Supplyside Picture. National Occupational Standards in Contracting and Commissioning are currently being developed.
Supplyside Picture. Uptake of SVQs and HNCs relevant to the sector appears to have been good since the start of the decade but the scale of training required to meet the demands of registration are expected to strain these resources. The data SSSC have so far received on provision in Highland FE Colleges is not easily comparable with provision in the rest of Scotland and further work is required.
Supplyside Picture. There is only limited specific provision of soft skill specific training available. Two initiatives do exist in relation to literacy and numeracy skills and are made possible by short-term funding from Scottish Government but once this funding ceases so will those projects.
Supplyside Picture. No known courses that focus solely on these issues for leaders/managers. However, there are a number of leadership and management courses available within the sector, and the new set of NOS for Leaders and Managers of Care services is now developed. New awards will be available by April 2008.
Supplyside Picture. Core or soft skills such as team working or interpersonal skills are built into all SVQs. There are a number of units in the Health & Social Care suite of awards that focus on working in partnership with service users and between agencies and across professional boundaries. These issues are also referenced in the Leadership and Management NOS.
Supplyside Picture. This issue seems to be a matter of both the development of individual staff members and also about the development of organisations as a whole.
Supplyside Picture. No indications received that there have been problems with the levels of provision to meet such training needs. However, concerns have been expressed about the extent to which employers can meet the competing demands arising from registration on the one hand and a range of other obligatory demands on the other.
Supplyside Picture. During the SSA consultation no concerns were expressed about the availability of IT training. Use of assistive technologies is still relatively limited and where organisations are making use of AT it is thought that training is focussed on the specific technologies being used. In the learning and development field, the SSSC has recently developed and made available to the sector a Skills and Learning Auditor and Job Description Generator. Additionally, the Institute for Research and Innovation in the Social Services has produced a range of advice for employers.
Supplyside Picture. No clear picture on the supplyside provision of training to migrant workers in the social services sector has been obtained.
Supplyside Picture. Qualifications within the sector can usually be divided between those relevant to social care and social work on one side and those relevant to early years services on the other. Within both divisions the emphasis has been on the importance of core generic skills, knowledge and values particularly for the initial qualifications that lead to registration with the SSSC. There are a number of reasons for this approach not least of which is the mobility and flexibility of the workforce within the sector. Client specific material is in all initial qualifications but much of such training tends to come subsequently as a form of continuing professional development (CPD). In addition to the above there is a wide range of client specific awards and training available to the sector (e.g. the skills sets developed by the SSSC in conjunction with employers and the SQA). There have also been the development of a number of client specific NOS (e.g. Sensory Services Workforce) and there are also 5 Centres of Excellence working in the sector and funded by the Scottish Government which provide training and undertake research in the following fields; residential child care; drug and alcohol use; dementia; criminal justice social work; and learning disability.
