Tom Henri MSc, DipSW, PGcertHE

Post Graduate Diploma in the Management of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Goldsmiths, University of London, 2011 

MSc Social Work, University of Southampton, 2001 

Diploma in Social Work, University of Southampton, 2001

Tom Henri is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work and Social Care at the University of Birmingham, where he serves as Placement Lead across the BA, MA and Step Up to Social Work qualifying programmes. His role focuses on the leadership, design, delivery and quality assurance of practice learning, ensuring students meet the 170-day statutory practice requirement while being supported through an explicitly equity-focused approach to teaching and student development. A registered social worker with Social Work England, Tom’s teaching centres on the regulatory, ethical and relational complexities of contemporary social work practice, with a particular emphasis on student wellbeing, emotional containment and the development of professional identity.

Tom’s academic career builds on over two decades of experience in social work education and practice. He previously held a long-standing lectureship in Social Work at Goldsmiths, University of London, and has taught at the University of Leeds and The Open University, combining classroom teaching with extensive practice learning responsibilities and the supervision of qualifying and post-qualifying social workers. Before moving fully into higher education, he worked as a social worker for Southampton City Council and later as Project Coordinator for the Leeds Junior Youth Inclusion Project, experiences that continue to inform his interest in youth justice, community-based practice and inter-agency collaboration.

Tom holds an MSc in Social Work and a Diploma in Social Work from the University of Southampton, and a Postgraduate Diploma in the Management of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education from Goldsmiths. His teaching-related scholarship focuses on the nexus between research and practice in social work, with particular attention to equity, professional formation and the use of innovative pedagogies and digital tools to enhance placement learning. He has led major curriculum redesign projects, introduced peer-led Intervision models of reflective supervision, and implemented new digital systems for quality assurance and student support, all of which have contributed to improved student outcomes and regional recognition of Birmingham’s social work programmes

Tom leads on all the placement modules across the BA, MA and Step Up to Social Work programmes.

Tom’s research activities sit at the intersection of social work education, equity and professional formation, with a strong emphasis on practice learning and the transition from student to practitioner. I am particularly interested in how curriculum design, assessment, and placement structures can improve outcomes for students from marginalised groups and reduce awarding and attainment gaps in qualifying social work programmes. This includes studying the impact of innovative models of student support, such as peer-led Intervision reflective groups and equity-focused placement systems, on emotional containment, wellbeing and professional identity development.