and practice specialist at Think Ahead, where she supports trainees through the programme and their first year in practice. She gave up a job as a benefits adviser at the Department for Work and Pensions to train as a social worker. “I wanted to understand people better and be able to support them to where they wanted to head,” she says, adding: “I always say I didn’t choose social work – it chose me.”
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