Health and Social Care is a relatively new GCSE, introduced in September 2002 as one of eight new vocational GCSE subjects. Because this GCSE hasn’t been around for very long, some students and many parents are not aware of what it entails. They range from general skills needed in the workforce to specific knowledge:

  • communication skills
  • problem-solving skills
  • critical thinking skills
  • managing patient relations in care facilities
  • aspects of childcare and eldercare
  • component of social work

Your Superprof wants to talk with you about the vital skills you may learn as you prepare for this exam. How did this learning program come to be? Why would it be a good idea to include it in your GCSE subjects lineup? Read on to find those answers.

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Why This Course was Created

Right around the start of the new millennium, academics and statisticians picked up on a worrying trend. Students seemed worn out from their years in school. They were turning away from higher education. Not in alarming numbers... yet.

Still, the data showed that UK universities' student enrolments/graduations did not change from one year to the next. That, despite a growing student population in our country's secondary schools. Why were students growing uninterested in higher education? It wasn't just that students were tired of studying; other factors contributed to the static uni populations.

A woman earing a light coloured top, denims and glasses sits next to a workstation staring out the window, looking bored.
University enrolment didn't dwindle simply because students grew tired of studying. Photo by Johnny Cohen on Unsplash

University studies can be quite expensive even with financial assistance. Many families lack the means to pay for four to six years of higher learning. Time also weighs in on students' decisions to not pursue an undergraduate degree. Why spend time in school when those three or four years could be better spent learning marketable skills and earning a wage?

Today, university learning has been made more affordable and accessible to almost everyone, even those who would never have contemplated higher education. Yet a large percentage of students prefer an apprenticeship. They don't want resources for business studies; they want earlier entry into their working life.

Our government did a bit of quick thinking. They designed this course to teach students a range of skills that generally do not feature in traditional curriculum subjects. Once you know what they are, you too will be amazed at that degree of foresight. You may also wonder why these skills are not a part of our mainstream curriculum study.

The Skills Learned in Health and Social Care Courses

Ask any employer which skills the job candidates are most lacking. There's a good chance they will return with 'critical thinking skills', 'problem-solving skills' and 'communication skills'. Communication ranks as the greatest lack. Thus, this skill is emphasized throughout the course.

We communicate on electronic devices across a multitude of platforms - text, chat, video and video chat. They make for easy communication but are we truly expressing ourselves? After all, we've been communicating all of our lives. Why do the means matter?

There is a difference between relating an exploit, a desire or an emotion to someone who knows you. They can conclude from context and your shared history. Effective communication demands a higher level of skill, whether you know the person or not.

The second component of communication, listening, is likewise something most people simply accept as a fact of life. But hearing a person talk and receiving information are two different concepts.

When most people engage in conversation, they are less focused on the substance of what is being said than on what their reply will be. It's an ingrained habit pretty much all who can hear do. They pick up on keywords and the speaker's tone.

Casual listening is vastly different - and yields substantially divergent results than effective listening does. Such listeners take in a speaker's tone but they also consider body language and facial expressions. They focus on every word being said before formulating their reply.

Effective communicators can impart a range of information, from instructions on how to do something to share ideas. Soliciting feedback - asking for the opinions of others involved in the discussion is another hallmark of an effective communicator. So is asking the right questions.

Have you ever typed a search string into your favourite search engine? We've come to believe that all of those and aughts will return exactly the information we seek. But we end up frustrated with hits that don't quite address what you wanted to know.

When you query your favourite search engine, you have to ask the right questions to get the information you need. The same applies when you talk with others. Effective questions are meant to elicit the information you need but there's so much more to asking effective questions.

Take a look at these two examples. "How long have you been experiencing those symptoms?" versus "How long have you felt that way?". Both of these questions could be used to ask a patient about a health complaint.

The first question wants a clinical answer that few people would be able to give. It also communicates that you're less interested in them as a person than in a diagnosis. The second draws the other person in. It doesn't suggest that they are merely a case study but that they are a person with feelings looking for help.

Effective communication is one of the greatest skills to master. It opens virtually every door, personal and professional. And it is a core component of the GCSE Health and Social Care Curriculum. It also features heavily in GCSE Humanities.

Three women stand together in front of an adult social care banner and other informative posters, smiling and holding positive message placards.
Far more than any academic course, Health and Social Care fosters personal development Photo credit: Coventry City Council on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND

What Else Can This Course Teach Me?

In simple terms, Health and Social Care introduce people to a broad range of topics concerning health and social care. Students will learn awareness of the issues involved in patient care. This course helps students prepare for a career in medicine-related fields or social care.

Even if you're not sure that you would want a career in social care or the health field, this course has a lot to offer. We already mentioned that it trains participants in the three skills employers say are most lacking in today's workforce. But there is a more urgent reason to take in what it has to offer.

We've just come out of a deadly health crisis, the likes of which we've not seen for more than 100 years. Politicians made snap decisions regarding our health, welfare and economy. Scientists rushed to perfect a vaccine. Lab technicians worked day and night to process test swabs for potential infection.

Medical personnel, swaddled in layers of protective gear, treated the stricken. Who staffed the patient intake desk?

If nothing else, this pandemic demonstrated the urgent need for competent, qualified individuals. This course will arm you with the knowledge to conduct home visits on our elderly and calm a frightened, feverish child - or that child's parents. GCSE Health and Social Care teach all of these skills and more.

What if there is no crisis? This GCSE covers topics relevant to the health, social care and early years sectors. It teaches students to consider issues such as quality of life and the importance of support when improving health. You'll also learn about personal development and relationships.

Whether you've been toying with the idea of becoming a personal trainer, a top neurosurgeon or a social worker, this course has a lot to offer you. And if you pair it with GCSE RSE, you'll be uniquely suited to helping teens.

What Will You Get from a GCSE in This Subject?

When students choose their subjects, they usually have a purpose in mind. Perhaps they will study that subject at university or they find that subject balances well with some of the others they chose. Of course, when it comes down to it, pretty much everyone chooses anything with a specific purpose in mind. A lot of times, it's because they hold certain expectations of what their selections might yield.

A smiling woman wearing glasses and a blue top holds up a sign about helping families communicate as she stands in front of an yellowish-gold background.
Communication is a big part of social care. Photo credit: jojomotion on Visualhunt / CC BY-NC-ND

However, this is rather obscure. You probably need some information about it before thinking about what it can do for you. In that spirit, here we go.

This GCSE gives you a lot of flexibility. You choose whether to do the single award or double award and you may decide which studies you want to focus on. This means you have the opportunity to get involved with your local community if you wish.

This course opens many doors for you. You might enjoy learning about health and you thrive on caring for other people but you're unsure which career you want. This GCSE will give you a good start on a wide range of topics related to the health and social care industries. In all cases, it will arm you with vital job skills that can transfer to any industry.

You will get the chance to work independently on exciting, practical projects which will give you a taste of the real world, outside education. If you don’t enjoy learning from textbooks, or even school as a whole, this GCSE will give you a welcome change from the ‘same old’.

This GCSE offers variety. You'll take trips to health and community organisations, do group work and role-play. You are unlikely to find the curriculum or learning repetitive. These practical activities will also teach you technical, problem-solving and organisational skills that will allow you to develop your independence.

Your assessment will consist of a mixture of exams and controlled internal assessments (coursework you complete within a time frame in lessons). Be prepared to develop effective revision strategies that work for you and make sure you attend all your lessons. You will be doing a lot of coursework, so make the most of your allotted time.

The personal gains are immeasurable. Even if you decide a job in health and social care isn’t for you, you will still have learned a lot about how to stay fit and healthy. Among other skills, you will learn about BMI (body mass index), heart pressure and first aid. These are useful to help you to maintain a healthy lifestyle; you may even consider going into personal fitness.

This GCSE delivers personal competencies that will help you in the jobs market, no matter which field you ultimately choose to work in. Everyone could stand to be better at listening and most of us need to improve our speaking skills, anyway. Besides those two, you will learn how to choose your words with greater care and learn how to speak for maximum effect. You can also count on becoming more confident.

If all of this sounds like an exciting opportunity for personal and professional development, that’s perfect! GCSE Health and Social Care are useful, practical, and stimulating qualifications. It's particularly valuable for students interested in health or those who have an interest in caring for people. But there's one more reason learners should sign up for this personal development course.

Common wisdom states that the best chance of getting good marks on your exams is to choose a mix of difficult and easy courses. If you're keen to sit a double science exam and take Further Maths, you may balance those intensive subjects with, say, PE and Health and Social Care. These two courses require less academic study and more practical experience.

Hopefully, by taking this course, you will develop ideas of which aspects of the sector most interest you. Remember that no matter how your marks come out, at the very least, you're learning valuable interpersonal skills in Health and Social Care. Are you sold yet?

Are you an avid Bitesize user? You can find study materials for this subject tucked away under the Functional Skills: English tab of that site's homepage. If you need other online resources, you may refer to WJEC's resources page. There, you'll find more study resources, past papers and marking schemes.

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Jon

As an Englishman in Paris, I enjoy growing my knowledge of other languages and cultures. I'm interested in History, Economics, and Sociology and believe in the importance of continuous learning.