Alain is a Senior Social Worker with a Family Support and Safeguarding Services team in Newham.
He is currently working towards becoming a Practice Educator, a role which combines his love of teaching and learning with his experience in social work practice.
“To be honest, at the beginning I didn’t think of becoming a social worker – but I always wanted to work with children, in teaching or something similar.”
Originally from the Ivory Coast, Alain had an early career interest in teaching, and a desire to learn English led him to choose London as a place to study. He first studied a degree in business, with the spark for his switch to social work coming when he began the first of several postgraduate qualifications.
As a master’s student in International Development, Alain had opportunities to work with both UNICEF and the Refugee Council. The idea of doing something which more directly helped vulnerable children and young people appealed to him, and he returned to university to pursue a second master’s, this time in Social Work.
Along with an interest in youth justice and tackling inequality, a big part of what attracted Alain to the profession was the ability of social work practice to prevent harm and provide children and families with the safety and security they need to fulfil their potential:
“For me the most rewarding part is when you are working with a family where the children are at risk of serious harm or neglect, and you manage to get to a point where the children are no longer at-risk, and you can see they are doing very well in a safe place.”
Working between agency and permanent roles
Alain’s social work career in London has included permanent spells in Wandsworth and Bromley before a move to agency social work. This coincided with starting a family, and Alain found that the greater flexibility that agency work offered at the time suited his needs as a new parent.
“When I went from permanent to agency, my children were young at the time. It meant I could easily take time off, and financially it made sense to support my family at that moment in time.”
Along with the improvements made to pay and flexibility in permanent roles over the years, opportunities for learning and career progression were a key factor in his decision to make the switch back to a permanent role in Newham. Alain’s managers at the time were keen to retain his skills and experience, and the idea of becoming a Practice Educator was appealing as it enabled him to re-engage with his interest in teaching while making use of his social work experience. Alain’s passion for learning has also inspired his pursuit of a doctorate.
“Now that my children have finished their university studies and have started their own careers, I have the opportunity to go back to University to complete a Professional Doctorate in Health and Social Care, which is something that I wanted to do a long time ago but, I could not as I was bringing up my children and needed to have time for them.”
Learning and professional development
Alain’s commitment to learning is matched by his dedication to racial justice and addressing disproportionality in social care. Throughout his career, he has been driven by a strong belief in equality and the importance of understanding the social and cultural factors that shape children’s experiences. This motivation has guided his research interests and continues to influence his practice and leadership.
“My research will be on the reasons behind the difficult and unsuccessful integration of the Black African Francophone children into British Society, their involvement in criminality, in county lines, and in gangs; the gap in services provided to those children and to their parents and the solutions to address this problem that is having a devastating effect on those children as well as on their parents.”
Newham’s flexible and supportive approach to CPD
As someone who is passionate about building his knowledge and skillset, Newham has proven to be a good fit for Alain. He has found the authority’s approach to training and development encouraging, flexible and supportive:
“What I have appreciated most here in Newham is the openness. Managers are open, they are supportive, and they give you the opportunity to build yourself. My manager knew that my goal is to continue to learn, so when she saw the Practice Educator opportunity, she sent it to me, and I grabbed that opportunity to improve my knowledge.”
Inspiring newly qualified social workers as a Practice Educator
As someone who truly believes in the value of education, it seems like a natural step for Alain to move into a mentoring role within social work, and he is particularly looking forward to helping prospective social workers get to grips with their first cases:
“I’ll be supporting someone who’s acquiring knowledge, so the mentoring aspect is very important to me. I’ll be supporting students in the workplace, providing guidance and making sure all the support that needs to be provided to the family is in place. For me, I’m looking forward to developing my supervision skills and case management.”
Like so many other social workers, the biggest rewards of the job for Alain are often in the outcomes his work can enable. Given the next stage in his London social work career will be all about supporting the next generation of practitioners, we asked Alain why people should consider a career in the field:
“It’s a good career, and there are many opportunities. If you are prepared to develop yourself and work collaboratively with other professionals, there are so many things you can do. If someone wants to become a social worker, they are participating in the development of the future. Where you see children who were really at risk of harm, and you are able to move things so that they are able to think clearly about what they want to do, so that they are able to have a bright future with good outcomes in life.”
As with many social worker in London, Alain discovered that a permanent role provided a wealth of opportunities to shape and develop his career. Discover more about making the switch to a permanent role with a London local authority.