The seminar will explore the transformative potential of 'work' (ranging from paid employment to internships to volunteering) for marginalised young people. With Robbie Gilligan (School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin). Using evidence from the Care to Work Pathways Study and wider literature, the presentation will identify different ways in which early and later positive work experience can benefit the social and/or educational progress of young people in care. It will re-imagine some of our ideas about the sequencing, segregation and linking of 'education' and 'work'. It will also consider how foster carers and other adults can help young people in care engage successfully with the world of work.