The course runs over two years and covers 3 units including Human Lifespan Development, Health and Social Care Services and Health and Wellbeing. This qualification has a core of underpinning knowledge, skills and understanding, and a range of options to reflect the breadth of pathways within the health and social care sector. This gives learners the opportunity to gain a broad understanding and knowledge of a vocational sector, investigate areas of specific interest and develop essential skills and attributes prized by employers, further education colleges and higher education institutions. 40% of the course is external assessment and 60% internal assessment. Students’ performance will be graded using a scale of Pass, Merit, Distinction and Distinction*. BTEC Awards in Health and Social Care can help learners take the first steps towards a career caring for people and communities.

Mrs Begum – Teacher

Miss Kalam – Teacher

Human Lifespan Development—Component 1 (Coursework Assessment) In this unit, learners will gain an understanding of the human lifespan development, which is essential when working in health and social care, as you will be able to appreciate the care needs of individuals at different life stages. This understanding is required for a wide range of health and social care roles including nursing, social work, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and dieticians. This component is the stepping stone and sets the foundation of knowledge for students to progress onto component two and three. These areas of development are referred to throughout the whole course. Health and Social Care Services and Values—Component 2 (Coursework Assessment)

Health and social care values underpin good practice within the sector. These care values apply to all areas of health and social care work. In this unit learners will gain an understanding of how care values are applied in health and social care settings, and their importance to work in the sector. Students will apply these values in practice through two role play performances, as well as written coursework. Through this activity students will develop skills that will be of use in all careers in the health and social care sector. The values described in this unit may be applied to daily life, and to a variety of careers outside the health and social care sector. Students will also investigate methods used to empower individual users of health and social care services. This is important in health and social care, as it enables individuals to take control of their own care, and helps them to ensure that their specific needs are met. These methods include adapting activities and environments to meet individual needs, promoting choice, and using individuals’ preferred methods of communication. Learners will also investigate the importance of taking individual circumstances into account when planning care, as well as the potential difficulties involved in doing this. This unit is coursework based and will be marked internally, students will complete 8 pieces of work graded at pass, merit and distinction, as well as formative assessment to consolidate students learning.

Health and Well-being Component 3 (Exam Assessment)
Students will start by studying the factors that affect health and well-being such as ill health, financial resources, environmental conditions, personal hygiene and social interactions. Students will then learn to interpret indicators that can be used to measure physiological health and lifestyle data in relation to risks posed to physical health. Students will learn about monitoring health such as high blood pressure, pulse rate, peak flow and BMI. They will then go onto explain how published guidelines help to interpret health indicators. Finally, they will learn how to design a health and well-being improvement plan, which includes setting long and short term targets. They will learn about the different types of support available to help those with health needs and wishes and they will understand how obstacles can get in the way of improving health and how they should be overcome.

Completion of coursework for homework

The BTEC Tech Award is a course completed over two years and is equivalent to one GCSE and is a recognised Level 2 qualification for employment in the Health and Social Care Sector. There are three components as part of the course, 40% of this is externally verified. Students will sit a controlled assessment produced by Edexcel and this is completed in strict exam conditions. The remainder of the units are internal assessments where students complete 8 pieces of work, this will be assessed by the teachers, as well as verified through external verifiers. Each of these units focus on the core values for practice in health and social care, the human lifespan development, health, and wellbeing. Student’s performance is graded using a scale of Pass, Merit, Distinction and Distinction*. Coursework is expected to pass on the first attempt; however, an additional resubmission is allocated if the coursework is handed in to the deadline set. As part of this course, students are required to complete their coursework as homework. We have access to computers in lessons, it is recommended that students have access to IT at home as the course has large amounts of coursework, however, we do also allow students to use the computers available in their free time for their H&SC coursework.

The health and social care qualification can lead to employment into:

Social work
Nursing
Speech and language therapist
Physiotherapist
Radiography
Primary teaching
Nursery nurse
Occupational therapist
Care worker
Paramedic
After completing the BTEC successfully, students will become more employable because of their skills in:

• cognitive and problem-solving skills: use critical thinking, approach non-routine interpersonal skills: communicating, working collaboratively, negotiating and

• interpersonal skills: self-management, adaptability and resilience, self-monitoring and development

Students will become more prepared for higher education because of their ability to:

• learn independently

• research actively and methodically

• give presentations and be active group members.

• make connections between different topics

University visits

Island Pool

First Aid

Whenever possible, you could encourage your child to:

Read the teacher comments and where relevant act on them Review their work frequently Make revision materials at the end of each topic Students will be set homework after most Health and Social Care lessons.

For every hour lesson that a student attends, there should be an hour of study taking place out of the lessons. Wider reading outside of lessons is crucial for students to meet or exceed their target grades.

Books
Boyd D., Bee H., Lifespan Development, (2015), Pearson Education Limited, ISBN: 9781292065625
Journals
Community Care.
Nursing Times.

Websites
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk
www.communitycare.co.uk/2010/09/20/what-is-the-role-of-social-workers