Mrs. L. Shuttleworth
Head of Department
CAMBRIDGE NATIONAL CERTIFICATE
LEVEL 2
Examining Board OCR
This Level 2 course is aimed in particular at students wishing to pursue a career in a health or social care setting. Cambridge National in Health and Social Care introduces you to the specialist knowledge and skills needed to work in various care settings.
It’s a vocational qualification, equivalent in value to a GCSE and contains both practical and theoretical elements.
Are you looking for a future with a meaningful career, where you could make a real difference to someone’s life everyday – this could be the course for you?
Cambridge National in Health and Social Care introduces you to the specialist knowledge and skills needed to work in various care settings.
As part of the Cambridge National, you’ll cover:
Principles of care
- The rights of service users in health and social care settings.
- Person-centred values
- Effective communication in health and social care settings
- Protecting service users and service providers in health and social care settings.
Helping individuals find the support they need following life events
- Life stages
- Impacts of life events
- Sources of support
Health promotion and how to plan your own campaign
- Current public health issues and the impact on society
- Factors influencing health
- Health promotion campaigns
- Deliver and evaluate a health promotion campaign
Due to the vocational nature of this course students will be actively involved in visits to a range of local care settings including health care and social care environments. It will also involve practical investigations and activities into the wide range of job opportunities within the health and social care sectors.
Assessment:
The course is assessed with coursework and external examinations
Unit no | Unit title | Assessed | Percentage |
RO32 | Principles of care in health and social care settings | Exam | 40% |
RO33 | Supporting individuals through life events | Coursework | 30% |
RO35 | Health promotion campaigns | Coursework | 30% |
Progression:
This qualification is ideal for students who want a broad background in the health and social care sector.
Upon completion, it will enable students to progress to further education, apprenticeship, training or employment. It provides a suitable basis for further study in this subject or another related subject for example Level 3 Cambridge Technical Health and Social Care, which we offer here in our sixth form.
This Qualification could contribute towards meeting the necessary entry requirements for qualifications and training in nursing and professions such as occupational therapy, social work, teaching, and physiotherapy and other health or social care related employment.
Careers In Health and Social Care
There is a wide range of jobs available in this sector. Recruitment opportunities into careers in Health and Social Care are high.
There are 3 main types of care settings within which you can progress. These are health care, social care and early years/ children’s care. Here are some ideas of different care settings and within each of these there are many types of career opportunities for example there are over 600 job roles within health care:
Care worker / Care assistant
Senior care
Social worker
Community support
Management
Occupational therapist
Activities worker or co-ordinator
Midwife
Nursing (Child, Adult and Mental Health pathways)
Teaching
Care work
Social Worker
Counsellor
Physiotherapist
Prison/Probation officer
Ambulance / Paramedic
Anaesthetist
Art/Music/Drama/Play therapist
Dietician
Audiologist
Police service
Youth offending team officer
Teaching Assistant
Drug and alcohol worker
Music therapist
Health trainer
and many more……..
https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/
Labour Market Information – LMI
It is really useful to look at the labour market when considering a career in health and social care. This sector is a growth area in terms of employment opportunities. The coronavirus pandemic brought into focus just how much we rely on both the clinical and non-clinical workers in the healthcare sector. Our NHS is the country’s largest employer with 1.7 million staff, making it the 5th biggest employer in the world.
The LMI for All portal provides high quality, reliable LMI information – see link below:
Learning Pathways
There is a higher and growing employment demand in the sector in Dorset and the surrounding area and this has continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Dorset’s demographic profile, with its more aged population, means a higher proportion of local people are working in health and social care (16% compared to 13% across England) and this is set to create a variety of interesting and rewarding opportunities within the sector.
Health and Social Care offers roles and career progression at all levels:
Level 2 – this is equivalent to GCSE level and many employers will accept students with level 2 qualifications – once started practitioners will have opportunities to make progress and gain qualifications in the workplace.
Post 16 – Level 3 – this is equivalent to A levels and individuals can enter employment with level 3 qualifications or continue to develop by studying level 4. T level in Health will also be introduced.
Level 4 – this is equivalent to a Bachelors degree (first degree) – Many Universities offer degrees in Health and Social Care.
Apprenticeships – these are available from Level 2 onwards.