Health and Social Care AS and A Level

Is this course right for me?

This course gives you the opportunity to take an applied AS /A Level subject alongside others such as Sociology, Psychology or Biology, and by doing so add a vocational element to your course, while still gaining a good spread of AS and A level qualifications. You may want to consider this course if:

• You want a course that will give you the opportunity to gain hands on experience in a placement that will support your academic work and form part of your assessment.
  
• You would prefer a subject in which much of the course is based on coursework based assessments.
  
• You want a course that gives you the opportunity to apply your learning to the work environment of health and social care settings.
  
• You are considering a degree course that is related to health and social care.

What is the content?

In your first year (AS) you study three units:

• Promoting quality care. This focuses on the way in which workers in health and social care promote equality of opportunity, and avoid excluding any section of society. The exam consists of short answer questions.
  
• Communication in care work. You learn the various types of communication skills which are used for different care situations, and which are so important if health and social care is to be effective. It is examined by the course work you write, which you base on the vocational experience you gain when working with the people who use our health services.
  
• Promoting good health. This looks at the things which affect the way individuals see their health and well-being. Your coursework will be based on a small scale health promotion campaign which you plan, implement and evaluate.
  

In the second year (A2) you will study three further units:

• Understanding Human Behaviour. This unit is where the course most directly complements subjects like Sociology and Psychology. It looks at some of the most influential theories of human development from the 20th Century and explores what implications they have for health, social care and for child development.
  
• Understanding Mental Health. This unit starts by exploring what society understands by mental health, how this has changed over time and how mental health issues are portrayed in the modern media. You will look in details at the symptoms, possible causes and impact of three mental conditions (Schizophrenia, Bi-polar Affective Disorder and Anorexia Nervosa). You will also examine the different health and social care services on offer.
  
• Care Practice and Provision. This unit explores the provision of health and social cares services locally and examines how they are impacted by national policy. It examines how services work together to meet the needs of the community and how they evaluate the effectiveness of their services.
  

How is the course assessed?
In each year of the course (AS and A2) there are two units that are assessed by the portfolio based work and the other unit is an exam with structured questions.

What are the entry requirements?
The general entry requirements for studying at Advanced level apply and a minimum of grade C in English is usually required.

10/09