Decolonising Social Work Practicum is a podcast exploring how colonial legacies shape UK social work placements. Based on a global scoping review, it features students, educators, and practitioners reflecting on power, identity, resistance, and change. Funded by the European Association of Schools of Social Work and led by Associate Professor Henglien Lisa Chen (University of Sussex), it is co-hosted by students Tina Odu and Eleanor Hogan and produced by Mitali Kulkarni. The series centres lived experience and challenges dominant narratives in Social Work Field Education.
Unmuting Practice in Malmö: From Listening to Action
On 29 January 2026, 47 student colleagues from universities in Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzerland and Austria came together at Malmö University for an EASSW-funded full-day workshop exploring how decolonising ideas can move from listening and reflection into dialogue and action.
The workshop formed part of Malmö University’s international course Social Work: Social Policies and Welfare Studies. Participants collectively engaged with the Decolonising Social Work Practicum podcast series through listening, reflection, embodied activities and small-group dialogue.
This episode brings together voices from that day. Participants reflect on whose knowledge and voices are heard, what happens when majority and less-heard perspectives meet, the discomfort and uncertainty involved in questioning familiar ways of thinking, and how learning might be carried forward into action.
The Malmö dialogue subsequently informed the development of Unmuting Practice (UNMUTE), Henglien Lisa Chen’s synthesis of the co-created learning into a dialogic approach to decolonising practice education.
UNMUTE brings together six interconnected elements: Uncover, Name, Make space, Unlearn, Turn and Enact. Rather than being a fixed sequence, the elements can be entered and revisited in different ways as context, relationships, knowledge and action change.
18 Nov 2025
Uncovering Social Work's Colonial Roots and Legacies
Why should social work students care about the profession’s colonial history? In this episode, hosts Dr. Sharlotte Tusasiirwe and Dr. Abigail Joseph Magwood speak with Dr. Sonia Tascone to uncover how colonialism continues to shape social work education, practice, and knowledge today. Through global perspectives from Australia, Germany, Uganda, and the UK, they explore Eurocentric curricula, language dominance, racialized power dynamics, and the marginalisation of Indigenous ways of knowing. The conversation highlights the importance of discomfort, embodiment, and creative expression in decolonising practice.
23 Jun 2025
Understanding Indigenous Communities’ Approach towards holistic well-being
What does ‘Wellbeing’ truly mean, and who gets to define it? In this episode, host Henglien Lisa Chen speaks with Dr. Wasiq Silan, an Indigenous scholar from Taiwan, to explore holistic, community-rooted understandings of care. They reflect on colonial legacies, power dynamics, and the risks of using neoliberal frameworks to achieve decolonisation. Drawing on Indigenous principles like Gaga and Malahan, the episode challenges dominant models and offers powerful lessons in cultural humility, relational care, and reflective practice.
A thought-provoking listen for social work students, educators, and practitioners seeking to decolonise from the inside out.
23 Jun 2025
Beyond England’s Professional Capability Framework (PCF)
In this episode, we go beyond England’s Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF) to explore its limitations in addressing global social justice and culturally diverse perspectives in social work field education. Hosted by Henglien Lisa Chen, our guests Phyllis Ngai and Shabnam Ahmed share insights on Indigenous rights, UNDRIP, and the need to challenge Western-centric frameworks. They offer practical strategies for educators and students to adopt more inclusive, critically reflective approaches to placement learning. The episode highlights specific ways UK social work education can engage with global and Indigenous knowledge systems.
23 Jun 2025
Rethinking Field Placements for Cultural Relevance
What does a culturally relevant field placement look like in social work education? In this episode, host Ann Anka hosts a powerful dialogue with Dr. Carlene Cornish and student Zahra Farkane to explore how dominant placement models often overlook the lived realities of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic students. Drawing on the Sawubona model—an Afrocentric framework grounded in dignity, empathy, and seeing the whole person. The conversation offers tools to support inclusive learning and challenge racial bias. Whether educator, student, or practitioner, this episode invites reflection on power, identity, and transformative supervision.
23 Jun 2025
Community Care and Collective Healing in Social Work
What does it mean to practise social work rooted in culture, community, and collective care? In this episode, guest Thierry Kwizera, a social worker from Burundi, joins host Henglien Lisa Chen to explore how community-led models challenge dominant Western frameworks. From gender-based violence interventions to environmental social work, Thierry shares how culturally grounded, group-based approaches create space for empowerment and healing. Together, they reflect on the importance of centering local voices, respecting cultural norms, and resisting top-down international aid. A powerful conversation for anyone reimagining social work beyond individualism and towards sustainable, community-based change.
23 Jun 2025
Integrating Indigenous Family Structures in Social Work Education
In this episode, we are joined by host Libby Hammond and guest Shirley Young, an Aboriginal social worker from South Australia. The conversation challenges Western frameworks that dominate social work education and practice. Shirley shares personal and professional insights on the long-standing colonial impacts on Aboriginal communities that highlight how assimilation policies, intergenerational trauma, and systemic distrust shape present-day interactions with social workers.
She also introduces the richness and resilience of Aboriginal kinship structures, illustrating how expansive and supportive extended family systems differ from Western nuclear models. The episode calls on future social workers to deeply listen, understand Indigenous perspectives, and value culturally grounded ways of knowing, being, and doing. Through stories and reflective dialogue, this episode is a call to action and a guide for integrating Indigenous knowledge into social work education. A reminder to shift from theory to practice in meaningful and respectful ways.
23 Jun 2025
Decolonising Policy and Advocacy in Gender-Based Violence
How do immigration, trauma, and colonial legacies intersect in gender-based violence policy and practice? In this episode, host Professor Nishi Mitra Vom Berg speaks with Yvonne Tyree, a UK-based social worker with over 30 years’ experience supporting migrant survivors. Together, they explore honour-based abuse, trauma-informed care across cultures, and how power, privilege, and policy gaps shape frontline realities. With deeply reflective storytelling, Yvonne shares practical ways to decolonise field education, reframe advocacy, and work relationally with survivors. A powerful listen for social work students, educators, and practitioners committed to equity and systemic change.
23 Jun 2025
Understanding Adam’s Decolonial and Social Justice Framework in Field Education
What does it mean to embed justice at the heart of education, technology, and field practice? In this episode, we have our host Michael Wallengren Lynch and Dr. Taskeen Adam, a researcher and educator whose work spans digital education, decoloniality, and global justice. Drawing on her framework of justice as content, process, and pedagogy, which also formed a part of the scoping review on decolonising social work field education, we explore how colonial legacies persist in the technologies and pedagogies shaping social work education today.
Dr. Adam challenges the field to look beyond superficial fixes and equity talk, inviting us into deeper conversations about structural inequalities, AI-driven marginalisation, and the need to centre power and relationality in our practices. We reflect on the limitations of current digital tools and the possibilities of decolonial approaches that value plural ways of knowing, being, and doing.
Whether you're a social work educator, student, or someone reckoning with the intersections of justice and technology, this episode offers provocations, frameworks, and hope for meaningful transformation.
23 Jun 2025
Decolonising and Rehumanising Social Work Field Education
What does it mean to decolonise and rehumanise social work field education? In this episode, host Catherine Ellis speaks with Wayne Reid from the British Association of Social Workers. Together, they explore how colonial legacies persist in field placements and how tools like Woolly Racism and Shades of Bias can support reflection and change.
The discussion highlights the need for psychological safety, critical reflection, and collective responsibility. Give it a listen and you will be reminded of your power to challenge injustice and reimagine social work practice grounded in equity, dignity, and transformative learning.
23 Jun 2025
Where it All Began: The Team Behind the Scoping Review
In this first episode of the Decolonising Social Work Field Education podcast series, the full team reflects on the rigorous scoping review on Decolonising Social Work Field Education that formed the foundation of this podcast project. Together, they discuss what it means to decolonise field education and share key insights from the research process.
The episode features Michelle Jones (Lead Author) (https://www.dialogueswfe.org/michelle-jones), Ann Anka (https://www.dialogueswfe.org/ann-anka), Einav Segev (https://www.dialogueswfe.org/einav-segev), Omar Mohamed (https://www.dialogueswfe.org/omar-mohamed), Michael Wallengren-Lynch, Nishi Mitra vom Berg (https://www.dialogueswfe.org/nishi-mitra-vom-berg), Libby Hammond (https://www.dialogueswfe.org/libby-hammond), and Henglien Lisa Chen (https://li/) (initiator, cross-national research group, 2021: Decolonising Social Work Education and Practice). They reflect on what they learned, how the process shaped the podcast, and what listeners can expect from the series going forward. The episode is hosted by student participants Tina Odu (https://www.dialogueswfe.org/tina-odu) and Eleanor Hogan (https://www.dialogueswfe.org/eleanor-hogan), who share their reflections in each of our episode further.
23 Jun 2025
Trailer | Decolonising Social Work Field Education
Decolonising Social Work Field Education is a podcast that brings together students, educators, and practitioners to reflect on how colonial legacies continue to shape social work placements in the United Kingdom.
It began with a rigorous scoping review by our international team and aims to open space for honest conversations that often fall outside lectures or placement reviews. Across the series, we speak with people from around the world who bring lived experience, critical insight, and bold ideas.
Episodes explore power, identity, resistance and change while offering space to reflect, be challenged, and imagine new possibilities for social work education.
The series ensures active participation by our student co-hosts Tina Odu (https://www.dialogueswfe.org/tina-odu) and Eleanor Hogan (https://www.dialogueswfe.org/eleanor-hogan), who share their questions and reflections at the beginning and end of each episode.
This international project is co-produced through a decolonising lens, actively centering diverse voices and lived experiences to challenge conventional knowledge hierarchies. Funded by the European Association of Schools of Social Work (https://www.eassw.org/), it's Led by Assoc. Prof. Henglien Lisa Chen (https://www.dialogueswfe.org/henglienlisachen) (University of Sussex, UK) & Produced by Mitali Kulkarni. (https://www.dialogueswfe.org/mitali-kulkarni)
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