There is no greater joy nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone’s life. - Mary Rose McGeady

About 3 million people work in health and social care. Health care roles include doctors, pharmacists, nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants, while social care roles include care assistants, occupational therapists, counsellors and administrators. Together, they account for nearly one in ten of all paid jobs in the UK. Demand for both health and social care is likely to rise, so they will continue to play a key role in UK society and the demand for people to carry out these vital roles will increase. Study of this sector at Key Stage 4 will complement GCSE study through providing an opportunity for practical application alongside conceptual study. There are also strong opportunities for post-16 progression in this important sector.

Health and Social Care promotes opportunities for students to draw from case studies and opportunities to undertake research to compliment learning and create skills that will be used throughout their lives. These skills encourage students to think outside typical teenage ego-centrism and begin to challenge the way they perceive the world we live in. Furthermore, highlighting how human relationships, physical environments and socioeconomic status may influence how they develop. Through investigation of health and well-being and how our lifestyle choices effect how healthy we are, students access different resources and external agency advice and guidance that encourages them to talk about areas and raise awareness of signs and symptoms of: abuse, addiction, illness and mental health.

Health and Social Care Learning Journey

Intent

We aim to engender a love of learning, self-belief and aspiration through several intentions that are unpacked further. Those intentions are removing barriers to learning; developing knowledge and skills for learning in a range of subjects; developing personal attributes and to enrich students’ experiences and broaden their horizons.

Through our curriculum provision we intend to develop:

• the key skills that prove your aptitude in health and social care such as interpreting data to assess an individual’s health;
• Processing that underpins effective ways of working in health and social care, such as designing a plan to improve an individual’s health and wellbeing;
• Attitudes that are considered most important in health and social care, including the care values that are vitally important in the sector, and the opportunity to practise applying them;
• Knowledge that underpins effective use of skills, process and attitudes in the sector such as human growth and development, health and social care services, and factors affecting people’s health and wellbeing;
• Core knowledge and understanding of human growth and development, how people deal with major life events, health and social care services;
• skills such as: practical demonstration of care values, together with the ability to reflect on own performance;

Reflective practice through the development of skills and techniques that allow learners to respond to feedback and identify areas for improvement using relevant presentation techniques.

Implementation

The three components in the qualification give you the opportunity to develop broad knowledge and understanding of health and social care at Levels 1 and 2.

Internal assessment Components 1 and 2 are assessed through internal assessment. Internal assessment for these components has been designed to allow the application of the conceptual underpinning for the sector through realistic tasks and activities. This style of assessment promotes deep learning through ensuring the connection between knowledge and practice.

The components focus on:

• the development of core knowledge and understanding of human growth and development, how people deal with major life events, health and social care services
• the development and application of skills such as: practical demonstration of care values, together with the ability to reflect on own performance
• reflective practice through the development of skills and techniques that allow students to respond to feedback and identify areas for improvement using relevant presentation techniques.

There is one external assessment, Component 3. It provides the main synoptic assessment for the qualification. Component 3 builds directly on Components 1 and 2, and enables learning to be brought together and related to a real-life situation. Component 3: Health and Wellbeing requires students to apply performance skills and techniques in response to a brief and stimulus. The external assessment takes the form of an external assessment taken under supervised conditions, which is then marked and a grade awarded by the exam board. Students are allowed to resit the external assessment once during their study period. The external assessment comprises 40 per cent of the total grade.

Impact

We will assess if we are having the positive impact we aim for through regular monitoring (for example book scrutinies and learning walks) to ensure we are leading to positive progress for all. The curriculum will be evident across all lessons and students will be able articulate their learning confidently. This will also be reflected in student voice surveys, with students indicating that they are engaged and enjoying their Health and Social lessons.

Assessment data will be collected and utilised in a meaningful way, for example, to address misconceptions in learning and to target intervention to improve individual outcomes and monitor progress. In terms of planning for learning, data is used to ensure that lessons provide appropriate stretch and challenge to those who are most able and provides appropriate learning experiences to those that struggle to access particular aspects of the curriculum. This data will also be used to seek out and close gaps in students’ knowledge so that all students are able to make progress.

At the end of each academic year, we will review and reflect on how the curriculum is designed to ensure that students remember what they have been taught.  This regular review cycle ensures that we have a curriculum pathway that promotes success for all learners and ensures that the Health and Social Care curriculum is appropriate and fully differentiated for all students.