Background Training for a career in podiatry is reported to provide graduates with excellent employability, alongside professional autonomy and suitable renumeration. Yet, there has been an ongoing decline in the number of those applying to study the subject. There is limited literature associated with this topic and we sought to explore the factors that attract ‘generation Z’ (those born 1995–2010) to a potential career in podiatry. Method A qualitative design framework underpinned by phenomenological principles used four focus groups over a two-year period to generate data from participants at University and in Further Education. Focus group conversations were led by external facilitator, recorded, independently transcribed verbatim and anonymised prior to thematic analysis. This was followed by external, independent verification of themes. Results Four main themes were determined from the analysis i) a lack of awareness of podiatry; ii) podiatry: accessible course, accessible career; iii) career status; iv) breadth/opportunity of the scope of practice. Both positive and negative experiences were reported and highlighted key gaps in how the attractiveness of a career in podiatry is portrayed. Conclusion The chronic lack of awareness of podiatry as a career clearly needs to be addressed, ideally with more positive role modelling in mainstream and popular media. The career status offered together with the breadth of, and opportunity associated with, the scope of practice should continue to be celebrated.

Background Final year podiatry students volunteer annually as part of the wider interprofessional medical team at both the Brighton and London Marathon race events, supervised by qualified podiatrists, allied health professionals and physicians. Volunteering has been reported to be a positive experience for all participants and a way of developing a range of professional, transferable, and where appropriate, clinical skills. We sought to explore the lived experience of 25 students who volunteered at one of these events and aimed to: i) examine the experiential learning reported by students while volunteering in a dynamic and demanding clinical field environment; ii) determine whether there were elements of learning that could be translated to the traditional teaching environment in a pre-registration podiatry course. Methods A qualitative design framework informed by the principles of interpretative phenomenological analysis, was adopted to explore this topic. We used IPA principles to enable analysis of four focus groups over a two-year period to generate findings. Focus group conversations were led by an external researcher, recorded, independently transcribed verbatim and anonymised prior to analysis by two different researchers. To enhance credibility, data analysis was followed by independent verification of themes, in addition to respondent validation. Results In total, five themes were identified: i) a new inter-professional working environment, ii) identification of unexpected psychosocial challenges, iii) the rigors of a non-clinical environment, iv) clinical skill development, and v) learning in an interprofessional team. Summary Throughout the focus group conversations, a range of positive and negative experiences were reported by the students. This volunteering opportunity fills a gap in learning as perceived by students, particularly around developing clinical skills and interprofessional working. However, the sometimes-frantic nature of a Marathon race event can both facilitate and impede learning. To maximize learning opportunities, particularly in the interprofessional environment, preparing students for new or different clinical settings remains a considerable challenge.