Lynda Hughes
BA (Hons), CQSW, Practice Teaching Award, Diploma in Management Studies, SFHEA
Department of Sociological Studies
University Teacher in Social Work
Programme Manager for the BA (Hons) Social Work Apprenticeship Degree
(She/her)
+44 114 222 6492
Full contact details
Department of Sociological Studies
Room G33
The Wave
2 Whitham Road
Sheffield
S10 2AH
- Profile
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Lynda joined the Department in September 2016 as a Social Work Practice Consultant. She qualified as a Social Worker in 1990 and spent the first ten years of her career working in a variety of statutory childcare settings including child protection, fostering and adoption and youth justice. She subsequently managed a team of social workers responsible for looked after children and placing children for adoption for seven years before joining Sheffield City Council’s Children’s Services in 2008.
Prior to joining the University, Lynda was Lead Social Work Consultant responsible for the management and development of Sheffield City Council’s Assessed and Supported Year in Employment for Newly Qualified Social Workers in children’s fieldwork services. She led a team of eight Social Work Consultants who offered support and mentoring to children’s social workers at a critical point in their career.
The support and development of social workers is something Lynda has always had a strong commitment to and being able to bring practice into the classroom is something she is passionate about.
In January 2018 Lynda became the Programme Manager for the University of Sheffield’s new BA (Hons) Social Work Apprenticeship Degree, one of the earliest programmes providing a new and exciting route to train as a professional social worker.
- Teaching interests
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The support and development of staff has been a key theme throughout Lynda’s career. Lynda believes that enabling students to integrate research and theory with practice experience is crucial to producing resilient practitioners.
Lynda is interested in the different ways that adults learn and uses a variety of methods to bring practice alive in the classroom. She is particularly interested in blended and online approaches to support flexible and accessible teaching and learning for all.
- Teaching activities
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Lynda is the Lead Instructor for the Professional Development module, an applied skills module integrated in to each of the three years of the BA (Hons) Social Work Apprenticeship. She also teaches on the following modules on the MA in Social Work:
- SCS6061 Context, Values and Skills
- SCS6063 Safeguarding in Social Work Practice
- SCS6065 Social Work Professional Development
Lynda also teaches on the Child Development module for the MA in Advanced Professional Practice and is the Module Lead Instructor for the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment, a continued professional development module allowing newly qualified social workers within the South Yorkshire Teaching Partnership to gain accreditation for work in their ASYE year.
- Professional activities and memberships
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As part of her Social Work Consultant role for the Local Authority Lynda was the specialist lead for adoption. She has been the Vice Chair of Sheffield City Council’s Adoption Panel and regularly mentored workers preparing permanence plans for children. She has developed bespoke training on adoption for social workers in Sheffield. She has completed the Family Futures 2 year training course on Adoption and Attachment.
Lynda is also interested in workforce development and adult learning. She sits on the South Yorkshire Teaching Partnership Curriculum Development Group. With teaching colleagues she developed the University’s first Assessed and Supported Year in Employment module, a continued professional development course allowing newly qualified social workers within the South Yorkshire Teaching Partnership to gain accreditation for work in the ASYE year. More recently Lynda has been a trainer on the Department of Education funded Practice Supervisor Development Programme (PSDP) supporting social workers in Yorkshire and the Humber region who are taking up their first role supporting and developing the practice of others.
Lynda is a member of the Association of Child Protection Professionals and is a Registered Social Worker.
- Unpublished research
2002 “Local Virtues and Strategic Dissonance: A study of permanence in Derbyshire” – a small scale research project examining how well Derbyshire Social Services was responding to the issue of permanency planning for children in its care.
2004 “Hope, Fantasy and Economics: A study of Adoption Support in Derbyshire” – a small scale mixed methods study evaluating the experiences of adoption support in Derbyshire.