NVQ Course Levels

Whatever your current situation, whether you are seeking promotion, looking to change career, desiring a new job, taking your first steps into teaching or management, the Health and Social Care Sector has something to offer you.

If you have been looking for a job, full time or part time to raise income for your family or build a career around your children, there is room for you and the job loss within this sector is very low.

What exactly do I need to do?

 The starting point is you need to discover your interest and be willing to develop yourself. There are many aspects within the sector  therefore you will need to decide what client group you would prefer to work with – children, young adults, elderly, individuals with disabilities (physical, cognitive and learning disabilities), specialised care (stroke, mental disorders, dementia etc.)

You will also need to decide the kind of environment – hospitals, care homes, individual homes or education and training.

Once you have made your decision, consider where you are now and what you need to do to get to where you want to be. In most cases your experience and training will count and you need to get both but for some it is how to package their existing experience and training to get the job they desire – You need to improve on areas such as CV writing and interview skills.

Here is a breakdown of courses that you can do to move to the next level. 

NVQ Level 1

This is usually a two weeks training that introduces you to the principles of Health and Social Care. You do not need to be in employment to do this training as it is meant to give you a fundamental understanding of the role of a care worker or support worker. This is the first building block if you are new to this sector. This course comprises of a one week workshop experience and the second week is a practical experience within a health and social care environment. Afterwards you receive a certificate of attendance. Some of the topics usually covered are:

• Basic nursing procedures
• Communication
• Health and Safety at Work
• Moving and handling procedures
• Incontinence
  
• First Aid
• Infection Control
• Basic food hygiene
• Safeguarding and protecting individuals
• Confidentiality
• Report writing

Most employers will require you present certificates of attendance for some mandatory training in healthcare such as Manual Handling Training, First Aid Training & Basic Food Hygiene. By Law, when you get a job your employer would organise an induction which would provide you with information specific to your role.

Pay rates for this level range from £5 – £8 per hour depending on the employer

NVQ Level 2

This is the ideal level for you if you are working in Health and Social Care, providing support to professionals, carrying out clinical care, health or personal care to individuals in a hospital or community- based health setting. It really doesn’t matter if you are new to the job you can enrol on this course. These days if you have been working without an NVQ or other qualification you will be advised by your employer to consider enrolling on NVQ 2 as you may not be allowed to keep your job from the year 2010. Many other employers would only offer jobs to care workers with a minimum of NVQ 2.

This course comprises of 4 mandatory units and 2 optional units based on a skill scan. The mandatory units are:  

 HSC 21- Communication and record keeping

 HSC 22- Health and Safety at Work

 HSC 23 – Develop your practice

 HSC 24 – Protection of Individuals

You will be allowed to choose your 2 optional units from a list based on your skills and job role. This is a very interesting course and you will find it easy if you have been working according to your organisational policies and procedures.  Having NVQ 2 Adults would qualify you to work with all groups of adults although you may need to attend trainings in specialised areas coupled with your existing experience, for example if you currently work with the elderly and wish to work with individuals with learning disability, your NVQ 2 adults is relevant except that you will need some additional training which are short courses.

Pay rates for this level range from £6.50 – £10 depending on the employer

If you are interested in enrolling for this course, please fill the enquiry form below this article.

NVQ Level 3  – At Level 3, the NVQ has two pathways: “Adults” and “Children and Young People”.  This qualification is designed for workers delivering care and support often without direct supervision or probably working on their own in an individual’s own home.

 If you are undertaking some supervisory or developmental responsibilities for other care workers or you are involved in other specialist tasks with some degree of responsibility or independence e.g. administration of medicines, NVQ 3 is relevant to you.

Common job roles that would qualify you to do the NVQ 3 are senior care workers, team leaders, domiciliary workers and community support workers.

You will be required to complete 4 mandatory units and 4 optional units based on a skills scan. The mandatory units are:

HSC 31 – Promoting Communication

HSC 32 – Promoting Health and Safety

HSC 33 – Reflect on and develop your Practice

HSC 34/ HSC 35 – Protecting children (HSC34) or Adults (HSC35)

You will be allowed to choose your 4 optional units from a list based on your skills and job role. This is also a very interesting course and you will find it easy if you have been practising within health and social care. 

If you are interested in enrolling for this course, please fill the enquiry form below this article.

In the next article I will write about progression unto management and teaching roles which requires you achieve qualifications at Level 3 or Level 4.

Health and Social Care – A recession Proof Career! is a post from: Health and Social Care NVQ Made Simple | Assessors Resources.

Often learners have asked me “how do I write a reflective account?”

My answer is you need to know what a reflective account is before you can write good one. Many learners have submitted an account to their NVQ assessor and have been disappointed when told they need to write it again.

Let me tell you what might have happened – You probably wrote your account without a guide and therefore as lengthy as your account might have been you were told you haven’t met many performance criteria which are what your assessor is looking for. So let me tell you what a reflective account is.

A reflective account is usually a write up of how you have carried out part of your job in the past. It could be yesterday or a week, month or years ago as long as you use past tense. It maybe how you dealt with a health emergency, an abusive situation or how you have used a particular piece of equipment in the past.

Your account will be a record of events that actually happened. It must be reflected in your style of writing as what you did not someone else.

For example – I did this and then I did that

It is NOT acceptable to write I would do this as this does not demonstrate that you have done it or have been doing it.

If possible write about why you took the actions stated.

For example –When I arrived at Mrs A’s home I put on my gloves and apron to ensure I protect t he service user and myself from infection…..

Throughout your account you must maintain confidentiality by using Mrs A, R or any other alphabet rather than using their actual names or addresses.

Think about a typical day at work or over a period of days and write a story on how you carried out those activities using the performance criteria of the units within your NVQ as a guide. This might include:

• Assisting clients with toileting requirements. (HSC 218a)
• Assisting clients with their personal hygiene. (HSC 218bc)
• Preparing food and drink for clients. (HSC 213abc)
• Assisting clients to eat and drink. (HSC 214abc)
• Undertaking clinical activities. (HSC 230ab)
• Supporting others to undertake clinical activities. (HSC 361ab)
• Supporting clients with cleaning or other domestic needs. (HSC 29abc))
• Supporting clients to be comfortable (HSC 216ab)
• Providing pressure area care. (HSC 217ab)
• Supporting clients to move from one position to another (HSC 223ab, HSC 360ab)
• Supporting service users to access and use services and facilities (HSC 330abc)
• How you contribute to care planning and review ((HSC 328abc)
• Supporting individuals with specific communication needs (HSC 369abc)
• How you administer medication to individuals (HSC 375ab)

This list is in exhaustive it applies to any unit title you have chosen within your NVQ.

There are many other activities that you might have been involved in which you should include in your account.

The way in which you carried out the activities is very important; here you will find yourself covering a good part for your mandatory units. This might include

• How you communicated with clients and others such as colleagues, relatives and other professionals
• How you treated people as individuals and showed them respect and dignity.
• How you maintained a professional relationship with the different individuals. Did you have to deal with any conflicts, distress or challenging behaviour?
• How you worked as a team
• How you monitored and maintained health and safety during the different work activitie
• What information you passed on, how it was passed on and what records you completed.

Note: Your reflective account is expected to meet the standards of the NVQ usually the performance criteria and sometimes it will cover some knowledge specification.

I believe if you make use of all the points I have mentioned, you will be able to construct a good reflective account at NVQ Level 2, NVQ Level 3 or NVQ Level 4 on your own.

In all our packages – NVQ 2 & NVQ 3 Mandatory and Optional units, we have fully referenced examples of reflective accounts and a guide to how to write your reflective account. You also have FREE access to our online support centre once you purchase any of the packages, if you need more help on writing reflective account or any other aspect of your NVQ I will advise you to purchase any of our packages relevant to your needs.

If this post has helped you in anyway please leave a comment, this will encourage me to do more and others to read too. I also welcome other NVQ Assessors/trainers to contribute in order to enhance good practice in our profession, thank you.

Visit here for samples of NVQ Health and social care reflective account.

How to write a good reflective account for your NVQ. is a post from: Health and Social Care NVQ Made Simple | Assessors Resources.