How to Become a Health and Social Care Teacher
Discover how to become a Health and Social Care Trainer
Laura is a young girl who dreams of becoming a health and social care trainer. She has always loved helping people, but she never had the confidence to pursue her dream until one day when she was walking through her neighbourhood and saw an elderly woman struggling with some groceries. Laura ran over to help the woman carry her things home. The elderly woman thanked Laura for helping her and told her that she should consider a career in health and social care training because it would allow her to do what she loves most: caring for others. Laura felt so inspired by this encounter that she decided right then and there that it was time to follow her heart's desire.
Health and social care has never been a subject more in demand. Covid-19 pandemic has thrown the demand for health and social care workers through the worth spike in demand for people wishing to complete health and social care training in the UK. The Omicron variants now means employees need to overstaff positions by 25% to meet the expected absences underlining the need for more health and social care workers.
Over half a million people had signed up to the NHS volunteer scheme to support the NHS as of May 2020.
Qualifications to become a health and social care trainer
With health and social care being such a broad spectrum with many disciplines, it is important that all assessors hold recent relevant experience and hold qualifications to at least the equivalent in which you need to assess. To become a health and social care trainer, you will need a relevant assessing qualification such as the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA). The Level 3 Award in Education and Training (AET) is a good start however as you will be assessing your learners in a variety of settings, it is not as valuable for health and social care but nevertheless a good qualification to hold. We fully recommend the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA) as it will give you more flexibility in your teaching career for this sector.
The Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA) qualification
The Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA) is the best qualification to hold and comprises of three units.
1. Understanding the principles and practices of assessment
2. Assess occupational competence in the work environment
3. Assess vocational skills, knowledge and understanding.
Unit 1 Understanding the principles and practices of assessment is a theory unit which is essential for all assessor qualifications and provides you with the foundations to create assessments for your learners. Unit 2 Assess occupational competence in the work environment is just that, you are required to assess your learners in the work environment so will need access to learners in the workplace to complete the unit. Unit 3 Assess vocational skills, knowledge and understanding in the classroom is about assessing in the classroom therefore you need to work in a classroom setting.
Which assessing qualification to get
If you are unable to access in either the workplace or the classroom then that’s not a problem. You could do any combination of modules to get your qualification however Module 1 Understanding the principles and practices of assessment is the critical aspect of all the assessor qualifications.
If you only have access to learners in the classroom, workshops or any other training environment then the Level 3 Award in Assessing Vocationally Related Achievement is for you. You will gain an qualification which enables you to assess learners in the workplace which is recognised everywhere.
Similarly, if you only assess competence in the work environment, then the Level 3 Award in Assessing Competence in the Work Environment is the ideal qualification to enable you to get qualified.
Regardless of the route you take, the Level 3 Certificate is the best qualification to hold, without doubt as it covers all areas but if you obtain any of the others, you can easily upgrade when you have access to the relevant learners. Its generally better to do the Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement in one go, but its not essential.
That’s the assessing qualifications covered, but what about sector specific qualifications. Because of the amount of different types of qualifications and levels, I cannot give you an exact answer without talking through your individual requirements but a rule of thumb is that you are qualified in your subject at a minimum of the same level you wish to teach and normally one level higher. So for example, if you wanted to teach a Level 2 then I would suggest you would need at least a level 3 in that subject.
Experience needed to become a health and social care trainer.
Like all teachers and assessors, you will need relevant experience in the sector you are teaching and assessing. Typically about 3 years however we are mindful there are some occasions where occupations and experience will overlap so again, you will need to evidence how you can demonstrate appropriate experience in the role.
Training providers are keen to see teacher who are confident bringing their own style of teaching to make their mark on students. You will also need to know course content inside out.
The health and social care sector is currently experiencing a skills shortage. There are over 100,000 vacancies in nursing already. This means that the NHS may not be able to provide enough care for our ageing population. Become a Health and Social Care Trainer! By becoming a trainer with the Education and Training you can help train new staff whilst also gaining your own recognised qualification as well as having the option of working flexibly from home or anywhere else you choose! So why don’t you book your Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement now.
