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Health and Social Care

Why is the subject important?

Health and Social Care will inspire and equip students with transferable skills that are relevant to the sector and more widely. It covers the rights of individuals, person-centred values of care, how to protect individuals in various care settings and learn about the impact of life events.

‘’The social care sector employs 1.48 million people and will have half a million extra jobs available by 2030.’’

This qualification gives learners the opportunity to develop sector-specific knowledge and skills in a practical learning environment. This qualification will help students to develop: valuable communication skills that are extremely attractive in the modern workplace; an understanding of the rights of individuals and person-centered values, and how to apply these when working with service users; vital knowledge and understanding of how to protect individuals through infection prevention, safeguarding and safety and security measures; an understanding of growth and development through the life stages and an understanding of life events and how to support individuals through them; transferable skills, such as evaluation, planning, presentation/delivery and research skills.

Study of the qualification as part of Key Stage 4 learning will help learners to make more informed choices for further learning, either generally or in this sector. The choices that learners can make post-16 will depend on their overall level of attainment and their performance in the qualification. Learners who generally achieve at Level 2 across their Key Stage 4 learning might consider progression to:

• A Levels as preparation for entry to higher education in a range of subjects
• Study of a vocational qualification at Level 3, such as OCR Cambridge Technical in Health and Social Care, which prepares learners to enter employment or apprenticeships, or to move on to higher education by studying a degree in health-related sciences.

Learners who generally achieve at Level 1 across their Key Stage 4 learning might consider progression to:

• Study at Level 2 post-16 in a range of technical routes designed to lead to work, to progression to employment, to apprenticeships or to further study at Level 3
• Study of health and social care post-16 through the study of a Technical Certificate; learners who perform strongly in this qualification compared to their overall performance should strongly consider this progression route as it can lead ultimately to employment in the health or social care sector.