Supporting vocational learning in social care

Who participated?

The Health and Social Care conference was attended by over 30 delegates. Participants came from a range of backgrounds and included health and social care employers in the statutory and independent sector, representatives from higher and further education institutions, the sector skills council for social care and social work, the General Social Care Council (the workforce regulatory organisation) and from other Lifelong Learning Networks.

Skills for Care

The programme began with a presentation from Graham Woodham, the Regional Development Manager for Skills for Care. Graham provided delegates with a comprehensive overview of the priorities of Skills for Care at a national, regional and local level. He clarified the role of a sector skills council in supporting employers with work based learning.

Foundation Degrees in Health and Social Care

This was followed by presentations from colleagues delivering or developing FDs in Health and Social Care from the Open University, the Universities of Chichester and Brighton and Northbrook College. This session also provided the opportunity to share how progression routes are being developed and future collaborative activities. The afternoon session was devoted to a consultation with delegates about how new modules should be shaped and developed. In addition David Lambert from the Independent Providers Forum spoke about a social care skills brokerage project was developing across the south east with an emphasis on the work his Sussex based team are undertaking with employers. Peter Frost led a session on how staff in the care home he is associated with have personally benefited from studying for a FD, but developed this further to highlight the benefits to the organization as a whole.

Summary of day

The day concluded with Barbara Hall from Sussex Skills for Care acting as rapporteur. Barbara summarized the key themes that had been explored during the conference and raised questions for further discussion.

Links to the materials from the event are at the bottom of the screen.