Health & Social Care

What will I learn?

Health and Social Care is one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK with demand for employees continuously rising. The BTEC Level 1/2 Tech Award in Health and Social Care is aimed at students who want to acquire sector-specific knowledge through vocational contexts. It gives students the opportunity to develop an applied knowledge and understanding of the Health and Social Care sector, with an aim to provide students with a solid foundation and skills for everyday life. 

If you choose to study health and social care you will look at three key themes:

1. Human lifespan development (including life stages and life events and how people manage these changes in their lives).

2. Health and social care services and values (including the different health and social care providers, what they do and how they work together. This topic also includes the skills, attributes and values needed when working in this sector).

3. Health and wellbeing (including factors affecting health and wellbeing, government guidance on maintaining good health and barriers and obstacles that might affect someone’s ability to stay fit and healthy).

Students will develop oracy skills through taking part in discussions, role playing and active listening throughout a range of real-life health and social care case studies and scenarios.

Students will develop reading skills through studying case studies, reading Pearson Set assignments (coursework), doing independent research and proofreading their own coursework.

How it will support my SHARED character development

Service – students will learn how to care for individuals by learning what skills, attributes and values are needed in this sector.

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Health and happiness – students will learn about the factors that can affect all aspects of health and wellbeing (physical, intellectual, emotional and social). They will also gain an understanding of the UK Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines for staying healthy.

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Ambition – students will be visited by healthcare professionals who can give an insight into how their classroom learning translates into the world of work.

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Resilience – students will gain resilience when working on the coursework elements of the course. Meeting deadlines are crucial for success.

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Equity – students will learn about the protected characteristics and how discrimination around this can affect someone’s health and wellbeing.  

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Dignity – students will learn about person-centred care. This involves considering the needs, wishes and circumstances of service-users, showing compassion and respect for all.

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How will I be assessed?

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The BTEC Level 1/2 Tech Award in Health and Social Care:  

Component 1: Human lifespan development - coursework completed in Jan – May Year 10 (30%)

Component 2: Health and social care services and values coursework completed Sept – Dec Year 11 (30%)

Component 3: Health and wellbeing - exam at the end of year 11 (40%)

Where studying this subject can take you

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The choices that students can make post-16 will depend on their overall level of attainment and their performance in the qualification.

Students 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 a BTEC National 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 the health or social care sector.

Students 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, employment, apprenticeships or further study at Level 3. Students who perform well in this qualification should strongly consider this progression route as it can lead to employment in the health and social care sector.