Course Overview

The lead adult care worker role is crucial to high quality adult care and support provision. Lead Adult Care Workers are the frontline staff who help adults with care and support needs to achieve their personal goals and live as independently and safely as possible, enabling them to have control and choice in their lives. In addition, Lead Adult Care Workers have responsibility for providing supervision, frontline leadership, guidance and direction for others, or working autonomously, exercising judgement and accountability.
Lead Adult Care Workers may work in residential or nursing homes, domiciliary care, day centres or some clinical healthcare settings. As well as covering Lead Adult Care Workers this standard also covers Lead Personal Assistants who can work at this senior level but they may only work directly for one individual who needs support and/or care services, usually within their own home.
The Lead Adult Care Apprenticeship Standard provides you with the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to work in a variety of health and social care settings; from helping people with a particular need to providing vital assistance to healthcare professionals in the care of patients.
This Apprenticeship is predominantly a work-based training programme designed around the needs of both employers and apprentices and attendance at Bridgwater campus is one day per fortnight.
The qualification is listed as an approved qualification on the Skills for Care website www.skillsforcare.org.uk

Units of study/what is involved

Learners will work through the following components (unless excempt) –
L3 Diploma In Adult Care
Level 2 Functional skills Maths
Level 2 Functional skills English
20% Off The Job training
Lead Adult Care Worker Standard

The qualification within the apprenticeship consists of mandatory units covering core knowledge and skills competencies with optional specialisms which can be are combined in flexible ways to reflect the real working context of different learners.

Mandatory units include –
person centred approaches
communication
personal development
equality and inclusion
handling information
duty of care
safeguarding

Apprentices are expected to achieve a number of End-point assessments to conclude their apprenticeship. All end assessments are formal summative assessments that conclude the apprenticeship programme. The Lead Adult Care Worker apprenticeship is assessed in a number of ways to provide a clear indication of the apprentice’s knowledge and skills. For this apprenticeship the following assessment methods need to be achieved:

• Knowledge examination (situational judgement multiple choice test)
• Professional discussion

The focus of the end assessment is for the apprentice to fully demonstrate the values, knowledge, skills and behaviours set out in the apprenticeship standard and to be able to demonstrate this level of professional competence in authentic workplace contexts.

Assessment Methods

Level 3 Apprenticeship Standard Adult Care Worker is a competence-based qualification which is assessed by a portfolio of evidence. You we be measured against learning outcomes and assessment criteria described in each unit of the qualification. You must meet all the learning outcomes within the chosen units and meet the rules of combination to be able to be awarded the qualification. The majority of assessment will be work-based, using real experiences, written assessments and observations by a qualified assessor.

• Teaching through workshop delivery for unit topics
• You will create an online portfolio of evidence using various assessment methods including assignments, reflective accounts and projects
• Workplace assessments including observations and professional discussions
• End Point Assessment (EPA)

A synoptic End Point Assessment (EPA) will include two distinct components. Firstly, the completion of a situational judgement test answered through a multiple choice computer-based test, and secondly, a professional discussion undertaken online. To achieve final certification, you must have completed and achieved all elements of the end point assessments in addition to the Care Certificate.

Progression Options

This qualification allows you to learn, develop and demonstrate the skills and knowledge required for employment and/or career progression in Adult Care within a role which has some autonomy, delegated responsibility or where there may be a need for supervision of others.

You can progress to the City & Guilds Level 4 Diploma in Adult Care or  Lead Practitioner in Adult Care Apprenticeship Level 4 .