Look who’s talking: Social work podcasts as continuing professional development in England

Abstract

In 2019 Social Work England introduced mandatory annual recording of continuing professional development (CPD) for social workers in England, placing sole responsibility for meeting this requirement on individual social workers. There is also growing evidence that social workers in England are struggling to engage effectively with their CPD, due in part to a lack of time and insufficient employer support. Alongside these developments, the number of social work podcasts has increased rapidly, with hundreds of podcasts, and thousands of podcast episodes, now available for any social worker with internet access to listen to. This doctoral research examines the growing phenomenon of social work podcasts, with a particular focus on the potential for podcasts as social work CPD in the English context. Utilising a theoretical framework that draws primarily from the theory of the network society, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with twelve independent social work podcasters and six social workers who listened to social work podcasts. Podcaster participants and listener participants both overwhelmingly described social work podcasts as having a strong potential to support the CPD of social workers, in particular highlighting the value of accessibility, flexibility, variety, reach, dialogue and currency. Despite the often-presumed intimate nature of podcast listening, participants also found value in podcasts for collective engagement and even activism. Challenges were noted, including around quality assurance, algorithmic curation, voice and representation and the potential for podcasts to reinforce the hegemonic domination of social workers. Recommendations for further research, policy, activism and practice are outlined in the conclusion.