Health and Social Care

Curriculum Intent Statement - Health and Social Care

Health and Social Care at Whitworth Community High School enables learners to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to the health and social care sector. As a Key Stage 4 subject, we deliver the NCFE CACHE Level 1/2 Technical Award in Health and Social Care. The objectives of this qualification are to:

- Provide an understanding of health and social care provision and services in the UK

- Identify job roles within health and social care and the values that underpin professional practise

- Provide an understanding of legislation, policies and procedures in health and social care and their importance for a health and social care practitioner

- Promote understanding of human development across the lifespan

- Identify the individual care needs and understand how these are met through working in partnership with other professionals

- Provide an understanding of the purpose of care planning in health and social care to meet the preferences and needs of the individual

This qualification is designed for students who want an introduction to health and social care that includes a vocational and project-based element. The qualification will appeal to learners who wish to pursue a career in the health and social care sector or progress on to further study.

Achieving this qualification

To be awarded this qualification, learners are required to achieve all learning outcomes from a single graded mandatory unit. This unit is titled ‘understanding health and social care’. This qualification has two assessments externally-set by NCFE: one non-exam assessment and one written examined assessment. The non-exam assessment is worth 50% of the final grade. The non-exam assessment is externally set and is worth up to 84 marks. Students have a total of 13 hours to complete the non-exam assessment in Year 11. The non-exam assessment will assess the learners’ ability to effectively draw together their knowledge, understanding and skills from content learnt in year 10. The examined assessment is worth 50% of the final grade. The written examination is out of 80 Marks and lasts for 1-hour and 30-minutes. Students will be given a mixture of multiple-choice, short answer, and extended response questions.

Content areas

This qualification consists of one unit with multiple content areas. The unit title is ‘understanding health and social care’. There are 8 content areas that students must cover in year 10:

Content area 1: Health and social care provision and services

Content area 2: Job roles in health and social care and the care values that underpin professional practise

Content area 3: Legislation policies and procedures in health and social care

Content area 4: Human development across the lifespan

Content area 5: The care needs of the individual

Content area 6: How health and social care services are accessed

Content area 7: Partnership working in health and social care

Content area 8: The care planning cycle

Students are encouraged to be resilient in health and social care, this is a core skill needed in the health and social care sector. Professionals in this sector needs the ability to cope under pressure and recover from difficulties that occur. Individuals need the ability to cope mentally and emotionally during these times. Students are pushed to achieve their target grade and above, reflecting on work at regular intervals to see where changes can be made to gain the desired results.

Students are informed about career pathways in health and social care throughout each unit of work. Guest speakers are invited into lessons to discuss job roles and future career options. We have been lucky to have guest speakers from a range of different job roles including; Nurses, Carers and the Managing Director from a local home care company. We also enjoy guest speakers from individuals with particular needs, in recent months we enjoyed a visit from an individual with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy. Students enjoyed listening to what needs are and how these needs can be met by service providers. Students also enjoyed discussion surrounding stigma around individuals with a disability and how this can be overcome.

By completing the 8 content areas and having input from outside agencies, health and social care allows students to make informed decisions concerning future career goals and aspirations. Many students at WCHS go onto complete health and social care studies at post 16. Learners who achieve at level 2 might consider progression to level 3 qualifications, post-16 such as:

● Level 3 Applied Generals in: Health and Social Care or Early Years, Childcare and Education

● Level 3 Technical Level qualifications, including T Level programmes allow for entry to the workforce and higher education

● Learners could also progress onto an apprenticeship. The understanding and skills gained through this qualification could be useful

to progress onto an apprenticeship in the health and social care sector through a variety of occupations that are available within the sector, such as lead/adult care worker or senior/healthcare support worker. Health and social care promote fundamental British values and students' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Spiritual

Students in Health and Social Care are encouraged to reflect on their own and other’s experience and their access to human rights. Physical, emotional and social effects of not being treated with equality is explored. Students are also encouraged to discuss their own feelings and attitudes towards equality and diversity within society, whether this refers to ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, gender or social class.

Moral

Students in Health and Social Care are encouraged to express their own response to moral issues within society, for example, responding to moral issues referring to the rights of disabled people, the treatment of disease and the social implications of obesity and the use of recreational drugs. Students are encouraged to consider these issues from a professional perspective rather than their own personal opinions in order to understand wider structural issues.

Social

Learners in Health and Social Care are provided with an opportunity to learn tolerance amongst a group and reflect upon their own and other people’s beliefs and preferences. Students are required continuously to consider other people’s situations and opinions and reflect this within their coursework. All of the assignments are also presented in a vocational scenario matched to their current situation, thus allowing students to develop a greater understanding of the links between their learning and professional context. The completion of assignments throughout the course also develops student’s abilities as an organised and independent learner, for example the collection of their own resources, the independent production of their assignments and also meeting deadlines. Learners are encouraged to take responsibility for their own work and are expected to complete all necessary paper and formal procedures that go alongside producing their work. This experience allows students to develop a culture of responsibility and prepare them for their future academic studies.

Cultural

Learners in Health and Social Care are required to consider the impact that British culture has on health and wellbeing, for example the effects of our growing consumption of fast foods and alcohol. Students are encouraged to reflect on their own and other culture’s health practices and beliefs in order to fully understand individual and group health and wellbeing. Diversity is central to this practice and students are encouraged to consider other people’s health practices rather than just basing their approaches to health and social care on their own individual experiences. This then ties into students developing a greater understanding of policy and legislation set out by the British government. Physical health and wellbeing education, looking at the promotion of healthy behaviours such as eating a nutritional diet and practising safer sex.