Joint PSC/HEA/NHS South Central event focusing on support worker education
LEAD ORGANISATION
Progress South Central
ADDITIONAL ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED
The Higher Education Academy; NHS South Central SHA
DATE
November 2010
PROJECT SUMMARY
This event, Supporting Employers in developing Bands 1-4 Workforce: the Education Agenda, brought together 30 colleagues to consider the changing landscape of support worker education. Delegates were drawn from the Health Sciences and Practice Subject Centre of the Higher Education Academy, hospital trusts and PCTs within NHS South Central Strategic Health Authority, along with Progress South Central's contacts in the health and social care sector.
The broader context of vocational education and progression: opportunities and barriers
The context was set by Alison Fuller, Professor of Education and Work at the University of Southampton whose opening presentation outlined the challenges for employers followed by opportunities and barriers. She illustrated her talk with examples of studies undertaken with health visitors and hospital porters and explained her research into the Expansive - Restrictive continuum (Fuller & Unwin 2003,2004) used to analyse the character of the workplace learning environment. Alison's thought-provoking presentation showed how important it is not to underestimate skills already being employed by staff in bands 1-4 and drew a range of questions and comments from delegates including a number of examples where individuals have taken ownership of their learning and progression, sometimes overcoming resistance in the workplace.
Experiences from practice
Teresa Bayliff of the University of Northampton provided the HE perspective and focused on clinical pathways. Sam Donohue offered the employer perspective, drawing on the collaborative approach in Oxfordshire and the development of competency routes. Julie Wintrup of the University of Southampton outlined the 'Support Time and Recovery Support Worker' initiative.
NHS South Central's vision of education for bands 1-4
Anna Prygodzicz, Education Commissioning/Widening Participation Manager, explained NHS South Central SHA's current thinking on the commissioning of education and training to support workforce development in the light of the move to an all-graduate nursing profession. She described the work undertaken on the Assistant/Associate Practitioner role and the reasons behind plans to create a bridging unit which would enable staff with vocational qualifications at level 3 to progress into a nursing degree programme.
IMPACT
We are indebted to Professor Alison Fuller for her involvement throughout the day. Her academic presentation enabled delegates to focus the debate at a higher level, putting aside the usual thorny issues such as cuts in funding and the requirement of 'more for less'.
Throughout the day, delegates took advantage to network over coffee and lunch breaks and conversed about the change in culture required to facilitate improvements in working and learning environments and the implications for education to create a different, broader skill mix which still enables specialisms as acute care is taken into community settings.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Download Alison Fuller's presentation Expansive approaches to supporting staff development? Opportunities and Barriers