Title: Iain Wolloff
1Widening Participation in Health and Social
CareAn FE College Perspective
2- Presentation Aims
- To debate the focus of WP activity in health
social care - To establish the view of WP from the FE
perspective - To outline the contribution that FE colleges can
make to WP in health social care
3Widening whose participation?
4- Who should be the focus of WP activities?
- Under-represented groups
- Men / Women
- People from black and minority ethnic communities
- People from lower socio-economic groups
- etc.
- Young People in schools / colleges
- Existing workforce in lower skilled jobs
5Widening whose participation?
- Who are the under-participating groups in
healthcare? - Data from Skills for Health
- 2 million employees across the UK (1.3 million on
the NHS) - Four sectors Hospital, medical practice, dental
practice other - Largely female (78)
- Predominantly white (89)
- Broad spread of ages (35 to 44 largest group)
- 62 full-time employees
6Widening whose participation?
- Who are the under-participating groups in
social care? - Data from Skills for Care
- 1 million employees in adult social care in
England - 25,000 employers in the private, voluntary and LA
sectors - Largely female (81)
- Predominantly white (86)
- Less than 50 full-time employees
7Widening whose participation?
8Widening participation for the existing workforce
- Prof RH Fryer, (2006) Learning for a change in
Healthcare, DoH NHS. - One third of NHS staff (400,000) report having no
opportunities for taught learning in the last
year - 70 (900,000) reported no on-the-job training in
the last 12 months - A quarter of NHS staff are qualified below NVQ
level 2 40 NVQ 2 or below - 40 of all social care staff are qualified to NVQ
2 or below. - Recommendation 5b
- Reduce the number of healthcare staff without NVQ
Level 2 by at least 15 each year
9 10- FE colleges A diverse Sector
- Overview
- There are 430 colleges in England, Wales NI
- Colleges have 3.5 million LSC funded students and
4 million in total. - Types General, Sixth Form, Tertiary,
Specialist.
11- FE colleges A diverse Sector
- Young People
- 120,000 14-16 year olds choose to study
vocational courses at college. - 701,000 16-18 year olds choose full time study in
college, compared with 345,000 in schools. - While only 53 of young people have 5 good GCSEs
or their equivalent at age 16, that figure rises
to 76 at age 19, largely due to the help they
receive at local colleges.
12- FE colleges A diverse Sector
- Adults
- 154,000 learners enrolled on a Skills for Life
college course to improve their basic skills - More than half of all vocational qualifications -
over 550,000 annually - are awarded via colleges - In three years 2 million vocational
qualifications were awarded through colleges,
compared with 233,000 through employers.
13- FE colleges A diverse Sector
- Employers
- Colleges provide 114 million learning days at all
levels - compared with around 43 million days of
off-the-job training supported by employers - 60 of employees are in companies which use
colleges for training. - The average college has links with 500 employers.
The bigger urban colleges can provide training
and other services for 1000 or more employers.
14- FE colleges A diverse Sector
- Higher Education in Colleges
- c. 65,000 FTE students studying HE in FE in
England (11 of all HE) - 50 directly funded, 50 via an HEI
- Often focussed on vocational learning,
non-traditional entrants and widening
participation - Also, 44 of students going on to Higher
Education come from colleges
15Example Farnborough College of Technology
- Medium-sized Mixed Economy College
- Broad, wide deep curriculum offer
- 16,000 enrolments
- 1,000 HE students
- 2,500 Full Time FE (16-18s)
- 200 IF Students (14-16s)
- 250 Apprentices
- Remainder are part-time (evening, day release,
work-based, etc) - Twenty Five Years practice at delivering HE in FE
- (but could be 90)
- Accredited by the University of Surrey in 2002
- Foundation, Honours, Masters and Research
degrees. - Twenty Three FDs validated.Â
16How can colleges contribute to WP in Health
Social Care
17Colleges contribution to WP in Health Social
Care
- Throughout the Student Lifecycle
- Raising aspirations working with schools,
communities and those in employment. Aimhigher.
Lifelong Learning Networks - Pre-entry activities open days, summer schools
- Admissions courses at all FE levels in all
subjects. Open to those with academic
vocational qualifications - Getting started induction, Degree Academy
- Moving through the course vocational pedagogy
curriculum, work based (apprenticeships
placements) - Progression Key mission of many colleges
18Colleges contribution to WP in Health Social
Care
- Example Progression routes in health social
care _at_ Farnborough - Â Â Â Â Â Â
19- Case Study
- The contribution of Foundation Degrees to WP in
Health Social Care
20- Foundation Degrees
- Nationally
- Health Care 236
- Community Social Studies 171
- Education (inc. Childcare) 382
21- Key Features
- Employer involvement
- Accessibility
- Articulation progression
- Flexibility
- Partnership
- Knowledge, understanding skills
- Assessment
22- Employers
- Positive involvement in validation review
- Listening to employer needs or stimulating
employer interest - Large employers or SMEs
- The role of SSCs
- College myths employer realities
23- Accessibility
- Entry qualifications
- Clear role in widening participation
- Differences between FD and honours
24- Articulation Progression
- Significant progression level 3 to FD
- Vocational specialism and vertical identification
- High rates of progression to honours
- Combination with vocational/professional
qualifications - Flexible FDs to inflexible Hons.
- Matching curriculum, as well as CATS
- Specialised FDs to generalist Hons.
25- Flexibility
- Three main routes available
- Full-Time
- Part-Time
- Work-Based
26- Partnership
- Role of HEI partner
- Increasing partnership with other colleges
- Employers as partners in design, delivery and
assessment
27- Knowledge, understanding skills
- Challenge of locating supporting work-based
elements - Inclusion of key skills
28- Assessment
- Reflecting the learner continuous and
time-constrained assessment - Assessing work-based elements
- Employer involvement
29- Summary
- Need for focus in WP in health social care
- FE Colleges are diverse and can make different
contributions to WP - Key mission of many colleges is to widen
participation and to provide progression - Colleges can offer diverse routes to higher
qualifications - FDs can provide an important work-based route to
higher qualifications in health social care
30Widening Participation in Health and Social
CareAn FE College Perspective