Studying Health and Social Care will give you the knowledge, understanding and competency needed when considering entering employment in the Health and Social Care sector.

Core Knowledge

There are approximately 3 million people who work in health and social care in the United Kingdom. This is made up of health care roles which include doctors, pharmacists, nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants, while social care roles include care assistants, occupational therapists, counsellors and administrators. Together, they account for nearly one in ten of all paid jobs in the United Kingdom. Demand for both health and social care professionals is likely to rise due to the composite of the United Kingdom’s demography, and will therefore continue to play a key role in our society, as the demand for these vital roles will increase.

The BTEC Health and Social Care Tech Awards gives students at Key Stage 4 the opportunity to study a vocational subject as part of their curriculum. The qualification has been developed to ensure that students engage and prepare for either academic or vocational progression post-16. As part of the Key Stage 4 programme this qualification has been designed to allow students to draw on the knowledge and skills acquired from English, Maths, Science and PSHE, where relevant. Students can use the knowledge and skills from GCSEs, giving them the opportunity to apply their academic knowledge to everyday and work contexts.

This BTEC Tech Award is an introduction to vocational learning and gives students the opportunity to build skills that show an aptitude for further learning whilst developing practical application, alongside conceptual study, both in the sector and more widely. The approach to the qualification is based on well-established BTEC assessment approaches that are proven to be successful in building skills and motivating students to engage fully with challenging study. 

Cross Curricular

Literacy – Students will be given the opportunity to use subject specific terminology, which will be underpinned by grammatical principles, the correct use of punctuation and a good vocabulary range.

Numeracy – Students will be given some opportunity to use and apply the skills learnt in maths to carry out calculations.

Physical Education – Students will be given the opportunity to understand the importance of exercise and how the body reacts to it.

PSHE – Students will be given the opportunity to discuss and evaluate the impact of lifestyle choices, such as alcohol consumption, substance abuse and smoking, and how these factors affect the growth and development of an individual.

Cultural capital (including skills and emotional)

Students have the opportunity to develop sector-specific knowledge and skills in a practical learning environment. 

The main focus is on four areas of equal importance, which cover the development of key skills that prove aptitude within health and social care environments, such as interpreting data to assess an individual’s health; understanding the process that underpins effective ways of working in health and social care, such as designing a plan to improve an individual’s health and wellbeing; developing attitudes that are considered most important in health and social care, including the care values that are vitally important in the sector, and the opportunity to practise applying them; acquiring knowledge that underpins the effective use of skills, processes and attitudes in the sector such as human growth and development, health and social care services, and factors affecting people’s health and wellbeing.