A-level Health and Social Care Specification Specification

GCESpecification

Health and Social CareFor exams June 2014 onwardsFor certification June 2014 onwards

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GCE Health and Social Care for exams from June 2014 onwards (version 1.3)

Contents

1 Introduction 21.1 Why choose AQA? 21.2 Why choose Health and Social Care? 31.3 How do I start using this specification? 41.4 How can I find out more? 4

2 Specification at a Glance 5

3 Subject content 63.1 HSC01 Effective Care and Communication 63.2 HSC02 Understanding Health Conditions and Patient Care Pathways 163.3 HSC03 Life as a Challenge 183.4 HSC04 Educating Children and Young People 203.5 HSC05 Learning and Development 293.6 HSC06 Practitioner Roles 323.7 HSC07 Food and Fitness 393.8 HSC08 Using and Understanding Research 433.9 HSC09 Understanding Mental Disorders 543.10 HSC10 Diagnosis, Treatment and Preventative Strategies 62

4 Scheme of Assessment 664.1 Aims 664.2 Assessment Objectives 664.3 National Criteria 694.4 Prior Learning 694.5 Synoptic Assessment and Stretch and Challenge 69

5 Administration 705.1 Availability of Assessment Units and Certification 705.2 Entries 705.3 Private Candidates 705.4 Access Arrangements and Special Consideration 715.5 Language of Examinations 715.6 Qualification Titles 715.7 Awarding Grades and Reporting Results 715.8 Re-sits and Shelf-life of Unit Results 72

6 Coursework Administration 736.1 Supervision and Authentication of Coursework 736.2 Malpractice 736.3 Teacher Standardisation 746.4 Internal Standardisation of Marking 746.5 Annotation of Coursework 746.6 Submitting Marks and Sample Work for Moderation 756.7 Factors Affecting Individual Candidates 756.8 Retaining Evidence and Re-using Marks 75

7 Moderation 767.1 Moderation Procedures 767.2 Post-moderation Procedures 76

Appendices 77A Performance descriptions 77B Spiritual, Moral, Ethical, Social and other Issues 79C Wider Skills 80

Vertical black lines indicate a significant change or addition to the previous version of this specification.

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1 Introduction

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1.1 Why choose AQA?It’s a fact that AQA is the UK’s favourite exam boardand more students receive their academicqualifications from AQA than from any other board.But why does AQA continue to be so popular?

• SpecificationsOurs are designed to the highest standards, soteachers, students and their parents can beconfident that an AQA award provides anaccurate measure of students’ achievements. Andthe assessment structures have been designed toachieve a balance between rigour, reliability anddemands on students.

• SupportAQA runs the most extensive programme ofsupport meetings; free of charge in the first yearsof a new specification and at a very reasonablecost thereafter. These support meetings explainthe specification and suggest practical teachingstrategies and approaches that really work.

• ServiceWe are committed to providing an efficient andeffective service and we are at the end of thephone when you need to speak to a person aboutan important issue. We will always try to resolveissues the first time you contact us but should thatnot be possible, we will always come back to you(by telephone, e-mail or letter) and keep workingwith you to find the solution.

• EthicsAQA is a registered charity. We have noshareholders to pay. We exist solely for the goodof education in the UK. Any surplus income isploughed back into educational research and ourservice to you, our customers. We don’t profitfrom education, you do.

If you are an existing customer then we thank you foryour support. If you are thinking of moving to AQAthen we look forward to welcoming you.

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1.2 Why choose Health and Social Care?

We’ve developed this specification to cover the areas which are essential to health and social care and wouldbe suitable for students considering a career in the many avenues open to them with this qualification:

Health and social care covers:Service provision

Values

Rights

Responsibilities

Care settings

Communication

Health and well-being

Understanding human behaviour

Practitioner roles

Career opportunities:Childcare

Nursing

Paediatrics

Midwifery

Social work

Teaching/similar careers

Police Officer

Probation Officer/YOT

Medicine

Paramedics

Health visitor

Mental health

Counselling

These examples are not exhaustive.

• RelevantAS and A Level Health and Social Care givestudents a greater awareness and understandingof current issues surrounding the topics and areasabove.

• ComplementaryThis specification introduces students to keyconcepts and a body of knowledge that willprovide them with an invaluable and thoughtfulperspective on contemporary issues in health andsocial care. It complements other A-Level studiesand equips students with skills needed for highereducation and the world of work. It reflects jobopportunities relevant to areas of work, includingcommunity justice.

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1.3 How do I start using this specification?Already using existing AQAspecifications?• Tell us that you intend to enter candidates. Then

we can make sure that you receive all the materialyou need for the examinations. This is particularlyimportant where examination material is issuedbefore the final entry deadline. You can let usknow by completing the appropriate Intention toEnter and Estimated Entry forms. We will sendcopies to your Exams Officer and they are alsoavailable on our website(http://www.aqa.org.uk/admin/p_entries.html)

Not using an AQA specificationcurrently?• Almost all schools/colleges in England and Wales

use AQA or have used AQA in the past and areapproved AQA centres. A small minority are not.If your school/college is new to AQA, pleasecontact our centre approval team [email protected]

1.4 How can I find out more?Ask AQAYou have 24-hour access to useful information andanswers to the most commonly-asked questions athttp://www.aqa.org.uk/rn/askaqa.php

If the answer to your question is not available, youcan submit a query for our team.

Teacher SupportDetails of the full range of current Teacher Supportand CPD courses are available on our web site athttp://web.aqa.org.uk/qual/cpd/index.php

There is also a link to our fast and convenient onlinebooking system for all of our courses athttp://coursesandevents.aqa.org.uk/training

Portfolio advisers are assigned at the start of thecourse to provide free ongoing support and advice onthe content and delivery of the internal units. [email protected] for details ofyour portfolio advisers.

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Award Award Number Required UnitsCode of Units

AS Level Single Award 1821 2 units HSC01, plus one optional unit taken from HSC02 or HSC03

AS Level Double Award 1822 4 units HSC01, HSC02, HSC03 and HSC04

A2 Level Single Award 2821 4 units HSC01, plus one optional unit taken from HSC02 or HSC03,HSC06, plus one optional unit taken from HSC05, HSC07or HSC10

A2 Level Double Award 2822 8 units HSC01, HSC02, HSC03, HSC04, HSC06, plus threeoptional units taken from HSC05, HSC07 – HSC10 (at leasttwo of which must be examined units).

AS Level Units

Unit Unit Unit Title Form of Compulsory Number ofCode Assessment or Optional Marks

1 HSC01 Effective Care and Portfolio Compulsory 80Communication

2 HSC02 Understanding Health Conditions Written Optional 60and Patient Care Pathways Paper

3 HSC03 Life as a Challenge Written Optional 60Paper

4 HSC04 Educating Children and Portfolio Optional 80Young People

2 Specification at a Glance

A2 Level Units

Unit Unit Unit Title Form of Compulsory Number ofCode Assessment or Optional Marks

5 HSC05 Learning and Development Written Optional 80Paper

6 HSC06 Practitioner Roles Portfolio Compulsory 80(Synoptic)

7 HSC07 Food and Fitness Written Optional 80Paper

8 HSC08 Using and Understanding Portfolio Optional 80Research

9 HSC09 Understanding Mental Disorders Portfolio Optional 80

10 HSC10 Diagnosis, Treatment and Written Optional 80Preventative Strategies Paper

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3 Subject Content

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3.1 HSC01: Effective Care and Communication (Compulsory)This unit introduces you to the communication skillsused in health, social care, children and young peopleand community justice sectors. Examples of suitablecare settings could include hospitals, nursing homes,elderly residential homes, children’s homes, primaryschools, nurseries, prisons, remand centres, detaineecentres.

It also introduces some of the factors which arerequired for a good quality of life and some of theskills and techniques practitioners can use in order totreat people well.

The assessment for this unit is a portfolio of evidence– see section 3.1.11

What you need to learn

3.1.1 Life quality factors

Listed below are factors required for a good quality oflife.

Psychological life quality factors

You should understand the impact of the followingpsychological factors on the quality of life:

• occupation

• stimulation

• effective communication

• choice

• autonomy

• equitable treatment (absence of unfairdiscrimination)

• social contact

• social support

• approval

• privacy

• dignity

• confidentiality

• psychological security.

Physical life quality factors

You should understand that a good quality of life isalso influenced by physical factors. These are:

• exercise

• nutrition

• physical safety and hygiene

• physical comfort

• freedom from pain.

You should know that life quality factors sometimesconflict, and that decisions have to be made tobalance conflicting factors. You should also learn thatindividuals differ in the extent to which different lifequality factors affect them.

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3.1.2 Caring skills and techniques

You should understand how practitioners use thefollowing caring skills to treat people well:

• social perception – being able to recognisecorrectly a person’s feelings, needs and intentions

• observation – including measuring temperatureand blood pressure, noticing changes inbehaviour over time, food intake and wakefulness

• communication – listening, inviting questions,giving and explaining information in a way whichmatches communication style and content to theclients

• encouraging – including rewarding adaptivebehaviour. Adaptive behaviour is the behaviour ofa client which tends to increase his/her well-being(as opposed to maladaptive behaviour)

• creating trust – by acting consistently, by doingwhat you have promised to do, by not breachingconfidentiality

• reducing negative feelings and behaviours ofclients and others, avoiding and defusing conflict

• gaining compliance – by giving reasons, byoffering limited choices, without coercion

• eye contact and facial expression incommunication, including making eye contact inorder to gain compliance, to reassure, to signalattentiveness and avoiding eye contact with anaggressive person

• disengagement, i.e. temporarily breaking off anencounter, e.g. by moving away in order to enablea client to calm down

• physical contact, for example by providingpsychological security or approval, while beingaware of the risks of misinterpretation of thisgesture

• distraction, i.e. either providing temporarydistraction to divert a client from their own anxietyor pain, or teaching a client to develop their owndistraction techniques

• modelling, i.e. displaying only acceptablebehaviour in social situations, so that clients canlearn to act similarly

• working alongside, i.e. engaging in the sameactivity you are trying to get the client to do, forexample playing alongside an infant

• showing approval, for example giving praise

• setting challenges, i.e. suggesting achievabletargets to clients.

3.1.3 Barriers to effective caring

You should understand that there are barriers toeffective caring. You should understand that treatingpeople well involves providing life quality factorswhich match the needs and personality of theindividual.

You should understand that there are ethical andpractical reasons for treating people well.

One ethical reason is that those who provide care forothers have a duty to maintain an acceptable qualityof life for them.

You should understand the following barriers:

• a practitioner having negative attitudes

• a practitioner holding stereotypes about certaingroups

• a practitioner lacking motivation

• a practitioner not conforming with appropriateworkplace norms

• a practitioner being preoccupied with their ownneeds

• a practitioner having a lack of skill

• a client perceiving themselves to be powerless

• a client hiding their real needs and concerns

• a client exaggerating needs and concerns

• a client behaving in a hostile manner.

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3.1.4 Ways in which clients are treated badly

• neglect

• rejection

• hostility

• punishment

• bullying

• violence

• unfair discrimination on the basis of sex, sexuality,ethnicity, religion, social class, age andimpairment.

3.1.5 Types of communication

Practitioners will use:

Verbal communication: speaking and listening,writing and reading.

You should understand how the following affect theeffectiveness of verbal communication:

• matching the language and style of thecommunication to the clients in terms of:

– whether to use technical terminology with orwithout explanation/definition of its meaning,or whether to avoid it and paraphrase(depending on the assumed familiarity of theclients with the topic)

– the length and complexity of sentences(depending on the language comprehensionskills of the clients)

– whether or not to use humour

– how formal or informal the style should be

– whether or not to use colloquialisms

• structuring a communication to give a logicalprogression of ideas (for example by appropriatesequencing of information and by using headingsand recapitulation)

• applying grammatical skills to avoid ambiguity

• using words appropriately, i.e. with theirconventional meaning, and with precision

• fluency (the avoidance of clumsy or ponderousphrasing)

In addition, you should understand how the followingaffect written verbal communication skills:

• correct spelling and punctuation

• legibility

You should also understand how the following affectoral verbal communication skills:

• using an appropriate speed of speech, clarity ofutterance and loudness (to enable others to hearand understand)

• using an appropriate pitch, and tone of voice (inorder to avoid sounding bored or boring)

• minimising hesitations and filled pauses (such as‘err’ and ‘you know’)

(The above three skills are described in some sourcesas ‘paralanguage skills’ and categorised as aspectsof non-verbal communication)

• understanding and responding to questions andcomments

Non-verbal communication: body language, facialexpressions, gestures

You should understand how the following affect non-verbal communication skills and support effective oralcommunication:

• appropriate eye contact

• use of facial expression (communicatingconfidence, interest, responsiveness)

• use of body orientation and proximity (facingclients, appropriate distance for visibility andengagement)

• use of gesture, posture and other bodymovements (to aid verbal communication,communicating confidence, without distracting)

• use of supporting equipment including visual aids

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3.1.6 Communication difficulties

You should know that sensory impairments includingdeafness and blindness can create communicationdifficulties, as can disability conditions causingreading difficulties, poorly-developed speech, slurredspeech and aphasia.

Lack of skills, e.g. internet use in later adulthood.

Strategies for overcoming communicationdifficulties

You should understand how alternative systems ofverbal communication including British SignLanguage, Makaton and Braille are used to overcomecommunication barriers. You are not, however,expected to know how to use these alternativesystems.

3.1.7 Barriers to communication

You should understand how the following can bebarriers to effective communication between clientsand practitioners:

• lack of a common or shared language

• use of unfamiliar technical or dialect words orphrases

• differences in cultural beliefs and assumptions

• environmental issues such as noise, inappropriaterooms, lack of privacy

• reluctance to communicate (such as being in anabusive or violent situation)

• practitioner’s lack of confidence or experience

• hostility between the client and practitioner.

3.1.8 Evaluating communication skills

You should know that communication skills can beevaluated by assessing a practitioner’s use of theskills above and by assessing whether the style andcontent of communication is appropriate for theservice client/client group and setting.

3.1.9 Communication when working in teams

You should know that many care settings involvepeople working in teams of practitioners, some ofwhom have the same responsibilities, while others donot. You should know that effective communicationbetween team members is important for:

• ensuring continuity of care, for example whenshifts change

• sharing essential information about client/clientgroup needs

• informing practitioners of change in a client’s/clientgroup’s condition

• avoiding or defusing conflicts between staff

• developing the caring skills of inexperienced staff

• supporting, guiding and encouraging staff.

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3.1.10 Clients and care settings

You should learn about the use of communicationskills, and ways of overcoming communicationbarriers and difficulties with the following types ofclient:

• children and young people

• people with specific learning difficulty conditions

• people with sensory, speech or othercommunication impairments

• people with other disabilities

• people (including client’s relatives) attending anaccident and emergency unit

• people resident in a hospital ward

• people in consultation with a practitioner

• people in later adulthood

• offenders.

You should also learn about the particularcommunication barriers which may arise in caresettings, e.g.:

• hospitals

• the family home

• day centres

• nursing and residential homes

• education settings

• special education settings

• prisons

• remand centres.

Schools/colleges are encouraged to contact theirportfolio adviser (see pg.4) with other ideas for clientsand other settings.

3.1.11 How you will be assessed

You need to produce a portfolio of evidence oneffective care and communication with a chosenservice client/client group which could be issued to arange of practitioners who may be involved with thisclient/client group. This portfolio of evidence couldtake the form of a report or a guide for practitionersbut must include all the information listed below andmust be well-presented. A written report or guide canbe presented in a variety of ways.

Your portfolio of evidence should include:

• identification of a sector on which to base yourreport

• one type of client within this sector – this could bean individual or a group

• a care setting appropriate to this client/clientgroup within this sector

• the work of your sector and the care setting

• how the LQFs of the chosen client/client groupare met within this setting, giving examples

• caring skills which are relevant to your client/clientuser group

• the barriers to caring that your client/client usergroup might experience

• ways in which the client/client group can betreated badly in this setting

• good practice in communication skills (includingstrategies for overcoming communication barriers

and difficulties) relevant for your chosen type ofclient/client group and care setting.

Your portfolio of evidence should not be a sharedexercise or based on a whole group topic, but whollyyour own work. Work which does not demonstrateindependence cannot be awarded high marks.

Your work for assessment must include the followingsections:

Section A Introduction

• identification of a sector

• one type of client/client group within this sector

• care setting

• work of identified sector and care setting.

Section B Caring in the chosen setting

• life quality factors and how they are met (for theservice client/client group) in the setting chosen(with examples)

• caring skills used in the setting – applied to theclient/client group

• barriers to caring which the service client/clientgroup could experience/might experience in thechosen setting

• ways in which the service client/client group couldbe treated badly in this setting.

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Section C Communication in the chosen setting

• good practice in communication skills for thesetting (both for the client/client group andbetween practitioners)

• how barriers to communication can be overcomein the setting (both for the client/client group andbetween practitioners).

Section D Evaluation

• evaluation of the most appropriate caring andcommunication skills for the client/client group inthe specified setting

• justification of the most appropriate caring andcommunication skills for the client/client group inthe specified setting.

E Appendix

• an appendix to state references to the sources ofinformation used.

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Assessment Criteria: HSC01Your portfolio of evidence must contain the following sections:

A Introduction; B Caring in the chosen setting; C Communication in the chosen setting;

D Evaluation; E Appendix

Evidence of knowledgeof a range of life qualityfactors and caring skills

Evidence of someunderstanding ofrelevant life qualityfactors and caring skillsto the client/client groupand setting.

Evidence of a clearunderstanding ofrelevant life qualityfactors and caring skillsto the client/client groupand setting.

Evidence of a detailedand accurateunderstanding ofrelevant life qualityfactors and caring skillsto the client/client groupand setting.

AO1 Knowledge, Understanding and Skills (Sections A and B)

1–7 marks 8–14 marks 15–21 marks 22–28 marks

Some barriers to caringhave been identified.

Ways in which theclient/client group canbe treated badly areidentified.

Some appropriatebarriers to care havebeen identified.

Ways in which theclient/client group canbe treated badly areidentified and applied tothe chosen setting.

Barriers to caring havebeen identified andexplained in relation toboth the client and thepractitioner.

There is a detailedapplication of the rangeof ways in which aclient/client group canbe treated badly in theidentified setting, withsome examples.

The barriers identifiedare entirely appropriateand these have beenfully applied to both theclient and thepractitioner.

There is thorough detailof the ways in which aclient/client group canbe treated badly in theidentified setting, with arange of examples.

AO2 Application (Section B)


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Minimal evaluation of thetype of caring andcommunication skillsmost useful for theclient/client group.

Little or no justificationfor the types of caringand communicationskills most useful for theclient/client group. Theportfolio of evidencecontains significanterrors and/or omissionsin the use of technicalterms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar, leading to alack of clarity.

Some evaluation of thetype of caring andcommunication skillsmost useful for theclient/client group.

Some justification for thetypes of caring andcommunication skillsmost useful for theclient/client group. Theportfolio of evidencecontains some errorsand/or omissions in theuse of technical terms,spelling, punctuationand grammar, leading toinconsistency in clarity

Reasonable evaluationof the type of caring andcommunication skillsmost useful for theclient/client group.

Reasonable justificationfor the types of caringand communicationskills most useful for theclient/client group. Theportfolio of evidence iswritten with reasonableclarity, but has a fewminor errors and/oromissions in the use oftechnical terms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar.

Detailed and accurateevaluation of the type ofcaring andcommunication skillsmost useful for theclient/client group.

Thorough and accuratejustification for the typesof caring andcommunication skillsmost useful for theclient/client group. Theportfolio of evidence isclearly written with fewminor errors in the use oftechnical terms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar.

AO4 Evaluation (Section D)


Minimal evidence ofresearch into the chosensetting and the caringand communicationskills within it.

Minimal analysis ofcaring andcommunication skills inthat setting for theclient/client group.

Information in theportfolio of evidence ispoorly-organised andlacks a coherentstructure although it maycontain some validpoints. The portfolio ofevidence containssignificant errors and/oromissions in the use oftechnical terms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar, leading to alack of clarity.

Some evidence ofresearch into the chosensetting and the caringand communicationskills within it.

Some analysis of caringand communicationskills in that setting forthe client/client group.

Information in theportfolio of evidenceshows someorganisation andstructure and containssome valid evidence.The portfolio of evidencecontains some errorsand/or omissions in theuse of technical terms,spelling, punctuationand grammar, leading toinconsistency in clarity.

Reasonable evidence ofresearch into the chosensetting and the caringand communicationskills within it.

Reasonable analysis ofcaring andcommunication skills inthat setting for theclient/client group.

Information in theportfolio of evidence ismainly well-organisedand structured and issupported by validevidence. The portfolioof evidence is writtenwith reasonable clarity,but has a few minorerrors and/or omissionsin the use of technicalterms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar.

Detailed evidence ofresearch into the chosensetting and the caringand communicationskills within it.

Detailed and accurateanalysis of caring andcommunication skills inthat setting for theclient/client group.

Information in theportfolio of evidence islogically organisedleading to a coherentstructure and issupported by a range ofvalid evidence. Theportfolio of evidence isclearly written with fewminor errors in the use oftechnical terms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar.

AO3 Research and Analysis (Sections B, C and E)

1–4 marks 5–8 marks 9–12marks 13–16 marks

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Additional assessment guidance forHSC01This unit is internally-assessed by means of a portfolioof evidence which explores communication andcaring skills in an identified setting with a specifiedclient or client group. Teachers are encouraged tocontact their portfolio adviser (see pg.4) to check thesuitability of the chosen client/client group and caresetting.

The portfolio of evidence must cover all nine bulletpoints in section 3.1.11. All materials must berelevant to the setting, client/client group andpractitioners, as appropriate. Generic material cannotattract marks. Students are not required to includematerial not applicable to their client/client group.

Evidence for this unit is likely to be gathered from avariety of sources which can include materialscollected through work experience/placement. This isnot a requirement, however, and students who useentirely secondary sources can gain high marks.

AO1 Knowledge and Understanding of life qualityfactors and caring skills (Sections A and B)

In Mark Band 1: it is expected that students will beable to demonstrate knowledge of the physical andpsychological life quality factors outlined in thespecification, but these may not be relevant to theclient/client group and/or care setting. Irrelevantmaterial may be characteristic of this mark band.

In Mark Band 2: it is expected that students are ableto demonstrate knowledge of some appropriate lifequality factors and caring skills pertaining to theclient/client group and setting. These will be relevantto the client/client group and care setting.

In Mark Band 3: it is expected that all life qualityfactors and caring skills included are appropriate toboth the client/client group and setting, withoutirrelevancy or inaccuracy. These will be sensitivelyinterpreted within the context of thesetting/client/client group and the work will havesome appropriate examples to illustrate the materialpresented.

In Mark Band 4: students will demonstrate detailedknowledge and understanding of all the caring skillsand life quality factors which pertain to theirclient/client group and setting. These will be fullyinterpreted and illustrated with a range of well-chosenexamples.

AO2 Application of barriers to caring and ways theclient may be treated badly (Section B)

In Mark Band 1: students are able to identify somebarriers to caring but these may be ‘stated’ ratherthan ‘explained’. Students may also include genericbarriers to caring which have not been applied to theclient and care setting. Ways in which clients/clientgroups can be treated badly are dealt with in a similarmanner – they are generic as opposed to applied to

the client/client group/setting being used. At thislevel, it is expected that students have someunderstanding, but are not engaging with the settingthey have selected.

In Mark Band 2: it is expected that materialpresented both on barriers to caring and ways inwhich client/client groups can be treated badly islimited and lacking detail, but is appropriate andapplied to the client/client group and setting.

In Mark Band 3: it is expected that all materialpresented is relevant and applied to the client/clientgroup and care setting. There is no generic work.Ways in which clients/client groups can be treatedbadly are illustrated with well-chosen examples fromthe setting.

In Mark Band 4: students clearly demonstrate theirunderstanding of both the client/client group andsetting in all areas stated above. They illustrate pointsmade with well-chosen examples and each pointmade has been explained with accurate detail.

AO3 Research and Analysis (Sections B, C and E)

In Mark Band 1: there will be little or no evidence ofstudents’ own research into the caring andcommunication skills used in their setting. Materialpresented may be, for example, ‘commonsensical’,rather than based on research. The caring andcommunication skills proposed for the client/clientgroup and setting are more likely to be generic andsomewhat list-like – using all the information theyhave been taught in lessons at a basic level.

In Mark Band 2: there is some evidence thatstudents have researched the caring andcommunication skills for their client/client group andsetting independently. However, at this level thematerial may not be used very well and appears quiterepetitive for example, if students have takeninformation from a variety of sources but have notengaged with it. The caring and communication skillsbegin to become more selective here and studentsdemonstrate some ability to select from theinformation they have and begin to use itappropriately.

In Mark Band 3: students demonstrate evidence ofsound research and draw on this to inform somewell-reasoned views on caring and communicationskills in their chosen area. Caring and communicationskills are all appropriate to the client/client group andsetting, but may not be fully explained.

In Mark Band 4: research is detailed and has beenused well to inform appropriate caring andcommunication skills for the setting and theclient/client group. All material presented isappropriate and has been applied. Caring andcommunication skills are all appropriate for the settingand the client/client group and each has beenexplained fully.

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In Mark Band 1: material presented is most likely tobe brief and may contain inaccuracies. Someevaluation points on the caring and communicationskills will be presented with very little or no justificationfor what is most relevant/important for the client/clientgroup.

In Mark Band 2: evaluation points are accurate, butstill somewhat limited in detail. Students will begin toconsider why some communication and caring skillsare more appropriate than others, but this will belimited.

In Mark Band 3: evaluation points are well-chosenand students explain each one – also referring insome of these points to why some caring andcommunication skills are more appropriate for theclient/client group and the setting than others.

In Mark Band 4: the evaluation is both accurate andexplained in detail. Students are able to demonstratean appreciation of which caring and communicationskills are the most important for the client/client groupand the setting and can provide reasons for this.

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3.2 HSC02: Understanding Health Conditions and Patient CarePathways (Optional)

This unit aims to develop your knowledge andunderstanding of a range of health conditions, andthe appropriate patient care pathways which arecommonly followed based on a patient-centredapproach to care.

The assessment for this unit is a written examination– see section 3.2.6


3.2.1 Health conditions

You should know the causes and major symptoms ofthe following health conditions:

• asthma

• stroke

• leukaemia and cancers of the breast, bowel andtesticles

• coronary heart disease and cardiac arrest

• diabetes types 1 and 2

• mental health- anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosaand schizophrenia

• obesity

• sexually-transmitted infections - chlamydia,gonorrhoea and herpes.

3.2.2 Treatment and management

You should know the appropriate treatments andmanagement of the named health conditions namedin 3.2.1 above in terms of:

• medical interventions with drugs and/or surgery

• lifestyle changes including dietary management,physical activity and exercise

• counselling.

3.2.3 Potential Impact

You should understand the potential impacts of thenamed health conditions, their treatment andmanagement, on the patients, their families andcarers:

• physical by impairment of function and/or limitedmobility

• intellectual by affecting learning opportunities

• emotional by affecting self-worth and self-confidence

• social by affecting interactions and relationshipswith others

• financial by affecting work and income.

3.2.4 Patient-centred approach to health care

You should understand the patient-centred approachto health care and know that it involves:

• putting the patient at the centre of the process

• respecting the patient and involving them indecision–making

• supporting the patient to make health and/orlifestyle changes

• recognising ways in which the patient can takeresponsibility for their own health care

• enabling the patient to make informed choices,give informed consent and be empowered toaccess health care services.

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3.2.5 Patient care pathways

You should know the appropriate patient carepathways for the named health conditions listed in3.2.1 above and understand that the purpose ofpatient care pathways:

• puts the patient at the centre of any care

• provides a guide to health care professionals inthe provision of seamless quality care

• provides a template for planning services

• informs patients of the care they should expect toreceive.

You should know what the appropriate patient carepathways for the named health conditions are interms of:

• the steps and milestones with detailed contentthat can be expected from the health sector toprovide high-quality, evidence-based care

• the details of practitioners with whom the patientwill come into contact.

You should understand how patient care pathwaysare put in place:

• using patient and family/supporter interviews

• making observations and taking measurements

• delivering care actions and treatments

• using records of information from othersconfidentially.


You will be assessed on your knowledge,understanding and skills relating to the named healthconditions, patient-centred care and the patient carepathways through a written examination of one and ahalf hours.

There will be four compulsory structured questionswhich will include short-answer and free-responseitems. These will require you to demonstrate andapply your knowledge, understanding and skills indifferent contexts appropriate to health conditionsand patient care pathways.

The questions will be drawn from the following fiveareas of the unit:

• health conditions

• treatment and management

• potential impact

• patient-centred approach to health care

• patient care pathways.

To gain high marks in your written examination youshould ensure that:

• your answers show good levels of detail, depth,relevance and accuracy

• you apply knowledge, understanding and skills tothe material presented in the questionssuccessfully

• suggestions and opinions are supported by thedata and the material covered in all areas of theunit

• conclusions are consistent with the data and levelof detail.

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3.3 HSC03: Life as a Challenge (Optional)This unit explores a range of challenges faced bypeople due to physical disability, learning disability,mental health issues and social circumstances. Youshould focus on the four categories and eightconditions identified.

The assessment for this unit is a written examination– see section 3.3.6.


3.3.1 Awareness of a range of challenges – four categories which provide eightdisabilities/situations

• physical challenge (cystic fibrosis and osteoarthritis)

• mental health challenge (Alzheimer’s and bipolardisorder)

• social challenge (young carers and person in lateradulthood)

• learning challenge (autism and Down’s syndrome)

You should know the eight disabilities/situations listedand be able to compare and contrast them asdetailed in sections 3.3.2 to 3.3.5.

3.3.2 Reasons/Causes

You should be able to explain briefly the reasonbehind the challenge and the nature of the challenge:

• hereditary conditions genetic/chromosomal, e.g.CF, Down’s

• genetic predisposition, e.g. bipolar, arthritis,autism

• combination of genetic and environmental e.g.arthritis, bipolar

• age-related, e.g. Alzheimer’s, arthritis, olderperson

• environmental circumstances, e.g. familycircumstances – young carers

• social, e.g. isolation: social exclusion, youngcarers, attitudes to older people.

3.3.3 Potential impact of the challenge

Impact on development:

• physical by impairment of function and/or limitedmobility

• intellectual by affecting learning opportunities

• emotional by affecting self-worth and self-confidence

• social by affecting interactions and relationshipswith others

• financial by affecting work and income.

You should also understand that the impact ofdisabilities/situations can be on families and carers aswell as on the individuals themselves.

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3.3.4 Barriers

You should be aware of the barriers which individualswith different challenges face and the impact on theirfamilies, as a result of their impairments, of theircircumstances and of conditions external to them:

• education, e.g. poor provision/access

• employment, e.g. lack of opportunities due todiscrimination, lack of flexibility

• societal barriers, e.g. resulting from ignorance,prejudice and discrimination; social exclusion, lowexpectations of ability, societal expectations

• economic barriers for individuals and their family,e.g. potential loss of earnings, requirement forspecialist support which is not provided by thestate, access/lack of access to benefits

• environmental barriers, e.g. physical access toand within buildings; access to public and privatetransport; poor accessibility of services.

3.3.5 Risks and support/safeguarding

Risks

You should understand the risks which may exist foreach challenge:

• bullying

• abuse

• stress

• self-harm

• isolation/social exclusion.

Support/safeguarding

You should be aware of the support/safeguarding andcare actions from practitioners which exist for each ofthe eight disabilities/situations:

• Protection of the rights of the individuals, e.g.,

Legislation:

Equality Act

Mental Health Act

Mental Capacity Act

Care Standards Act

Children Act

• Policies/Codes of practice/risk assessments, e.g.,

child protection policy

school bullying policy

• Service provision, state and voluntary, e.g.,

residential care, day care, special schools,mainstream provision for children with specialneeds;

practitioners – professionals and other types ofcarer. You should be aware of LQFs andCaring Skills.


You will be assessed on your knowledge,understanding and skills relating to life as a challengethrough a written examination of one and a half hours.

There will be four compulsory structured questionswhich will include short-answer and free-responseitems. These will require you to demonstrate andapply your knowledge, understanding and skills indifferent contexts appropriate to life as a challenge.

The questions will be drawn from the following fiveareas of the unit:

• awareness of a range of challenges

• reasons/causes

• potential impact of the challenge

• barriers

• risks and support/safeguarding.


• your answers show good detail, depth, relevanceand accuracy




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3.4 HSC04: Educating Children and Young People (Optional)This unit introduces you to the theory and practice oflearning in education. It also gives you the opportunityto plan a learning situation yourself.

The assessment for this unit is a portfolio of evidence– see section 3.4.6


3.4.1 The roles of learning, child-rearing, genetics and maturation

You should understand that maturation (genetically-programmed development) has a strong influence onthe acquisition of some skills (such as first languageacquisition), and that specific aptitudes, (for examplein music), appear to be genetically-influenced.

You should understand that the acquisition of skillsand knowledge are also strongly influenced by thechild’s rearing environment and learning opportunities.For example, some rearing environments are richerthan others in terms of resources, educational toys,safe play space and responsive adults.

Children whose parents have positive attitudes toeducation and are actively involved in learningthemselves tend to be influenced and encouragedby this.

You should understand that younger children relymore on experiential learning and modelling, while

older children can also learn through verbalinstruction without the need for concrete examples.

You should understand that the role of a teacher isonly partly to do with formal instruction, and thatdesigning situations and deploying materials toenable learning is often more important.

You should recognise that, in young children, learningis mainly driven by the child, who exploits situationsand resources (including parents) to satisfy an intensecuriosity, (for example the child’s persistent use of‘What?’ and ‘Why?’ questions). Only later is learningshaped and controlled by adults.

You should also know that much Early Years’ learningtakes place in play situations, so that play can bethought of as the young child’s work.

3.4.2 Types of learning

You should understand that children learn in a varietyof ways including:

• discovery or experiential learning – by exposure toconcrete situations

• modelling – by observing and imitating

• reinforcement – resulting frompraise/encouragement, task achievement or both

• verbal instruction – by telling and explaining

• researching and reading

• reflection and analysis – by thinking about things,especially problem-solving.

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3.4.3 Techniques for enabling learning

You should understand that, to be most effective, thetechniques used to enable learning should takeaccount of the existing abilities of the child, which arelinked to the child’s age and experience. Whendesigning and selecting learning materials andsituations, it is important to set a level of demandwhich is high enough to be challenging, yet not toohigh to be unrewarding.

You should also recognise that a learning experiencefor use with a group will need to include a range ofchallenges, so that children of different abilities can allfind it rewarding.

The techniques commonly used include:

• providing materials designed to enable discoverylearning

• providing immediate feedback on performance

• rewarding and encouraging, demonstrating skills(acting as a model, including working alongside)

• providing prompts and suggestions

• setting structured tasks, verbal instructionfollowed by individual practice, group or individualquestioning to seek facts or opinions;assessment, discussions, competitions, field trips,role-playing, use of stories, team work (with orwithout allocated roles).

You should also understand that it is incorrect tosuggest that there is a ‘right way’ to educate children,partly because there are individual differencesbetween children in how they respond to learningsituations, reflecting differences of temperament,personality and abilities.

You should be aware that most children are extremelyadaptable and can benefit from a wide range ofdifferent educational approaches.

3.4.4 Theories

You should know about the theories of development,learning and education relevant to the chosen KeyStage.

Learning theory

The principles of operant conditioning as describedby Skinner, i.e. the systematic and immediatereinforcement of required behaviour by responding toit with a rewarding stimulus, and ignoring non-required or unwanted behaviour and the relevance ofthis for assessment, giving feedback andencouragement.

Social learning theory

Key learning processes including modelling(observation and imitation), selective encouragementand discouragement (similar to operant conditioning),the acquisition of cognitions about what is and is notacceptable behaviour, i.e. learning of social norms.

Social learning theory as an explanation of the culturaltransmission of (i) norms of behaviour and (ii)schemas including attitudes and stereotypes.

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development,including the ideas that cognitive developmentinvolves the development of schemas (by assimilationand accommodation) contributing to the constructionof an internal model of the world; that cognitivedevelopment proceeds in distinct stages, that a

child’s learning capability depends upon which stages/he is in; that discovery learning is essential tocognitive development, but that support andinstruction also play a role.

Piaget’s designs for tests of cognitive development,focussing on conservation, class inclusion, transitivityand abstract thinking are also relevant.

Bruner’s theory of cognitive development,including the ideas that other people (especiallyadults) enable learning by providing ‘scaffolding’, andthat as children get older they acquire more modes ofrepresentation of the world.

Vygotsky’s work on cognitive development,including an emphasis on the importance ofinstruction, cultural transmission, and the zone ofproximal development.

The work of researchers into language acquisition,including Roger Brown who described the child’s keyrole in initiating language-learning interactions andBerko, who investigated the child’s tendency toextract grammatical rules from examples.

The work of educational theorists and practitionersincluding Maria Montessori, Friedrich Froebel, RudolfSteiner and Susan Isaacs, and the contrasts betweenthese and current educational and assessmentpractice.

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3.4.5 Assessment across the Key Stages

You should be familiar with the formal and informalmethods of assessment, including developmentalinventories, teacher assessments and StandardAssessment Tasks (SATs) which apply across the KeyStages.

You should also know how the content of thecurriculum and levels of attainment are relevantacross the Key Stages.

Issues in the education of children and youngpeople

You should know that there are differences of opinionabout how children’s learning should be organised.

Some of these are illustrated by the work of thetheorists and practitioners listed above.

For example, there are arguments for and against:

• educating children in ability groups rather than inage groups

• testing children and setting of targets

• a state or a cultural sub-group determining thecontent of a child’s education (for example, theNational Curriculum), instead of each individualchild following his/her own interests and aptitudes.


You need to produce a portfolio of evidence on anidentified Key Stage which contains a learning topicdescription, a learning plan, an evaluation and sourcematerial.

You need to choose one age group and one learningtopic. For the learning topic you should describeappropriate learning strategies and produce andevaluate appropriate learning plans.

Your choice of age group might be influenced bywhether you have access to a playgroup, primaryschool or secondary school.

Age groups

You will choose from one of the following:

• Early Years Foundation Stage (birth to 5 years old)

• Key Stage 1 (up to 7 years old)




Learning topics

You should identify one learning topic for your clientgroup. This could be identified in conjunction with apractitioner teaching that Key Stage. Examples ofsuitable learning topics from each Key Stage havebeen provided in the additional assessment guidance.

Your portfolio of evidence should not be a sharedexercise or based on a whole-group topic, but whollyyour own work. Work which does not demonstrateindependence cannot be awarded high marks.

Your work for assessment must include the followingsections:


In this section you should include:

• the Key Stage chosen

• the topic

• the type of educational establishment and sector

• description of the curriculum followed, e.g.Steiner, National Curriculum.

Section B Topic description

In this section you should describe:

• the topic you have chosen

• the main strategies for enabling learning in thistopic area, including the usual ways in whichlearning takes place, and (if appropriate) typicallearning materials, teaching/learning techniquesand learning situations

• you should relate your description to the types oflearning typical of children and young people ofthe Key Stage you have chosen, quoting relevanttheorists

• you should also describe (if appropriate) howlearning is assessed and how progress/level ofattainment can be measured.

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Section C Learning plans

This section should contain:

• your own plan for setting up a learning experiencefor your chosen learning topic, specifying (ifappropriate) the design and/or selection oflearning materials, activities, procedure andsituation required. These should all be appropriateto the Key Stage you have chosen

• the planned learning experience should typicallyrelate to a learning experience of around half anhour

• you should clearly state the educational aim(s) ofyour plan.

Section D Evaluation

In this section you should include:

• an analysis and evaluation of your own plan forlearning

• your evaluation of relevant educational issues,theory and/or empirical evidence, which can beused to justify and/or criticise your own plans forlearning

• a reasoned assessment of the appropriateness ofthe designs to the Key Stage and aims.

Section E Appendix

This section should include:

• references to sources of information used todevelop your plans

• any documents you used, such as extracts ofexisting curriculum documents or lesson plans

• other relevant material.

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A Introduction; B Topic description; C Learning plans; D Evaluation; E Appendix

A topic is described,with some accurateinformation aboutstrategies and methods.

Assessment methodsare not mentioned.

Topic and strategydescriptions aredetailed, mainly accurateand clearly appropriateto the Key Stagespecified.

Assessment methodsare described, whereappropriate.

Description of the topicis detailed and accurate.The main relevantstrategies are KeyStage-appropriate andclearly described withappropriate reference totypes and techniques oflearning.

Assessment methodsare accuratelydescribed, whereappropriate.

Descriptions of the topicand strategies arepresented withoutsignificant omissions.The description revealsan excellent grasp oftypes and techniques oflearning.

In-depth and accuratedescriptions ofassessment methodsare provided, whereappropriate.

AO1 Knowledge, Understanding and Skills (Sections A and B)


A coherent learning planis presented for thetopic.

Aims are stated.

The learning planprovided is detailed,specific and clearly KeyStage-appropriate.

Aims are clear andspecific.

The learning planprovided reveals soundunderstanding ofeducational practice forthe specified Key Stage.Materials provided arewell-chosen/designed,appropriate to explicitly-stated aims and to theKey Stage specified.

The learning plan andmaterials for the topicreveal flair andimagination, and appearhighly likely to achieveexplicitly-stated aims.They are presented withenough detail to enablethe reader to provide thespecified learningexperience.

AO2 Application (Section C)


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Some relevantbackground researchsource material ispresent.

No explanation isevident.

References are notincluded.

Information in theportfolio of evidence ispoorly-organised andlacks a coherentstructure, although itmay contain some validpoints. The portfolio ofevidence containssignificant errors and/oromissions in the use oftechnical terms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar leading to alack of clarity.

The chosen topic issupported byappropriate backgroundresearch sourcematerial.

No explanation isevident.

References are included.

Information in theportfolio of evidenceshows someorganisation andstructure and containssome valid evidence.The portfolio of evidencecontains some errorsand/or omissions in theuse of technical terms,spelling, punctuationand grammar leading toinconsistency in clarity.

A range of backgroundresearch sources areincluded, which aredirectly relevant to thetopic chosen.

Explanation of howsources have beenused.

References are in thecorrect form.

Information in theportfolio of evidence ismainly well-organisedand structured and issupported by validevidence. The portfolioof evidence is writtenwith reasonable claritybut has a few minorerrors and/or omissionsin the use of technicalterms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar.

There is evidence ofthorough research intothe chosen topic area,together with sources forrelevant techniques andtheory.

Explanation of howsources have beenused.

References are in thecorrect form.

Information in theportfolio of evidence islogically-organisedleading to a coherentstructure and issupported by a range ofvalid evidence. Theportfolio of evidence isclearly written with fewminor errors in the use oftechnical terms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar.

AO3 Research and Analysis (Section E)

1–4 marks 5–8 marks 9–12marks 13–16 marks

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Some appropriateevaluation of the plan ispresent, includingreference to theory. Theportfolio of evidencecontains significanterrors and/or omissionsin the use of technicalterms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar leading to alack of clarity.

Evaluative points andreferences to theory aremainly accurate, andappropriately linked withthe stated aims of theplan. The portfolio ofevidence contains someerrors and/or omissionsin the use of technicalterms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar leading toinconsistency in clarity.

Evaluations arereasoned and justifiedwith reference torelevant issues, theoryand evidence.

The evaluations aresound and plausible inrelation to the planpresented, and relatedappropriately to thestated aims and the KeyStage Specified.

The portfolio of evidenceis written withreasonable clarity buthas a few minor errorsand/or omissions in theuse of technical terms,spelling, punctuationand grammar.

Evaluations arethorough, reasoned andjustified, and referaccurately and withoutobvious omissions to arange of relevanttheories, issues andevidence in learning.

The evaluations arecompletely consistentwith the stated aims andreveal a realisticunderstanding oflearning techniques andthe capabilities of theKey Stage specified.

The portfolio of evidenceis clearly written with fewminor errors in the use oftechnical terms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar.



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Additional assessment guidance forHSC04This unit is internally-assessed by a portfolio ofevidence which focuses on one Key Stage and onelearning topic. A list of possible topics is providedbelow. Students are encouraged to focus on a KeyStage to which they have access, and it can be theirown year group in school. Evidence for this unit willcome from a wide variety of secondary sources. Forexample, students should be encouraged to look atresources available on the market which is relevant tothe topic and Key Stage. They may also find it usefulto speak with relevant practitioners in order to gain adeeper understanding of the theory which underpinseducational practice.

Possible Learning Topics -

This list is not exhaustive and centres can choosetheir own and check them with their portfolio adviser(see pg. 4).

Some of these relate only to one Key Stage (e.g.learning to read or count) while others are acquiredacross a wider range or further developed acrossvarious Key Stages. Learning plans should take intoaccount the skill and the Key Stage building on priorachievement.

Language skills appropriate to the Key Stage

• acquiring language

• acquiring sentence construction skills

• learning to read

• learning handwriting

• learning to spell

• learning to punctuate

• acquiring comprehension skills.

Numeracy skills appropriate to the Key Stage

• learning to count

• learning to measure

• learning to add and subtract

• learning to multiply and divide

• learning about angles

• learning geometrical shapes and their properties.

Learning subject-specific skills appropriate to the KeyStage

• learning scientific concepts including volume,mass, density, speed, acceleration, force, power,scientific methods (experiment and observation)

• acquiring ICT skills

• acquiring construction skills

• learning about the planet on which we live

• learning about the universe/solar system

• learning about food production, industry, transportand trade

• learning about different cultures

• learning interpersonal skills and conventions

• learning about moral rules and behaviour

• learning about the world of work

• learning about practitioner roles

• learning about caring for oneself and others – thisincludes hygiene and safety

• learning about the human body

• acquiring music skills

• acquiring creative skills

• acquiring physical co-ordination – may includespecific sports

• acquiring an additional language

• learning about past historical events.

Students must include the five sections referred to insection 3.4.6

AO1 Knowledge and Understanding of topics,strategies and techniques (Sections A and B)

In Mark Band 1: it is expected that students willdescribe the topic chosen, but the description willlack detail. Students will provide some information onthe strategies and methods for learning that the topicwill use. The students may include irrelevantinformation not related to their topic.

In Mark Band 2: students will describe their topicand the relevant strategies for learning. The work willbe mainly accurate and it will be clearly appropriate tothe chosen Key Stage. Students will show someunderstanding of the way the topic could beassessed, but this will lack specific assessmentmethods.

In Mark Band 3: students will give good descriptionsof the topic chosen. The work will be accurate andshow a good knowledge of the topic. Students will beable to describe the strategies that help learning totake place. Students will be able to describe thetypes and techniques for learning for that Key Stage.The work will be accurate. Students will accuratelydescribe the appropriate assessment methods.

In Mark Band 4: students will show descriptions andstrategies for the topic at the Key Stage with gooddetail. There will be no omissions and the work willshow that the students have an excellentunderstanding of the way children learn. They will beable to describe in depth the types and techniques oflearning. The assessment methods are described indepth and are accurate for the chosen topic and KeyStage.

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AO2 Application of Skills (Section C)

In Mark Band 1: students will produce a learningplan. It will have aims but these will lack detail. Theymay not put the topic or Key Stage on the plan.

In Mark Band 2: the learning plan will be detailedand clearly show what the students hope will takeplace. There will be specific tasks/items. The plan willbe specific to the chosen topic and clearly related tothe Key Stage. The aims will be clear and specific.

In Mark Band 3: the students’ plan will show depth.On reading the plan and the tasks set the assessorwill see that students have clearly understood howchildren learn at the chosen Key Stage. Tasks will beappropriate to the Key Stage. The plan will havematerials with it that have been chosen/designed tomeet the aims and are appropriate to the chosen KeyStage.

In Mark Band 4: the students’ plan and materials willshow flair, creativity and imagination. The plan willappear highly likely to achieve the stated aims. Theplan will be in good depth and presented in a waythat a facilitator/teacher could provide thatactivity/experience.

AO3 Research and Analysis (Section E)

In Mark Band 1: students will have a limited amountof source material in the appendix. The portfolio ofevidence will be poorly-organised.

In Mark Band 2: the appendix will have evidencethat is suitable background material for the chosentopic. There will be references. The portfolio ofevidence will have some organisation.

In Mark Band 3: there will be a range ofmaterials/sources that is directly relevant to thechosen topic. There will be an explanation of how thematerials/sources were used. The references are inthe correct form. The portfolio of evidence is mainlywell-organised.

In Mark Band 4: the appendix has evidence ofthorough research into the chosen topic andmaterials/sources for the relevant techniques andtheory of learning. There will be an explanation of howsources have been used. The portfolio of evidence islogically organised.


In Mark Band 1: students will attempt to evaluatetheir plan.

In Mark Band 2: students will evaluate their plan inpoint form. Students will attempt to link theirevaluation to the stated aims and the theory, but thiswill not be in detail.

In Mark Band 3: students’ evaluations will bereasoned and justified. Students will refer to theissues, theory and evidence linked to the topic andKey Stage.

In Mark Band 4: students will produce an evaluationwhich is thorough, reasoned and justified. Theevaluation will refer throughout to the theories, issuesand evidence of learning. Students will refer to theaims and discuss whether these were met. Studentswill link all work to the chosen topic and Key Stage.Students will show an understanding of howchildren/young people learn and how their plan hasworked.

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3.5 HSC05: Learning and Development (Optional)This unit aims to develop your understanding of theinfluences that can affect learning and development,as well as key theories which attempt to explainbehaviour.

The assessment for this unit is an examination seesection 3.5.5


3.5.1 Factors affecting learning, development, health and well-being

Lifestyle choices and behaviours

You should look at examples from across the health,social care, children and young people andcommunity justice sectors that illustrate how lifestylechoices and behaviours can affect individuals’ health,well-being and opportunities.

You should assess the potential benefits or risks ofdifferent lifestyle choices and behaviours on health,well-being and opportunities, including:

• substance use, for example smoking and alcoholconsumption

• diet

• participation in physical activities

• involvement in community-based activities

• work-life balance

• antisocial behaviour

• truancy.

Life events

You should understand that although individuals mayrespond differently to life events depending on theirpersonality and specific circumstances, the likelyimpact of given life events can usually be anticipated.You should know that some life events may have bothpositive and negative effects.

• birth, e.g. of a sibling or having a family

• starting and leaving school/college/university

• starting work/moving jobs/redundancy/retirement

• marriage

• divorce

• bereavement

• serious illness or accident

• acquired disability

• being a victim or witness of crime

• moving home/moving into residential or nursingcare.

Impacts:

• physical, e.g. disturbed eating or sleepingpatterns

• intellectual, e.g. skills acquisition, or difficulty inconcentrating

• emotional, e.g. enhanced happiness, anxiety, griefor depression

• social, e.g. loss or change of social opportunitiesand interactions, becoming withdrawn andisolated, changes in income

• financial, e.g. a reduced income.

Illness or health conditions, including:

• hereditary conditions: genetic/chromosomal, e.g.Tourette’s syndrome, sickle cell disease

• genetic predisposition, e.g. multiple sclerosis,spina bifida

• combination of genetic and environmental, e.g.ADHD, obesity

• age-related, e.g. osteoporosis, cardiovasculardisease

You are not expected to have a detailed knowledge ofhealth conditions but you should understand theimpact of such illnesses/conditions on an individual’shealth and well-being.

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3.5.2 Theories of human development

You need to be able to outline and evaluate theoriesthat can be used to explain human behaviour anddevelopment at each life stage. Some of thesetheories are stage theories whilst others emphasisethe importance of genetic and environmental effectson behaviour and development.

You should know the work of one theorist from eachperspective

Biological perspective

• Eysenck

• Cattell.

Humanist perspective (the individual’s interaction withtheir social and physical environment)

• Maslow

• Rogers.

Behavioural perspective (role of reinforcement,conditioning)

• Pavlov

• Skinner.

Social learning perspective (effects of others, groups,culture and society on behaviour)

• Latane

• Bandura.

Constructivist perspective

• Piaget

• Vygotsky.

Psychodynamic perspective

• Freud

• Erikson.

Life stages to be considered must include:

• Infancy

• Childhood

• Adolescence

• Adulthood

• Later adulthood.

You should also understand behavioural and sociallearning perspectives in the development of language.Additionally you must understand how biologicaltheorists such as Lennerberg and Chomsky view thedevelopment of language. In the study of language,you should consider what we can learn from thestudy of feral and unsocialised children.

3.5.3 Application of the perspectives to understand behaviour in a range of settings

You need to know how the theories in 3.5.2 helppractitioners support clients within a range of settingsfrom the four sectors including:

Health: hospitals, GP surgery and other primaryhealthcare providers, healthcare provided at home(e.g. by a district nurse), hospices.

Social Care: day care centre settings, residential andnursing homes, sheltered housing, foster homes.

Children and young people: child minders,nurseries, playgroups, primary schools, secondaryschools, pupil referral units, colleges.

Community justice: prisons, remand centres, youngoffenders’ institutes.

3.5.4 Strategies associated with the theories

You need to know how the following strategies andtechniques can be used to support clients:

• biological treatments – drugs, meditation andrelaxation, sensory rooms

• person-centred therapy and encounter groups

• behaviour therapy, behaviour modification, tokeneconomy

• modelling, social skills training and family therapy

• simple and complex sensory motor, verbal andimaginative play with peers and adults, cognitivebehavioural therapy.

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You will be assessed on your knowledge,understanding and skills relating to learning anddevelopment through a written examination of twohours.

There will be four compulsory structured questionswhich will include short-answer and free-responseitems. These will require you to demonstrate andapply your knowledge, understanding and skills indifferent contexts appropriate to learning anddevelopment.

The questions will be drawn from the following fourareas of the unit:

• factors affecting learning, development, healthand well-being

• theories of human development

• application of the perspectives to understandbehaviour in a range of settings

• strategies associated with the theories.


• your answers show good levels of detail, depth,relevance and accuracy




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3.6 HSC06: Practitioner Roles (Compulsory)This unit aims to increase your understanding of theworld of work in health, social care, children andyoung people and community justice sectors. It alsohelps you to reflect on your own suitability for differentjob roles.

This unit is synoptic. It requires you to use theknowledge and understanding of life quality factorsand caring skills gained in HSC01 and other AS units.

The assessment for this unit is a portfolio of evidence– see section 3.6.8.


3.6.1 Employment sectors

You should learn about the main employment sectorsin the four sectors of health, social care, children andyoung people and community justice. These are:

• the statutory sector:

• the NHS, local authority provision including socialservices and education (including Early Years andspecial education)

• the independent sector:

private, profit-making providers of health andsocial care; private not-for-profit providers(e.g. housing associations which provideresidential care)

• voluntary organisations.

You should learn how these sectors are funded, e.g.:

• local and national taxation

• charges for services

• via insurance

• lottery funding

• direct donations.

You should understand factors which influence theavailability of these jobs, nationally and locally,including demographic change and the policies of thepolitical party in power.

3.6.2 Roles and conditions

You should learn what is meant by conditions ofemployment, e.g.:

• pay

• incremental pay increases

• overtime

• pension rights

• holidays

• working patterns (e.g. shift)

• job security.

You should learn in outline the different levels ofqualification required for the different job roles.

You should learn what is meant by job satisfactionand understand the factors which might contribute tothis, including:

• autonomy

• level of reward

• working in a small, cohesive team

• stressors and satisfiers

• level of responsibility.

You should understand that jobs in the four sectorsvary widely in job outcome. For example, a nurseworking in ophthalmic outpatient surgery will seemost patients completely cured or significantlyimproved, while a care assistant in a nursing homewill see most residents decline and die.

You should understand that some job roles have arelatively high social status, while others seemundervalued or even disapproved of by the generalpublic.

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3.6.3 Meeting individual needs

You should refer to the quality of life factors andcaring skills and techniques listed in HSC01 EffectiveCare and Communication and learn how practitionersapply these to meet the needs of clients.

You should also refer to how the life quality factors aremet for the practitioners in their job roles.

3.6.4 Legislation

You should learn about the main provisions andeffects of legislation relevant to the job roles.

Safeguarding procedures relevant to each job roleshould also be examined, for example CRB checks.

3.6.5 Quality Assurance

You should learn about ways in which the client’sexperience of treatment provided by practitioners canbe assessed. These include the measurement ofservice delivery against performance indicators, e.g.waiting times and clinical outcomes, as well as theuse of client satisfaction questionnaires andinterviews.

You should be aware of local factors influencingprovision, e.g. difficulties of access caused byremoteness and/or lack of transport, demographicfactors such as a large proportion of retired people orchildren in the population, poverty and level ofresources for services.

3.6.6 Interview techniques

You should learn how to design an interview scheduleto measure satisfaction in the job and confirm yourfindings from section 3.6.1. You should learn how touse a combination of closed and open questions,including rating scales, where appropriate, to find out

about the job role and satisfaction for a range ofindividual needs (life quality factors). You should learnwhen to follow up interviewee responses withsupplementary questions. You should also learn howto record an interviewee’s responses on the schedule.

3.6.7 Ethical precautions

You should learn how to apply the following ethicalprecautions when interviewing respondents:

• avoid embarrassment and distress

• recognise whether or not an item might cause arespondent embarrassment or distress, andwhether to discontinue an interview to avoid this

• the importance of telling the interviewee that theycan choose not to answer particular questions

• maintain confidentiality

• respondents’ names should not be reported

• seek informed consent

• the initial request to the respondent should outlinewhat will be required of them during the interview,and indicate how much time it will take; therespondent should be specifically offered theoption not to take part

• give an explicit right to withdraw from the interviewat any time.

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You need to produce a portfolio of evidencedescribing and evaluating two contrasting job rolesfrom health, social care, children and young people orcommunity justice. You should include in your workan evaluation and comparison of the two jobs as wellas evaluating how practitioners support thesafeguarding and protection of the individuals theycome into contact with. It should also include anevaluation of your own suitability for these roles.

Your portfolio of evidence should not be a sharedexercise or based on a whole-group topic, but whollyyour own work. Work which does not demonstrateindependence cannot be awarded high marks.

Your work for assessment must include the followingsections and subsections.


This should include a description of each job role withreference to:

• full title and area it is from, e.g. adult nurse fromhealth area

• sector, including whether statutory orindependent, funding sources and employer, e.g.NHS, named local authority, how the client/saccess the service/s provided by the chosenpractitioners

• role, including the main duties or activitiesrequired, the extent to which the job role involvesteam working with others in different job roles

• status, including level of public approval,qualifications required, opportunities for careerprogression, local and political factors influencingjob opportunities

• conditions, including whether part- or full-time,pay, overtime, hours/working patterns/shifts,holidays, pension rights

• job security, evidence of anti-discriminatorypractice, relevant legislation/policy, safeguardingprocedures for each job role

• presence of stressors, job satisfaction potentialincluding client outcomes, level of responsibility,quality assurance regulator, life quality factors forthe job role.

Section B Evidence

This should include two subsections as follows:

• B.1 Describe an investigation you carried out witha person who occupies one of the job roles you

identified. You should design and use materials foran interview to investigate the person’s perceptionof aspects of their job role, job satisfaction and toconfirm the accuracy of your research in section3.6.1. The person you have interviewed must notbe named in the portfolio of evidence.

• B.2 Describe evidence of your own aptitudes.This might refer to existing qualifications, relevantexperience, preferences, feedback from careersinterviews and the results of vocationalinventories.

Section C Evaluation

This should include two subsections as follows:

• C.1 Compare and contrast the two job roles’ keyfactors with particular emphasis on how the twopractitioners ensure that safeguarding issues aremet.

• C.2 Evaluate your own suitability for the two jobroles referring to the skills you have described insection B2.

Your evaluation should make use of informationpresented in the Introduction and Evidence sections.

Section D Appendix

This should include:

• copies or website screen shots of all materialsaccessed for section A

• copies of letters or e-mails sent and received byyou and materials you used to collect evidence,which might include job satisfaction inventories,records of interview responses, vocationalpreference inventory results and summary recordsof achievement and experience (the latter couldbe in the form of a CV)

• references to the sources of information used.

Synoptic Assessment

When writing your portfolio of evidence, you shoulddraw on your knowledge, understanding and skillsgained when studying HSC01 and other AS units.Particularly relevant to the Introduction and Evaluationsections of your portfolio of evidence is knowledge oflife quality factors.

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Assessment Criteria: HSC06Your portfolio of evidence must include the following sections:

A Introduction; B Evidence; C Evaluation; D Appendix

The portfolio of evidenceincludes some accurateinformation about twopractitioner roles, andreveals someunderstanding of theconcept of conditions atwork.

The portfolio of evidencedescribes twopractitioner roles withonly minor inaccuraciesor omissions. It revealssome understanding ofthe concepts ofconditions at work andemployment sectors.

The portfolio of evidenceincludes acomprehensive andaccurate description oftwo practitioner roles,and reveals accurateunderstanding ofconditions, sectors, andjob satisfaction/quality oflife factors related tomeeting individualneeds.

The portfolio of evidenceincludes acomprehensive andaccurate description oftwo practitioner roles,and reveals detailed andaccurate understandingof conditions, sectors,status, relevantlegislation, safeguardingprocedures and jobsatisfaction/life qualityfactors related tomeeting individualneeds.

AO1 Knowledge, Understanding and Skills (Section A)


There is a partially-successful attempt toapply the concept ofconditions of work toboth job roles.

The concepts ofconditions of work andemployment sectors areaccurately applied toboth practitioner roles.

The concepts ofconditions, sectors andjob satisfaction/ lifequality factors areapplied accurately toboth practitioner roles.

Knowledge ofconditions, sectors,status, relevantlegislation, safeguardingprocedures and jobsatisfaction/life qualityfactors are appliedaccurately and whollyrelevant to bothpractitioner roles.

AO2 Application (Section A)


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There is somedescription of aninterview investigationand some description ofstudent’s own aptitudes.

Some materials forcollecting evidence tosupport all sections areincluded in theappendix.

Information in theportfolio of evidence ispoorly organised andlacks a coherentstructure although it willcontain some validpoints. The portfolio ofevidence containssignificant errors and/oromissions in the use oftechnical terms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar leading to alack of clarity.

There is a cleardescription of aninterview investigationand a coherent accountof student’s ownaptitudes.

Suitable materials forcollecting evidence tosupport all sections areincluded in the appendix.

There is someappropriate mention ofethical precautions.


There is a cleardescription of a well-designed andcompetently-recordedinterview investigation,and a coherent accountof student’s ownaptitudes.

Relevant supportingdocumentation for allsections is included inthe appendix.

There is some evidenceof ethically correctprocedures.

Information in theportfolio of evidence ismainly well organisedand structured and issupported by validevidence. The portfolioof evidence is writtenwith reasonable claritybut has a few minorerrors and/or omissionsin the use of technicalterms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar.

Student’s evidencecollection of both fortheir investigation andfor describing their ownaptitudes is systematic,unbiased andcomprehensive.

The portfolio of evidenceis fully supported bydocumentation for allsections in the appendix.

There is clear evidenceof ethically correctprocedures.

Information in theportfolio of evidence islogically organisedleading to a coherentstructure and issupported by a range ofvalid evidence. Theportfolio of evidence isclearly written with only afew minor errors in theuse of technical terms,spelling, punctuationand grammar.

AO3 Research and Analysis (Sections B and D)


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There is someappropriate evaluation oftwo practitioner rolesand of the student’s ownsuitability for them.

Information in theportfolio of evidence ispoorly organised andlacks a coherentstructure although it maycontain some validpoints. The portfolio ofevidence containssignificant errors and/oromissions in the use oftechnical terms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar leading to alack of clarity.

Evaluations of twopractitioner roles andsafeguarding issues andof the student’s ownsuitability for them areclear. There are somecomparisons.


Evaluations of twopractitioner roles and thesafeguarding issues andof Student’s ownsuitability for them arethorough, make explicitand effectivecomparisons and areexplicitly based on andrelated to the informationpresented in thepreceding sections ofthe portfolio of evidence.


Evaluations arecomplete andcomprehensive, areconsistent with theinformation presented inthe preceding sectionsof the portfolio ofevidence. They present a highlyrealistic, authentic andobjective account of thepractitioner roles,safeguarding issues andthe student’s suitabilityfor the two roles.

Information in theportfolio of evidence islogically organisedleading to a coherentstructure and issupported by a range ofvalid evidence. Theportfolio of evidence isclearly written with only afew minor errors in theuse of technical terms,spelling, punctuationand grammar.

AO4 Evaluation (Section C)


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Additional Assessment Guidance forHSC06This compulsory unit is internally-assessed. In this unitstudents can choose job roles from the health, socialcare, children and young people and communityjustice sectors. This will offer them the opportunity oflooking closer at career paths they are considering forthe future. Teachers are encouraged to contact theirportfolio adviser (see pg.4) to check the suitability ofjob roles and also to ensure that students are selectingjob roles which are sufficiently different to allowcomparisons to be made in section C.

The two job roles are assessed and schools/collegesshould think of AO1 as covering the factors and AO2as applying them to the chosen practitioners.Students should ensure that they apply the relevantresearch. So, for example, if writing about a nursethey should choose a specific nurse such as achildren’s nurse. Students should clearly reference allfactors and evidence of either screen shots from theweb page, clear book titles, articles, etc. and theseshould be placed in the appendix.

Students should also consider safeguarding aspectsof each of the two job roles they choose. This will verymuch be led by the roles chosen, but can includenational policy and procedure as well as that at alocal level. So, students may include, for exampleinformation on CRB checks and List 99 for teachersas well as safeguarding procedures in place withintheir own Local Education Authority or school/college.Safeguarding can be useful when applying for jobs aswell as when appointed to the job.

Students must fully reference their work in sections Aand B2. All source material must be linked to theappendix.

AO1 Knowledge, Understanding and Skills(Section A)

In Mark Band 1: students will be able todemonstrate limited knowledge of some of thefactors for the two chosen practitioners’ roles. Thework will often be generic e.g. nurses not specifictypes of nurses. This will be brief.

In Mark Band 2: students will cover the majority ofthe factors but some of these will lack depth and maycontain some omissions.

In Mark Band 3: students will meet all the factorsfrom the specification for each practitioner. Theinformation will be clearly related to the specific jobroles and students will show understanding of howthe life quality factors are met by that job.

In Mark Band 4: students will meet all the factorsand provide information on legislation andsafeguarding issues relevant to both practitioners.There will be no omissions and all work will beaccurate.

AO2 Application (Section A)

In Mark Band 1: students will apply only some of theinformation to the roles.

In Mark Band 2: students will accurately apply theirresearch to some of the practitioner roles. They mayinclude some generic information for some of thefactors.

In Mark Band 3: students will apply their research toall the factors. It will be clear that students havecovered all the factors for each role.

In Mark Band 4: students will demonstrate detailedunderstanding in their application of research to allthe factors. The legislation and safeguarding issueswill be relevant to each role. There will be noirrelevancies.

AO3 Research and Analysis (Sections B and D)

In Mark Band 1: students will give a basicdescription of the interview with some of theiraptitudes. The work will lack detail and the appendixwill be weak. It will contain the completed interviewschedule and there will be a little evidence fromsections A and B.

In Mark Band 2: students will give a cleardescription of the interview and their aptitudes willcover the main points of qualifications, workexperience and skills. The appendix will have goodevidence to support section A. The interviewschedule and the aptitudes will be supported.

In Mark Band 3: students will give a good write-upof the interview using all the factors from section A tosupport the descriptions. The appendix will containrelevant information to support sections A and B.Ethical procedures will be mentioned.

In Mark Band 4: students will give a comprehensivewrite-up of the interview and their aptitudes. All theinformation for sections A and B will be present andreferenced. Good detail on ethical procedures will beincluded.

AO4 Evaluation (Section C)

In Mark Band 1: students will attempt an evaluationof the two practitioner roles. They will write a fewpoints on their suitability for the roles. Safeguardingwill be weak.

In Mark Band 2: the evaluations and students’suitability will be clear. Students will describe somesafeguarding issues relevant to the roles.

In Mark Band 3: students will evaluate the two rolesusing the safeguarding issues in depth. The suitabilityfor the roles will be described with good reference tothe aptitudes section.

In Mark Band 4: students will evaluate the two roleswith accuracy ensuring that the information is clearlylinked to the information from their research insections A and B. The safeguarding issues will be fullycovered and discussed. Students’ suitability willclearly link to the information provided in section B2.

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3.7 HSC07: Food and Fitness (Optional)This unit aims to develop your knowledge andunderstanding of food components and balanceddiets required to meet the dietary and nutritionalneeds of different client groups and a range ofdifferent aspects of exercise which help maintain thefitness, health and well-being of individuals.

The assessment for this unit is an examination – seesection 3.7.10


3.7.1 Exercise-related fitness and nutrients in food

You need to have a broad understanding of the maincomponents of food and their functions incontributing to fitness, health and well-being. Youshould understand that there are many different kindsof exercise-related fitness which enable the humanbody to function to maximum physical efficiency.

You should understand:

• aerobic fitness as the ability to endure or sustainwork for long periods (generally any activity undertwelve minutes is not fully aerobic); you shouldknow that aerobic fitness requires effectiveexternal respiration, oxygen transport from lungsto cells and oxygen use within the cell; themeasurement of aerobic fitness (VO2 max) shouldalso be known, and the typical difference in thismeasurement between males and females; theshort-term and long-term physiological effects ofregular exercise and training on aerobic fitnessshould be known

• use of/metabolism of carbohydrates for energy(classified into sugars, starches and non-starchpolysaccharides (NSP); functions should includeenergy supply and the effects of NSP on thedigestive tract; fibre in soluble forms and theprobable link to lowering blood cholesterol)

• use of/metabolism of fats for energy (i.e.saturated, mono-unsaturated andpolyunsaturated; fats and oils as energy sources,for insulation against heat loss and for use inprotective layers; you should also know thatcholesterol is a fat-like substance with both usefuland harmful effects)

• use of/metabolism of proteins for energy(composed of amino acids, some of which can besynthesised and some of which must be taken inthe diet. Protein function including growth, repairand maintenance of the body and as hormonesand antibodies)

• muscular fitness, i.e. strength and stamina tocope with the stresses of everyday life. Strengthshould be understood in terms of both maximumstrength and dynamic strength (power). Mobilityshould also be understood as the ability to movewith speed, balance and/or endurance. Flexibilityis defined as the range of movement possible bythe whole body or part of the body around asingle joint.

3.7.2 Minerals, vitamins and the consequence of deficiency on the body

• Minerals:

the functions, requirements and main sources ofiron, calcium, phosphorus, iodine and zinc andthe effects of deficiency of these

• Vitamins:

the functions, requirements and main sources ofvitamins, including fat-soluble A, D, E and K andwater-soluble B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3(niacin), B9 (folic acid), B12 (cobalamin) and C(ascorbic acid) and the effects of deficiency ofthese.

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3.7.3 Physical, social and psychological benefits of regular exercise

You should know the following different benefits:

• controlling stress by using exercise to reduceblood pressure, improve concentration span,improve decision-making, and improve sleepingpattern and lower anxiety; exercise may also helpprevent indigestion, palpitations and ‘muscular’aches and pains

• raising self-esteem by promoting positive mentalattitude and developing self-confidence and the‘feel good’ factor;. you will need to have a basicunderstanding that these changes are linked tochemical production in the body

• combating ageing by maintaining body systemeffectiveness, i.e. respiratory, circulatory, digestive

and musculo-skeletal; you should also appreciatethat many age-related diseases and disorders canbe reduced or prevented by regular exercise, e.g.thrombosis, atherosclerosis and osteoporosis

• balanced diet and weight control: i.e. the effectsof exercise on appetite, the energy equation andthe food groups associated with poweringexercise; including the principles of maintaining abalanced diet including: adequate amounts ofnutrients; the dangers of excesses/deficiencies;the importance of variety in a balanced diet

• social benefits, i.e. exercise taken in groups andcontributing to the emotional and social well-beingof individuals.

3.7.4 Exercise for disease prevention and regulation

You should have a broad range of knowledge relatingto the beneficial effects of regular exercise on majordiseases and disorders. This should cover:

• diseases that can be prevented by regularexercise, e.g. heart diseases, cardiovascularincident (stroke), type 2 diabetes and diseasesassociated with obesity

• diseases that may be improved or regulated byregular exercise, e.g. type 1 diabetes,hypertension.

3.7.5 Exercise and food programmes for different individuals

You should be able to recommend suitable exerciseprogrammes to improve the fitness of a wide range ofclients including those who wish to use exercise to:

• control weight (food menus for those who want tolose weight and macro and micro nutrientsrequired for individuals.)

• rehabilitate following illness

• prevent and regulate disease

• combat ageing

3.7.6 Barriers to participation in regular exercise

You should be able to recognise common barriers toregular exercise and to suggest realistic ways toovercome them.

These barriers include:

• costs

• skills and fitness levels

• facility locations

• work and family commitments.

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3.7.7 Safety in physical activity

You should be aware of the principles of goodpractice and safety when taking part in physicalactivity. This includes the importance of:

• medical checks and expert advice before startingphysical activity

• appropriate equipment and clothing

• warm-up and warm-down programmes

• correct use of monitoring equipment

• drinking water to avoid dehydration and as: an aidto digestion; an essential for chemical reactions; alubricant for joints and cells and for helpingregulate body temperature

The physiological basis of each of these should beknown, as should the physiological consequences offailing to follow these practices.

3.7.8 Standard monitoring methods and tables

You should be able to understand, recognise and usethe following tables and measures:

• standard height and weight charts, BMImeasurements and tables

• resting pulse rates and recovery pulse timings

• lung function tests, e.g. spirometry for tidalvolume, minute ventilation and peak flow

• perceived exertion scales, e.g. Borg

You should be able to identify the strengths andlimitations of these different measures.

3.7.9 Control mechanisms

You will need to know how pulse, body temperature,blood pressure and lung function are controlled. Thiswill include the role of the nervous system andunderstanding the role of homeostasis as the processused by the body to maintain a stable environment.This includes the principle of negative feedback. Youshould understand specifically how homeostaticmechanisms control:

• body temperature, i.e. the role of thehypothalamus and the changes that occurinvolving muscles and skin blood vessels whenbody temperature changes;

• heart rate, i.e. the role of the sinoatrial node (pacemaker), adrenalin and noradrenalin;

• respiratory rate, i.e. the role of the brain’srespiratory centre monitoring carbon dioxide levels

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You will be assessed on your knowledge,understanding and skills relating to food and fitnessthrough a written examination of two hours.

There will be four compulsory structured questionswhich will include short-answer and free responseitems. These will require you to demonstrate andapply your knowledge, understanding and skills indifferent contexts appropriate to food and fitness.

You will also be required to analyse research data,including numerical data, relating to relevant food andfitness issues and to evaluate evidence, makejudgements and draw conclusions.

The questions will be drawn from each of thefollowing nine areas of the unit:

• exercise related fitness and nutrients in food

• minerals, vitamins and the consequences ofdeficiency on the body

• physical, social and psychological benefits ofregular exercise

• standard monitoring methods and tables

• control mechanisms

• safety in physical activity

• barriers to participation in regular exercise

• exercise for disease prevention and regulation

• exercise and food programmes for differentindividuals.


• your answers show a good level of detail, depth,relevance and accuracy


• data analysis is thorough and produces clear,logical reasoning and judgements



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3.8 HSC08: Using and Understanding Research (Optional)In this unit you will gain an understanding of researchand research methods within one of the followingsectors: health, social care, children and youngpeople or community justice, and analysebackground literature related to your area of interest.

This unit requires you to carry out your own piece ofresearch by choosing, designing and carrying out asimple study which will demonstrate yourunderstanding of research methods. You must useprimary and secondary data. The process is asimportant as the findings, as evidenced by theinclusion by all students of a reflective log.

This will be an opportunity to explore an area ofinterest which may be linked to your intended careerpathway. For example, if you wished to be a primaryschool teacher, you could carry out a piece ofresearch on rewards systems in a primary school, or ifyou wished to pursue a career in the police, youmight investigate attitudes into crime in your localarea.

The assessment for this unit is a portfolio of evidencewhich must include the reflective log – see section3.8.6.


3.8.1 The role and impact of research within the health, social care, children andyoung people and community justice sectors

You should learn about large research bodies andtheir role in conducting research, which affects thework of the four sectors. Examples of theseorganisations are:

• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

• Medical Research Council (MRC)

• Office for National Statistics (ONS).

You should know how research can be used to:

• improve service delivery

• test and review existing knowledge

• explore social trends and influence policy making

You should be able to give examples of each of theseareas.

3.8.2 Methods

You should learn about the following primary methods:

Survey method using an interview

• these include the structured interview with aprepared schedule of items and the unstructured,e.g. clinical interview

• advantages of this method in studying beliefs,attitudes and feelings

• advantages of structured interviews in enablingcomparisons and statistical generalisations to bemade

• advantages of unstructured interviews, includingaccess to qualitative data

• limitations of both techniques including risk ofinterviewer bias and inability to reveal cause-effectlinks.

Survey method using a questionnaire

• these include rating scales, closed and openquestions

• time should be taken to devise any questionnairescarefully looking at possible pitfalls and carrying

out a pilot within the group or target population toavoid error

• advantage of the method in avoiding effectscaused by the presence of the researcher

• limitations should include low return rate fromrespondents leading to a self-selected andunrepresentative sample.

Observation

• this is a way of measuring the frequencies of asmall range of behaviours using a preparedchecklist of behaviour categories

• observation studies vary in two main ways. Firstlythe choice between participant and nonparticipant observation. Secondly the choicebetween overt and covert research

• limitations including the possible effect of beingobserved on the behaviour and physiological stateof participants, ethical issues of privacy andinability to reveal cause-effect links.

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3.8.3 Sampling

You should learn about the following ways ofselecting a sample from a target population and thetimes when a sampling frame would be used:

• random sampling

• quota sampling

• cluster sampling

• opportunity sampling

• volunteer sampling

• snowball sampling.

You should be aware of the advantages andlimitations of all these sampling techniques. Youshould understand that a small sample is likely to beunrepresentative of the target population, however itis selected.

3.8.4 Ethical Issues

You should understand that different methods ofresearch give rise to different ethical problems.Ethical issues you should be aware of include:

• deception about the aim or hypothesis beingstudied

• temporary deception (during the researchprocedure) is often necessary in order to avoidparticipant bias or demand characteristics.However this deception should be mild (forexample telling a person that the study is aboutmeasuring physical fitness, when it is in fact aboutmeasuring the effect of exercise on mood). Anysuch deception should be corrected byexplanation in a debriefing following datacollection. Serious deception (for example falselytelling a participant that someone they know hasbeen injured in an accident) should not bepractised

• participants’ experiences of embarrassment ordistress. Researchers should be sensitively awareof the likely responses of others which might bedifferent from the researcher’s own likelyresponses as a participant.

You should understand the ethical precautionsresearchers should use with participants, including:

• maintaining confidentiality. Participants’ namesshould not be reported

• seeking informed consent. The initial request tothe participant should outline what will be requiredof them during the study, and indicate how muchtime it will take. The participant should bespecifically offered the option not to take part

• giving an explicit right to withdraw from a researchprocedure at any time

• debriefing, this should be done as soon aspossible after the research procedure is finished,normally immediately afterwards; debriefingshould enable the participant to understand whatthe research was about, to tell them what willhappen to the results and to invite and answer theparticipant’s questions. The researcher must usehis/her own judgement about telling participantswhat they scored on any measures. If participantswish to know, they should be told, but theresearcher should avoid passing judgement onhow well or badly a participant performed.

3.8.5 Results

• numerical data should be processed to producesummary data in the form of percentages, and themean, median, modal results as appropriate

• results should be presented clearly usingdescriptive statistics, i.e. pie charts, tables and barcharts where appropriate to aid understanding.

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You need to produce a portfolio of evidence andreflective log choosing one area of research, whichrelates to one of the four sectors. When you aredoing this, other units in your health and social carecourse or a career that you are interested in pursuingmight influence your choice of topic. Then, you willfind out about previously-published literature into thisarea, which will help you to design, carry out andreport on your own empirical study, which shouldinclude primary data which you have collectedyourself.


Your work for assessment must include the followingsections and subsections:

Section A The completed reflective log

The reflective log forms part of the CRF and can befound on www.aqa.org.uk under courseworkadministration. The log should be completedthroughout the research process. Although theresponsibility for this lies mainly with the student,there is one section for the teacher to complete.

Section B Role and impact of research

This section requires you to show understanding ofthe role and impact of research for the sector youhave chosen. You should seek out specific examplesof research, which illustrate how research can beused to improve service delivery, test and reviewexisting knowledge and explore social trends andinfluence policy-making.

Section C Review of background literature

A great deal of care needs to be taken over theselection of background literature since the choice willhave a bearing on the success later. The literature caninclude media articles, websites and references toprevious studies.

The evidence should:

• provide scope to explore the validity and reliabilityof the evidence. For example you should be ableto appreciate possible sources of bias accordingto who has provided the evidence. You may seekout varying viewpoints comparing perhaps thepresentation of evidence from tabloid andbroadsheet newspapers

• provide scope for you to make assumptions aboutresearch methods, sampling methods and ethicalissues

• be clearly referenced in the bibliography.

The background literature should clearly lead on toyour proposed area of study.

Section D The research project

This should comprise five subsections:

D.1 Rationale

Why have you chosen this area of interest? Whydoes this area merit investigation? You shouldinclude key findings from your literature search tohelp justify your choice. You also need to showhow, as a result of your background research, thetopic you have selected merits investigation.

This section should end with a clear focus for theinvestigation where you define the researchhypothesis or research question that you intend toinvestigate.

D.2 Methods

You should have considered the advantages anddisadvantages and fully justified the use of themethod(s) you have used. You may discuss whyother methods were not suitable for this type ofresearch.

D.3 Sampling

You should have correctly identified the samplingtechniques used with full understanding of theiradvantages and disadvantages for your chosenarea of study. Similarly you may have discussedwhy other sampling techniques were not suitablefor this specific piece of research.

D.4 Ethical issues

Ethical issues should have been comprehensivelyapplied to the research with a full appreciation oftheir possible impact on your research. An ethicalstatement should be included which outlines allethical precautions taken.

D.5 Results

Results should be presented clearly usingdescriptive statistics, i.e. pie charts, tables andbar charts only where appropriate to aidunderstanding.

Conclusions should be sound and consistent withthe data presented. There should be evidence ofanalysis of qualitative and quantitative data whereappropriate.

Section E Evaluation

There should be a clear reference to the researchhypothesis/question and a comprehensiveexplanation that determines whether this wasanswered. The validity, reliability andrepresentativeness of the findings should be analysedcomprehensively. In summary there should be:

• advantages and disadvantages of methods usedfor your area of study

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• how far the hypothesis or research question hasbeen answered

• how far the findings matched the backgroundliterature

• strengths and weaknesses of the evidenceobtained

• validity, reliability and representativeness ofevidence obtained.

Finally there should be recommendations forimprovements and further research.

Section F Appendix

This should include examples of materials used, rawdata with calculations and a reference section whichprovides references for all studies/secondary sourcescited in the portfolio of evidence.

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A Completed reflective log; B Role and impact of research; C Review of background literature; D The researchproject; E Evaluation; F Appendix

The portfolio of evidencecontains relevantmaterial in all thesections specified.

Some reference is madeto the role and impact ofresearch within one ofthe following sectors:health, social care,children and youngpeople or communityjustice,

The portfolio of evidencecontains relevantmaterial in all thesections andsubsections specified.

There is a basicexplanation of the roleand impact of researchwithin one of thefollowing sectors: health,social care, children andyoung people orcommunity justice,

The portfolio of evidencereads coherently as awhole and there are nomajor contradictions.Appropriatemethodologicalterminology is usedcorrectly.

The portfolio of evidencecontains relevantmaterial in all thesections andsubsections specified.

There is an accurateexplanation of the roleand impact of researchwithin one of thefollowing sectors: health,social care, children andyoung people orcommunity justice,

The portfolio of evidenceis written in a clear,precise style withoutcontradiction. Use ofterminology is correct.Information required inone section is notmisplaced into anothersection.

All sections andsubsections of theportfolio of evidencecontain the appropriatematerial.

There is acomprehensiveexplanation of the roleand impact of researchwithin one of thefollowing sectors: health,social care, children andyoung people orcommunity justice,

The portfolio of evidenceas a whole is concise,lucid, and withoutsignificant repetition orirrelevance.References are completeand in the correct form.

AO1 Knowledge, Understanding and Skills (Whole portfolio of evidence)


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Some description of theresearch methods andsampling techniquesused is present.

The student provides alimited justification oftheir selection over otherprimary researchmethods and samplingtechniques.

There is evidence ofsome relevant ethicalprecautions having beenapplied.

A reflective log isincluded but this may beincomplete.

A basic description ofthe research methodsand samplingtechniques used ispresent.

The student provides anadequate justification oftheir selection over otherprimary researchmethods and samplingtechniques.

There is evidence ofmost relevant ethicalprecautions having beenapplied.

A completed reflectivelog is included.

An accurate descriptionof the research methodsand samplingtechniques used ispresent.

The student provides acompetent justificationof their selection overother primary researchmethods and samplingtechniques.

There is evidence of allrelevant ethicalprecautions having beenapplied.

A completed reflectivelog is included, whichdemonstrates someconsideration of theappropriateness, orotherwise, of decisionsmade during theresearch process.

A comprehensivedescription of theresearch methods andsampling techniquesused is present.

The student provides adetailed and accuratejustification of theirselection over otherprimary researchmethods and samplingtechniques.

There is evidence of allrelevant ethical issueshaving been accuratelyand competentlyapplied.

A completed reflectivelog is included, whichdemonstrates clearconsideration of theappropriateness, orotherwise, of decisionsmade during theresearch process.

AO2 Application (Sections A & D)


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There is reference torelevant empiricalresearch within thereview of backgroundliterature.

Numerical data arepresented.

Information in theportfolio of evidence ispoorly-organised andlacks a coherentstructure although it maycontain some validpoints. The portfolio ofevidence containssignificant errors and/oromissions in the use oftechnical terms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar leading to alack of clarity.

A basic review ofrelevant empiricalresearch within thereview of backgroundliterature is present.

A basic rationale for thestudy is included.

Summary data arepresented and correctlyderived from the rawdata. There is someappropriate analysis.


The review ofbackground literaturesection includes a rangeof appropriate studies,which are correctlyreferenced.

A coherent rationale forthe study with links tohealth and social care isincluded.

Methods of summarydata presentation arecorrectly chosen,labelled fully andanalysed to give arealistic indication of thefindings.

The summary data arederived correctly fromthe raw data presentedand a brief conclusion ispresent.

Information in theportfolio of evidence ismainly well-organisedand structured and issupported by validevidence. The portfolioof evidence is writtenwith reasonable claritybut has a few minorerrors and/or omissionsin the use of technicalterms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar.

There is an in-depth,well-researcheddescription of a range ofappropriate studies,which are correctlyreferenced.

A comprehensiverationale for the studywith links to health andsocial care is included.There is little irrelevance.

There is skilled andaccurate presentation ofresults, using a range ofappropriate techniques.

The conclusion is soundand consistent with thedata presented.

Information in theportfolio of evidence islogically-organisedleading to a coherentstructure and issupported by a range ofvalid evidence. Theportfolio of evidence isclearly written with fewminor errors in the use oftechnical terms, spelling,punctuation andgrammar.

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A minimal evaluation ofthe methodology ispresent.

The main methodologicalstrengths andweaknesses of the studyare identified andexplained.

Basic recommendationsfor improvements in theresearch and for futureresearch are included.

In addition, all aspectsspecified in theevaluation section arecovered competently.

In addition, there isdetailed evidence of asophisticated awarenessof the relevance andlimitations of the study.

AO4 Evaluation (Section E)


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Additional Assessment Guidance –HSC08This unit is internally-assessed on the basis of aportfolio of evidence that demonstrates students’knowledge, understanding and skills related toresearch techniques. Each student must choose asuitable topic that clearly relates to one of thefollowing sectors: health, social care, children andyoung people or community justice. Students mustattempt only ethically-acceptable research topics, forexample, they should only use participants over theage of 16 who (if applicable) give their full informedconsent. Teachers are encouraged to contact theirportfolio adviser (see pg.4) to check the suitability ofthe chosen topic. The methodologies that eachstudent uses should comply with conventional ethicalguidelines. Portfolios which do not follow thespecified structure of sections and subsections, willbe harder to assess and cannot be credited with fullmarks. The report should be aimed at a non-specialist audience – meaning all technical andesoteric terms should be explained.

Centres’ attention is drawn to the requirementpertaining to the reflective logbook. All students mustcomplete a logbook (which forms part of the CRF andcan be found on www.aqa.org.uk undercoursework administration) throughout their period ofresearch. This must be fixed to the front of theportfolio of evidence.

To meet the assessment criteria, students must followthe sections outlined in the specification. These arebroken down into subsections below.

AO1 Knowledge and Understanding of the role andimpact of research (whole report)

The marks for this section are based on the students’knowledge and understanding of the role and impactof research in their chosen sector, as well as theirknowledge and understanding of researchtechniques.

Students should be encouraged to seek out specificexamples of research which illustrate how researchcan be used to improve service delivery, test andreview existing knowledge and explore social trendsand influence policy making in their chosen sector.Examples of research should draw upon a wide rangeof sources. There should be at least one examplefrom one of the three large research bodies, ESRC,MRC and ONS. Centres are reminded that studentsshould be encouraged to include secondary sourceswhich they understand and can use.

In Mark Band 1: students will produce limited writteninformation, with some contradictions when coveringthe role and impact of research. Evidence is likely tobe thin and poorly-expressed. Students will refer toone of the sectors and at least one of the three largeresearch bodies (ESRC,MRC, ONS). Students shoulddemonstrate that they know how research can beused for at least one of the three bullet points in

section 3.8.1. The portfolio will contain relevantmaterial in all sections but there may be someomissions in the evidence at this level.

In Mark Band 2: students will cover the evidencerequirements with perhaps minor omissions andshow a basic understanding, by using examples, toexplain the role and impact of research. They will usebackground information from at least one of the threelarge research bodies (ESRC, MRC, ONS). Studentswill demonstrate that they know how research can beused for at least two of the three bullet points insection 3.8.1. The portfolio will contain appropriateand relevant materials in all the sections andsubsections, but may fail to use correctmethodological terminology in some subsections.

In Mark Band 3: students will produce evidence thatdoes not have any omissions. Understanding will bemore detailed and they will draw on more specificexamples from a greater range of sources. They willuse background information from at least one of thethree large research bodies (ESRC, MRC, ONS).Students will demonstrate that they know howresearch can be used for at least two of the threebullet points in section 3.8.1. The portfolio will containappropriate and relevant materials in all the sectionsand subsections and appropriate methodologicalterminology will be used accurately. However, theremay be repetition of some materials and students’use of referencing secondary sources of informationmay be incomplete.

In Mark Band 4: students will show acomprehensive understanding of the role and impactof research. They will use background informationfrom at least one of the three large research bodies(ESRC, MRC, ONS). Students will demonstrate thatthey know how research can be used through morecomplete coverage of the three bullet points insection 3.8.1. There will be no omissions andstudents will have demonstrated more initiative andindependence in the selection of relevant andchallenging examples drawing on a wide range ofsources. Students’ reports will achieve all of thecriteria and will be exceptionally well structured andclearly expressed. References will be complete and inthe correct form.

AO2 Application of Skills (Section D)

(Specifically, the marks for this section will based onstudents’ evidence within the subsections; D.2, D.3and D.4.)

Using their topic of research, students are expectedto produce written information on their choice of tworesearch methods, including both advantages,disadvantages and they may include reasons whyother methods were not suitable for this type ofresearch. All design decisions should be fully justifiedand there should be the use of appropriatemethodological terminology. Students must includedetails of the sampling techniques they employ, whichcould include theoretical and practical issues. Finally,

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they should ensure that all ethical aspects have beendiscussed and dealt with. An ethical statement shouldbe included.

In Mark Band 1: students will produce relevantmaterials for each of the three subsections, (i.e. D.2,D.3 and D.4) and there will be evidence of someethical procedures being applied but this informationwill be limited. For example, they might list somepoints and only refer to one data collection method.There is the potential for some contradictions, someomissions of ethical procedures and their researchmight be difficult to replicate.

In Mark Band 2: students will be able to describe atleast two appropriate methods of research. They willoffer justification for most of their decisions withinsubsections D.2, D.3 or D.4, but there could be someomissions or contradictions. Students will provideevidence that they have applied most ethicalprocedures but it’s likely that not all of the relevantethical issues will be dealt with.

In Mark Band 3: students will show evidence ofclear and systematic planning within their researchinvestigation. They will provide secure justification oftheir design choices related to their researchmethodologies. However, in at least one subsection,there could be a lack of full detail but there should beevidence that all relevant ethical procedures arecompetently applied.

In Mark Band 4: students will meet all of the criteria.The subsections will contain no flaws or omissions.All of the relevant ethical issues are fullycovered andthe design decisions are fully justified. Students willdemonstrate a high level of knowledge andunderstanding of their chosen topic and of researchprocesses and methodology.

AO3 Research and Analysis (Sections B, C(specifically the subsections D.1 and D.5) and E)

This section’s marks are based partly on the evidenceof students’ research and analysis section. Studentsare expected to produce a review of backgroundliterature within Section B. The literature can includemedia articles, websites and references to previousstudies. It is expected that teachers would provideguidance on the selection of secondary sources ofevidence, but for students to access the top markband, there must be some independent selection ofrelevant materials. It is not advisable that teachersdirect the students to the same sources ofinformation. Students should be encouraged to useonly information that they understand and can use.Generally speaking, the awarding of marks willdepend on the quality of the understanding of theevidence selected and the ability to summarise ideascoherently and with an effective written style.

Additionally, students are expected to demonstrateskilled and accurate presentation of their results usinga range of appropriate techniques within subsectionD.5. For example, in processing numerical data, the

accurate use of percentages, measures of centraltendency and fully-labelled graphs should feature. Allraw data should be in the appendix and theconclusions should be sound and consistent with thedata presented.

In Mark Band 1: students will make quite briefreference to relevant previous empirical studies andpresent some numerical data but the information willbe limited and there could be statistical errors.

In Mark Band 2: students will provide a limitedanalysis of background literature and present theresults of their study. This should include a summaryof its main themes but there could be slight statisticalerrors or flaws within the summary data. Theirrationale for the study could be vague andirrelevancies present.

In Mark Band 3: students will produce clear andrelevant evidence of secondary research. They mightuse specialist vocabulary within this subsection butthe logical progression of this evidence to inform therationale could be limited. All numerical data will becorrectly presented and analysed, although thisinterpretation will not be complex. They will drawsome valid conclusions that are well-reasoned.

In Mark Band 4: students will achieve all of therelevant criteria. There will be few, if any, irrelevancieswithin the review of background literature andrationale. Instead, students will cite and analyse arange of appropriate studies fully and highlight themain features and patterns within both primary andsecondary data. Specialist vocabulary will be utilised,especially, within the results subsection andconclusions will be strongly supported and consistentwith the data presented.

AO4 Evaluation (Section E)

This section requires students to produce acomprehensive, valid and justified evaluation of themethodology they chose for their chosen researchtopic. In particular, they are required to demonstratethe use of specialist vocabulary to analyse complexinformation by referring to key features of the data’sreliability and validity. Students would be expected todiscuss the participants they used and any factorsaffecting their research which could not have beenplanned for. The study’s ethical considerations mustbe discussed and resolved and the study’s outcomesand opportunities for future developments should befully reported.

In Mark Band 1: students will provide limited butvalid evaluation of the methodology they employed.They will use adequate expression but they will lacksome coherence. It’s likely that, within their evidence,some methodological weaknesses will not beidentified and/or some ethical issues neglected.

In Mark Band 2: students will present more detailand breadth in their evaluation of the methodologybut they could fail to cover competently all theaspects specified in the evaluation section.

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In Mark Band 3: students will produce a validdiscussion of all aspects of the methodologyspecified in this evaluation section. Their form andstyle of the main methodological strengths andweaknesses will convey meaning but students willlack a sophisticated awareness of the relevance,limitations of the study and future opportunities anddevelopments.

In Mark Band 4: there will be detailed evidence ofthe relevance and limitations of the study. All criteriawill be covered, students will demonstrate anexcellent level of analytical thinking andunderstanding of the reasons for carrying out theresearch and how it could be improved.

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3.9 HSC09: Understanding Mental Disorders (Optional)One in four people will experience at least onediagnosable mental disorder in the course of a year.This unit will introduce you to a range of these mentaldisorders, their causes, treatments and the impact ofthese on individuals and on their families, friends andcarers. You will explore the role of services andprofessionals in supporting people with mental

disorders and the impact of legislation on individualsand their treatment.

The assessment for this unit is a portfolio of evidence– see section 3.9.8.


3.9.1 Definitions and concepts relating to mental disorder

You should understand key differences betweenmental disorders and other forms of illness. Broadly,these differences include:

• mental disorders are not, or cannot, be cured,unlike bodily conditions which are remediable bysurgery, or most infections, although symptomssometimes reduce or even disappear

• the term ‘mental illness’ is, therefore, rathermisleading, and for this specification, ‘mentaldisorder’ is preferred

• treatments are usually based on managing orreducing symptoms and/or helping the patient tomanage his/her own condition

• the diagnosis of a mental disorder cannot easilybe supported by biological or anatomicalevidence, unlike cancers or infections which canbe confirmed using scanning techniques, biopsiesor the detection of disease organisms

• the diagnosis of a mental disorder is, therefore,much more dependent on the patient’s reportingof otherwise undetectable symptoms, and so isless reliable than diagnoses of purely physicalillnesses.

3.9.2 Symptoms of mental disorders

You should learn about the major symptoms andcauses of two of the following disorders:

• schizophrenia

• depression

• bipolar affective disorder

• obsessive-compulsive disorder

• generalised anxiety disorder

• specific phobias, e.g. social phobia

• alcoholism

• attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

You should understand that mental disorders are tosome extent disabling and that ‘feeling depressed’ isnot the same as suffering from depression as amental disorder. You should be aware that the term‘clinical depression’ means ‘depression seriousenough to have been diagnosed as a mentaldisorder’. You should also understand the differencebetween a phobia (which is likely to disrupt or curtaila person’s activities seriously) and a dislike or ajustified fear.

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3.9.3 Causes

You should learn about the following possiblecontributing causes of mental disorder, and theempirical evidence supporting them:

• genetics: the presence of predisposing genes,with relevant evidence of twin studies andadoption studies

• biochemical factors, including the activity of theneurotransmitters gamma aminobutyric acid,dopamine and serotonin, as well as nutrition andthe use of drugs

• life events, including separation in infancy,maternal privation, drug-related disorders,unemployment, social deprivation

• the learning of maladaptive behaviours, includingavoiding situations.

You should understand that in practice it is impossibleto determine the causes of a particular case of amental disorder. This is partly because such adisorder is unlikely to have a single cause. Youshould understand that patients (and their families)often wish to attribute single causes to theirsymptoms, and can mistakenly assume cause on thebasis of a coincidence (for example, assuming thatdepression occurring in a person at age 17 is causedby the stress of examinations).

3.9.4 Effects on behaviour and experience

You should be able to distinguish between the effectsof these disorders on behaviour and their effects onexperience. The effects on behaviour are thecharacteristic ways of acting shown by people withthe disorder. The effects on experience are thesensations, feelings and beliefs that often accompany

the disorder. You should also be able to distinguishbetween conditions into which the sufferer has‘insight’ (i.e. is aware that something is wrong withthem) such as depression, and conditions where thesufferer typically lacks insight, such as schizophrenia.

3.9.5 Different treatments and interventions for mental disorders

You should learn about the aims and procedures ofthe following approaches and interventions that areused to help people with mental disorders:

• physical interventions, including drug treatments(anti-anxiety, anti-depressant, anti-bipolar andanti-psychotic drugs), electro-convulsive therapy

• psychological interventions, including counselling,psychotherapy, cognitive behavioural therapy

• complementary and alternative approaches,including acupuncture, reflexology, arts therapies,nutritional theory, yoga and relaxation

• self-management approaches, including socialprescribing (e.g. bibliotherapy, green gyms) andpeer support

• other approaches including: community-basedprovision, employment projects, education,physical health promotion, supported living,coming off medication, skills development.

You should know about the main strengths,weaknesses and problems associated with theseinterventions and approaches. You should be awarethat some of these approaches have been found tobe ineffective for some mental disorders and you

should learn to distinguish between therapies forwhich there is a rational and scientific explanation andtherapies which rely on less rational assumptions. Youshould learn about how the effectiveness of a therapycan be measured, including the use of clinical trialswith control and placebo groups.

You should know about the roles and responsibilitiesof some of the practitioners directly involved in care ofthose with mental disorders, including mental healthnurses, support workers, GPs, social workers, caremanagers, clinical psychologists and psychiatrists,independent advocates, occupational therapists,counsellors and therapists.

You should also know about the role andresponsibilities of the different agencies involved inmental health care including the statutory andindependent (voluntary and private) sector, and howrelevant services and treatments/interventions areaccessed. This includes those which are provided bycommunity mental health and those which arepurchased by clients direct from private practitioners.

You should also be aware in outline of the provision ofthe Mental Health Acts of 1982 and 1983, the MentalCapacity Act 2005, and the impact of the NHS andCommunity Care Act (1990) on treatment.

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3.9.6 Attitudes

You should be aware of widespread public ignoranceof mental disorders and of negative stereotypes ofpeople with mental disorders.

3.9.7 Secondary effects

You should be aware of the consequences whichoften occur for individuals who have a mentaldisorder. These can include low self-esteem, hostilityfrom family members, work colleagues and thegeneral public, loss of employment, interruption ofpersonal/career development, and family breakdown.A person with a mental disorder is likely to experiencea relatively poor quality of life. His or her relatives andfriends are also likely to suffer because of the stressand upset caused by the condition.

You should be aware that individuals with the mostserious conditions are at risk of becoming sociallyisolated, out of contact with families or healthservices. Such people make up a significantproportion of the populations sleeping rough or inprison.


You need to produce a portfolio of evidence whichgives information about two chosen disorders.


Your work for assessment must contain the followingsections:


The first section should be an introduction about theconcept of mental disorders. It should include thesymptoms and causes of the two disorders selectedand the similarities and differences between them.

Section B Treatments and interventions,practitioners and access

The second section should describe the usualtreatments, provision available, access routes,practitioners and their roles.

Section C Analysis of treatments and interventions

This section should analyse the aims and proceduresof the treatments/ interventions for each mentaldisorder that has been used in Sections A and B. Itshould also include the availability and effectivenessof each treatment/ intervention, supported byresearch from several sources.

Section D Evaluating the experience of mentaldisorder

The fourth section should evaluate the maindifficulties a client or patient might face, includingsecondary effects such as ignorance and prejudice ofothers and effects on relatives and dependents.

Section E Appendix

An appendix to state references to the sources ofinformation used.


A Introduction; B Treatments and interventions, practitioners and access;

C Analysis of treatments and interventions; D Evaluating the experience of mental disorder; E Appendix

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Some accurateinformation on thedisorders and theirsymptoms and causes ispresent. Similarities anddifferences between thetwo disorders arepresent.

Information about thesymptoms and causes ispresented clearly andaccurately. Similaritiesand differences betweenthe two disorders arebasic in detail.

Information about thesymptoms and causesof the disorders iscomprehensive andrelevant, with nosignificant omissions.Similarities anddifferences between thetwo disorders areaccurate and explained.

Detailed and technicalinformation about thesymptoms and causesof the disorders ispresent, together withtheir similarities anddifferences and with nosignificant omissions.

AO1 Knowledge, Understanding and Skills (Section A)


Some reference is madeto appropriatetreatments/ andinterventions.

Relevant treatments andinterventions for eachdisorder chosen aremostly describedaccurately.

There is some relevantinformation on accessroutes and availableprovision.

The main relevanttreatment andinterventions areaccurately describedand linked with thetreatments described.

The main relevantaccess routes andprovision available areaccurately described.Relevant practitionersare identified and theirroles outlined.

All relevant treatmentand interventions areaccurately described,without significantomissions. There is asophisticated andrealistic understanding oftreatments and how theyrelate to the twodisorders. Irrelevanttreatments are notincluded.

The access routes to thetreatments and provisionavailable are fullyspecified. Informationabout practitioners, theirroles and provision areaccurate and relevant tothe disorder described.

AO2 Application (Section B)


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Some accuratesecondary sourceinformation is presentedfor both mentaldisorders.


There is evidence of theuse of severalappropriate secondarysources, together withsome analysis of theaims, procedures,availability andeffectiveness oftreatments/interventionsor the advantages anddisadvantages of all thetreatments andinterventions for bothmental disorders.


A range of appropriatesources is usedeffectively, and accuratereferences for these areprovided.

The aims, procedures,availability andeffectiveness of all thetreatments/interventionsfor both mentaldisorders are coherent.

Analysis of theavailability, advantagesand disadvantages foreach treatment /intervention isappropriate.

The impact of legislationis analysed, whereappropriate.


A wide range ofappropriate sources isused effectively toillustrate the text and tojustify value judgements.References are completeand in correct form.

The aims, procedures,availability andeffectiveness of all thetreatments/interventionsare comprehensive.

Analysis of theavailability, advantagesand disadvantages foreach treatment/intervention is bothaccurate and detailed,with little or noirrelevance and no majoromissions.

Analysis of the impact ofrelevant legislation isaccurate andcomprehensive.


AO3 Research and Analysis (Sections C and E)


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Some appropriateevaluation of thedifficulties a client orpatient is likely to face.


Some evaluation ofimportant aspects of thedifficulties a client orpatient is likely to face,including secondaryeffects.


There is a realisticaccount of the maindifficulties a client orpatient can expect toface, includingsecondary effects,together with likelyeffects on relatives anddependants.


There is a detailed,comprehensive,accurate and realisticaccount of the likelydifficulties faced by aclient or patient canexpect to face, includingsecondary effects, andthe effects on relativesand dependants.




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Additional assessment guidance forHSC09This unit is internally-assessed on the basis of aportfolio of evidence studying two different mentaldisorders. Students must choose two from the eightdisorders listed in section 3.9.2 as any other disorderwill not be credited with marks. Evidence for this unitis most likely to be collected from a variety ofsecondary sources. For example students will needto have access to current and relevant legislation.Students who provide strong research materialslinked to the causes of their chosen disorder will findit easier to structure Sections B and C. Therefore,complete referencing of all research materials isrequired and students should be stronglydiscouraged from including a hard copy of the sourcematerial, which only adds bulk to the report. On asimilar note, some students might succeed in writingextensive subsections, but volume of material is notan acceptable substitute for accuracy and clarity.

To meet the assessment criteria, students must followthe sections outlined in the specification. These arebroken down into subsections below.

Section A Concepts, symptoms, causes of mentaldisorders

This section requires students to produce anintroduction to the concepts of mental disorders andhow they may differ from other illnesses. They mustclearly identify which two mental disorders they havechosen and provide detailed and technicalinformation about the symptoms and causes, whichought to be supported by relevant research materials.This section should conclude with a summary of thesimilarities and differences between the twodisorders, which could be details such as the age ononset, employment consequences, treatments,underlying assumptions and which disorders areconsidered psychotic or neurotic.

AO1 Knowledge, Understanding and skills(Section A)

In Mark Band 1: students will produce poorly-structured written information with limited accuracyon the two disorders. Their evidence will meet thecriteria but could give incomplete or misleadingimpressions of the symptoms, causes or similarities/differences between the two disorders. Generally,there will be a failure to provide any empirical supportfor the suggested causes.

In Mark Band 2: students may also struggle tostructure their work clearly because there may beirrelevancies on causes and/ or symptoms present oromissions that relate to the characteristics of one orboth mental disorders. They will produce quite basiccomparative and contrasting evidence on the twodisorders.

In Mark Band 3: students will produce evidence thatdoes not contain any significant omissions about themain causes and symptoms. They will demonstrate

limited use of empirical evidence to supportbiological, psychological and socio-economicexplanations of their two disorders but this work maylack some detail or technical explanation.

In Mark Band 4: students will acknowledge themultiple factors that could cause the disorders andrecognise the problems of trying to isolate thesecauses, in addition, to diagnosing a mental disorder.Students will meet all criteria for both disorderswithout irrelevance or inaccuracy and the evidencewill be exceptionally well-structured and clearlywritten.

Section B Treatments/ interventions, practitionersand access

Using the two mental disorders discussed in SectionA, students are expected to produce writteninformation on the most relevant treatmentsinterventions that would be offered to individuals. Anytreatment/ intervention that is included should bestrongly linked to the identified disorder and these arelisted in the specification. Students must includetechnical details about access routes to and theprovision of care services, within the statutory andindependent sectors, that are available to individualsdiagnosed with the disorders. Lastly, students shouldreport fully on the roles and responsibilities of carepractitioners specifically related to each disorderidentified. Students should discuss what eachpractitioner would do, such as a GP would consult,diagnose, refer, prescribe drugs and keep records inrelation to a patient who is depressed. To achieve thisaim, some schools/colleges may encourage studentsto interview clinical managers, or other healthpractitioners whilst on work experience, alternatively,practitioners may be invited into the school/college. Inboth scenarios, students must be aware of issues ofconfidentiality, e.g. not divulging individuals’ namesand/or exact locations and they must write up theirown account of these practitioners’ roles.

AO2 Application of treatments/interventions(Section B)

In Mark Band 1: students will make some referenceto the range of appropriate treatments/interventionsbut may fail to examine the care provision available oraccess routes. Other omissions could include theroles and responsibilities of practitioners or they mayrefer to only one disorder.

In Mark Band 2: students will discuss sometreatments/interventions but may fail to include all ofthe most appropriate treatments/ interventions fortheir chosen mental disorders. Students will producesome information on access to and the provisionavailable to individuals within the statutory orindependent sectors but this could be confused orlong-winded without complete relevance to eachdisorder.

In Mark Band 3: students will cover the maintreatments/interventions, relevant practitioners and

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their roles and responsibilities will be outlined. Thisevidence is either likely to lack detail, technicalexpertise or some materials on access routes toand/or usual provision will be unrelated to bothmental disorders.

In Mark Band 4: students will meet all criteria forboth disorders without any inaccuracy or irrelevance.The work will be well structured and clearly written.

Section C Analysis of the treatments/interventionsand Section E

This section presents a discussion of the advantagesand disadvantages of the treatments/ interventionsfor each mental disorder described in Section B. Italso requires the use of secondary sources of data.Students must investigate the aims and proceduresof the examples of treatments/interventions that relateto each mental disorder. For example, in thetreatment of a generalised anxiety disorder, studentscould choose to investigate a physical, psychologicaland complementary/alternative intervention. Studentswould need to cover the main aims/objectives ofeach treatment/intervention in relation to the mentaldisorders and the procedure that patients/clientswould face, such as the timing/duration/frequency ofthe treatment/intervention, the practitioners involved,and the environment the treatment/intervention wouldbe offered in. In addition, students are required toinvestigate and analyse the availability of thesetreatments within the statutory and non-statutorysector and the advantages and disadvantages ofeach intervention in relation to each disorder. A furtherrequirement of this section is the impact of relevantand current legislation on the patient/client with themental disorder and the services,treatments/interventions they could access. Thissection must be informed by and supported withaccurately-referenced, secondary source materialsthat are statistically or empirically based.

AO3 Research and analysis (Sections C and E)

In Mark Band 1: students will present limitedaccurate secondary source information for bothmental disorders that lacks breadth or depth and willbe poorly referenced.

In Mark Band 2: students will produce evidence ofthe use of several secondary sources but theiranalysis of either the aims and procedures of certaintreatments/ interventions, or the advantages anddisadvantages, will contain irrelevancies and lack aclear structure. They will fail to analyse the impact ofrelevant legislation.

In Mark Band 3: students will cover the main aimsand details of each treatment/intervention for bothmental disorders. They will base their analysis of thekey advantages and disadvantages oftreatments/interventions on a range of appropriatesecondary sources, but fail to use complex data toinform this discussion and some technical languagewill be used but not always fully explained.

In Mark Band 4: students will achieve all of thecriteria for both disorders by analysing complexinformation on the aims, procedures, availability andeffectiveness of each treatment/intervention. Thissection will include specialist vocabulary and theanalysis of the impact of legislation will be sound andcomprehensive.

Section D Evaluating the experience of mentaldisorder

This section requires a description and evaluation ofthe impact of the two mental disorders on theindividual and his/her relatives and friends. Studentsshould be aware that individuals with these mentaldisorders may be faced with difficulties related tochanges at work or home, financial insecurity, orstresses in a caring relationship. Evidence of bothprejudice and discrimination and the impact of themedia’s coverage and treatment in influencingsociety’s attitudes towards individuals with variousmental disorders should be included. In addition,Students’ work should cover family members’/friends’ physical and psychological responses to thestress of coping with the person with the mentaldisorder.


In Mark Band 1: students will provide someappropriate evaluation of the difficulties a patient orclient is likely to face but their evidence will fail toexamine a range of difficulties or any secondaryeffects. Additionally, students may only refer to onedisorder.

In Mark Band 2: students will use coherent languageto evaluate the important aspects of theclient’s/patient’s difficulties and, whilst includingsecondary effects, may omit the range of effects onrelatives and friends. Generally, students’ accountscould lack realism or empathy and present someirrelevancies in a poorly structured manner.

In Mark Band 3: students will provide a realisticevaluation of the consequences which often occur forindividuals diagnosed with both mental disorders,including a range of secondary difficulties. Studentswork will contain no major omissions but will lackcomplex discussion or analysis of the impact thatmental disorders have on the quality of life for thoseaffected.

In Mark Band 4: students will meet all criteria forboth mental disorders without any irrelevant orinaccurate evidence. Instead, students’ evaluativework will be detailed, comprehensive and accurate.

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3.10 HSC10: Diagnosis, Treatment and Preventative Strategies(Optional)

This unit aims to introduce a variety of diagnostictechniques and the principles and key points ofpractice of a range of common medical treatments.This unit also looks into ways in which commondiseases and disorders can be prevented.

The assessment of this unit is an examination – seesection 3.10.7.


3.10.1 Diagnosing disease

You will need to understand that diagnosis is theidentification by a health care professional of adisease process that is causing a person’s ill health orother complaint, and that this is essential in order tobegin appropriate treatment. This will includeidentifying both the disease process and the agentresponsible. There are several steps to the processand these may include:

• taking the medical history which includes apatient’s own account of the illness and askingquestions to clarify the situation and make aprovisional diagnosis

• conducting a physical examination to determinesymptoms and reduce the list of possible

diseases and move towards a definite diagnosis.You should know the scientific principles andbasic method of common elements of physicalexamination, including visual examination, use of astethoscope, palpation, testing reflexes,percussion, taking temperature and bloodpressure

• conducting special tests using diagnostictechniques to confirm the diagnosis;

• the use of computers to inform the medicalprofessional of the full range of possible diagnosesfor a particular set of symptoms.

3.10.2 Diagnostic techniques

You will need to know that following some screeningtests further diagnostic testing may be used. You willneed to understand how dysfunctions can be testedand monitored using:

• diagnostic imaging to include the principles of anduse of x-rays, contrast x-rays, CT/PET scanning,radionuclide scanning, MRI and ultrasoundscanning;

• tissue biopsy, i.e. removal of a tissue or cellsample which is then examined under a

microscope and/or subjected to biochemicaltests.

• electrocardiography, including the attachment ofelectrodes to the chest, wrist and ankles todisplay the electrical activity of the heart as a traceon a moving graph or screen;

• body fluid sampling to include the removal ofblood samples.

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3.10.3 Diagnostic techniques to include screening tests

Screening tests

You should understand that early detection of adisease or disorder, often in presymptomatic stages,will allow treatment to be more effective. Screeningtests may be suitable for the whole population or forspecific groups of people at special risk, e.g. peopleover a certain age, people with a family history of aparticular disorder or people employed in hazardousoccupations.

You should know that there are different screeningtests for different client groups and their importanceand success rates in the UK.

You should know that following some screening,further tests may be needed to make a diagnosis.

You should know who the client group is, how eachtest is performed, what is being looked for and howpositive or negative results are recognised. The teststo be covered are:

Antenatal screening tests:

• amniocentesis for genetic disorder Down’ssyndrome, spina bifida and sickle cell anaemia

• chorionic villus sampling for genetic disordercystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy and sicklecell anaemia

• blood tests for anaemia and blood groupings toinclude the rhesus factor.

Infant and child screening tests:

• blood test for phenylketonuria (PKU)

• dental examination for caries

• eye tests for visual defects using a Snellen chartand behavioural response test for colour blindness

• hearing tests for deafness using audiograms andbehavioural response tests

• physical examination for hip dislocation.

Adult screening tests:

blood pressure tests for hypertension

• eye tests for glaucoma using tonometry and othervisual defects including short- sightedness andlong-sightedness

• smear test for cervical cancer

• mammography for breast cancer

• physical examination for testicular cancer.

3.10.4 Strategies to Prevent Disease: Immunisation

You will need to understand how different dangerousdiseases can be avoided through immunisation, i.e.the artificial creation of immunity against infection. Thedifference between active and passive immunity mustalso be understood. You should understand howimmunisation works by attacking invading micro-organisms through the use of antibodies.

You should understand that infants and children areimmunised against:

• diphtheria

• pertussis (whooping cough)

• tetanus

• measles, mumps, rubella (triple MMR vaccine).

The following vaccinations are recommended forpeople of any age who travel to different countrieswhich have specific health risks. Common examplesinclude protection against:

• cholera

• hepatitis A

• hepatitis B

• typhoid

• rabies

For each of the vaccinations you should know aboutthe:

• disease which the vaccine protects against

• causes of the disease, i.e. organism, e.g. bacteriaor virus and its name

• mode of transmission of the disease

• symptoms and progression of the disease

• risks of the disease to the person long and shortterm

• risk of having the vaccine, side-effects.

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3.10.5 Treating disease

You should understand that many illnesses andinjuries are not serious and most clear up without anytreatment being necessary. Self treatment may berequired in other cases to relieve symptoms and helpthe person feel more comfortable. Self treatmentincludes bed rest, drinking plenty of fluids and/ortaking over-the-counter medications for commondiseases such as coughs and colds. You shouldunderstand, however, that where symptoms persist, ahealth care professional should be consulted and thismay lead to treatments of different kinds.

You should also understand the principles of homenursing for sick people and of hospital nursingincluding intensive care.

Drug treatment

This is the use of a chemical substance that alters thefunction of one or more body organs or changes theprocess of disease. Each drug normally has threenames, i.e. a detailed descriptive chemical name, ashorter generic name (official medical name) and aspecific brand name chosen by the manufacturer.

Drugs are either licensed for prescription or availableover-the-counter and may be from naturally occurringsubstances or artificially produced, sometimes bygenetic engineering.

You should know that drugs are classified, firstlyaccording to chemical make-up, secondly to thedisorder treated and thirdly by their specific effects onthe body.

All new drugs are tested for efficacy and safety. Thedifferent methods of administering drugs, i.e. bymouth, injection, creams, suppositories or sprays

should be known, and the reasons for the method ofadministration in each case. You should alsoappreciate that drugs can produce adverse side-effects and a drug is only useful if its overall benefitoutweighs any risk and severity of these side-effects.

Surgical treatment as a minor or major directphysical intervention

Operative surgery involves incision and the inspectionand removal of diseased tissues or organs and/orreplacement or redirection of body channels and/orimplantation of electronic or mechanical devices.

You should understand the broad principles oftransplant surgery including the need for aseptictechniques and general/local anaesthesia. The broadprinciples of endoscopic surgery, microsurgery andlaser surgery should also be understood.

Radiotherapy is the treatment of cancer and otherdiseases using ionising radiation to destroy or slowdown abnormal cell growth.

You should understand that this is sometimes usedon its own and sometimes in conjunction withsurgical techniques. Radiotherapy can beadministered from a machine outside the body or byintroducing radioactive material into the body. Youshould understand that the relative benefits of usingthis treatment must be weighed against the side-effects it produces.

Other techniques

Other techniques, including the broad principles ofdialysis and lithotripsy in relation to the kidney.

3.10.6 Factors affecting treatment

You should understand that individuals may beaffected differently by a particular treatment and maywish to make other choices about treatment andquality of life. You should also appreciate theconsequences of delayed treatment and understand

that ethical issues are associated with the treatmentof disease and dysfunction, e.g. where life stylechoices relating to physical exercise, diet, alcoholconsumption and smoking may reduce theeffectiveness of treatment.

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You will be assessed on your knowledge,understanding and skills relating to diagnosis andtreatment through a written examination of two hours.

There will be four compulsory structured questionswhich will include a mixture of short answer and freeresponse items. These will require you todemonstrate and apply your knowledge,understanding and skills of diagnosis and treatment.

You will also be required to analyse relevant data,including numerical data, relating to diagnosis andtreatment and to evaluate evidence, makejudgements and draw conclusions.

The questions will be drawn from the following fourareas of the unit:

• diagnosing disease

• diagnostic techniques to include screening tests

• strategies to prevent disease – immunisation

• treating disease


• your answers show a good level of detail, depth,relevance and accuracy


• data analysis is thorough and produces clear,logical reasoning and judgements;



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4.1 AimsAdvanced Subsidiary and A-Level courses based onthis specification should encourage students to:

• be inspired, moved and changed by following abroad, coherent, satisfying and worthwhile courseof study and gain an insight into related sectors. Itshould prepare students to make informeddecisions about further learning opportunities andcareer choices.

The Advanced Subsidiary and A-Level Single Awardcourse based on this specification must enablestudents to:

• actively engage in the processes of health andsocial care to develop as effective andindependent students

• understand aspects of personal development, andthe health, social care and early years sectorsthrough investigation and evaluation of a range ofservices and organisations

• develop a critical and analytical approach toproblem solving within the health, social care,early years and community justice sectors

• examine issues which affect the nature and qualityof human life including an appreciation of diversityand cultural issues.

The Advanced Subsidiary and A-Level Double Awardcourse based on this specification must additionallyenable students to:

• develop their awareness of the influences on anindividual’s health and well-being

• understand the importance of motivation andsupport when improving health.

4.2 Assessment Objectives (AOs)The Assessment Objectives are common to AS and ALevel. The assessment units will assess the followingassessment objectives in the context of the contentand skills in Section 3 (Subject Content).

All students are required to meet the followingassessment objectives. These assessment objectivesapply to the whole specification.

AO1: Knowledge, Understanding andSkillsStudents demonstrate relevant knowledge,understanding and skills.

AO2: Application of Knowledge,Understanding and SkillsStudents apply knowledge, understanding and skills.

AO3: Research and AnalysisStudents use appropriate research techniques toobtain information from a range of sources.

Students analyse issues and problems.

AO4: EvaluationStudents evaluate evidence, make judgements anddraw conclusions about issues and problems.

Assessment Objectives % Weighting

AO1 Knowledge, Understandingand Skills

35

AO2 Application of Knowledge,Understanding and Skills 25

AO3 Research and Analysis 20

AO4 Evaluation 20

Quality of Written Communication (QWC)GCE specifications which require students to producewritten material in English must:

• ensure that text is legible and that spelling,punctuation and grammar are accurate so thatmeaning is clear

• select and use a form and style of writingappropriate to purpose and to complex subjectmatter

• organise information clearly and coherently, usingspecialist vocabulary when appropriate.

In this specification, QWC will be assessed in all unitswhere extended writing is required. Marks for QWC inthe written papers (externally-assessed) will beawarded as part of the total mark for each question,for Assessment Objectives 3 and 4 (AO3 and AO4).

In the internally-assessed units, marks for QWC areincorporated into the assessment criteria for AO3 andAO4.

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Weighting of Assessment Objectives for AS

The table below shows the approximate weighting of each of the Assessment Objectives in the AS units.Because of rounding to one decimal place, the totals of the percentages in rows and columns may be slightlydifferent from the values printed.

Advanced Subsidiary Single Award

Assessment Objectives Unit Weightings (%) Overall weighting of AOs (%)

HSC01 AS Compulsory Optional

AO1: Knowledge, Understandingand Skills

17.5 17.5 35.0

AO2: Application of Knowledge,Understanding and Skills

12.5 12.5 25.0

AO3: Research and Analysis 10.0 10.0 20.0

AO4: Evaluation 10.0 10.0 20.0

Overall Weighting of Units (%) 50.0 50.0 100.0

Advanced Subsidiary Double Award

Assessment Objectives Unit Weightings (%) Overallweightingof AOs (%)

HSC01 HSC02 HSC03 HSC04Compulsory Optional Optional Optional

AO1: Knowledge, Understandingand Skills

8.7 8.7 8.7 8.7 35.0


6.3 6.3 6.3 6.3 25.0

AO3: Research and Analysis 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 20.0

AO4: Evaluation 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 20.0

Overall Weighting of Units (%) 25.0 25.0 25.0 25.0 100.0

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Weighting of Assessment Objectives for A-Level

The table below shows the approximate weighting of each of the Assessment Objectives in the AS and A2units. Because of rounding to one decimal place, the totals of the percentages in rows and columns may beslightly different from the values printed.

A-Level Single Award

Assessment Objectives Unit Weightings (%) Overallweightingof AOs (%)

AS HSC01 AS A2 HSC06 A2Compulsory Optional Compulsory Optional

AO1: Knowledge, Understandingand Skills 6.9 6.9 6.9 6.9 27.5


5.6 5.6 5.6 5.6 22.5

AO3: Research and Analysis 6.2 6.2 6.2 6.2 25.0

AO4: Evaluation 6.3 6.3 6.3 6.3 25.0

Overall Weighting of Units (%) 25.0 25.0 25.0 25.0 100.0

A-Level Double Award

Assessment Objectives Unit Weightings (%) Overall

AS units A2 unitsWeighting

Compulsoryof AOs (%)

AS AS AS AS A2 A2 A2 A2HSC01 HSC02 HSC03 HSC04 HSC06 Opt Opt Opt

Compulsory

AO1: Knowledge,Understanding and Skills

3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 27.5

AO2: Application ofKnowledge, Understanding 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 22.5and Skills

AO3: Research and Analysis 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 25.0

AO4: Evaluation 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 25.0

Overall Weighting of Units (%) 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 12.5 100.0

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4.3 National CriteriaThis specification complies with the following.

• The Code of Practice for GCE

• The GCE AS and A Level Qualification Criteria

• The Arrangements for the Statutory Regulation ofExternal Qualifications in England, Wales andNorthern Ireland: Common Criteria.

4.4 Prior LearningWe recommend that students should have acquiredthe skills and knowledge associated with a Healthand Social Care course of study at GCSE level orequivalent.

It must be emphasised that this is not a requirementfor students wishing to study the course offeredthrough this specification. Any requirements are setat the discretion of schools/colleges.

4.5 Synoptic Assessment and Stretch and ChallengeSynoptic assessment involves the explicit assessmentof students’ deeper understanding of the linksbetween the health and social care concepts andtheories, methods of enquiry, and substantive socialand cultural issues.

The emphasis will be on assessing students’ ability toapply their grasp of ‘way of thinking’ to a range ofhealth and social issues, making effective use ofappropriate concepts, theories and methods.

Synoptic assessment is included in HSC06. Thisrequires students to demonstrate their understandingof the connections between the different elements of

the subject and their holistic understanding of healthand social care. Health and social care as a subjectis inherently synoptic and there is a naturalprogression from AS to A2. At A2, the relevantconcepts, theories, methods of enquiry and forms ofevidence studied in the AS course are revisited andapplied to new contexts.

The issues and tasks in the A2 units provide greaterstretch and challenge for students and will enable theperformance of the most able students to beidentified through the Grade A* (see section 5.7).

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5.1 Availability of Assessment Units and Certification

After June 2013, examinations and certification for this specification area available in June only.

5.2 EntriesPlease refer to the current version of EntryProcedures and Codes for up-to-date entryprocedures. You should use the following entry codesfor the units and for certification.

Unit 1 – HSC01

Unit 2 – HSC02

Unit 3 – HSC03

Unit 4 – HSC04

Unit 5 – HSC05

Unit 6 – HSC06

Unit 7 – HSC07

Unit 8 – HSC08

Unit 9 – HSC09

Unit 10 – HSC10

AS single certification – 1821

AS double certification – 1822

A Level single certification – 2821

A Level double certification – 2822

5.3 Private CandidatesThis specification is not available to privatecandidates.

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5.4 Access Arrangements and Special ConsiderationWe have taken note of the provisions of the DisabilityDiscrimination Act (DDA) 1995 in developing andadministering this specification.

We follow the guidelines in the Joint Council forQualifications (JCQ) document: AccessArrangements, Reasonable Adjustments and SpecialConsideration: General and Vocational Qualifications.This is published on the JCQ website(http://www.jcq.org.uk/access_arrangements/)or you can follow the link from our website(http://www.aqa.org.uk/admin/p_special_3.php).

Access Arrangements We can make arrangements so that candidates withdisabilities (under the terms of the DDA) can accessthe assessment. These arrangements must be madebefore the examination. For example, we canproduce a Braille paper for a candidate with a visualimpairment.

Special ConsiderationWe can give special consideration to candidates whohave had a temporary illness, injury or indisposition atthe time of the examination. Where we do this, it isgiven after the examination.

Applications for access arrangements and specialconsideration should be submitted to AQA by theExaminations Officer at the centre.

5.5 Language of ExaminationsWe will provide units for this specification in Englishonly.

5.6 Qualification TitlesQualifications based on this specification are:

• AQA Advanced Subsidiary GCE in Health andSocial Care.

• AQA Advanced Level GCE in Health and SocialCare.

5.7 Awarding Grades and Reporting ResultsThe AS Single Award qualification will be graded on afive-point scale: A, B, C, D and E. The full A LevelSingle Award qualification will be graded on a six-point scale: A*, A, B, C, D and E. To be awarded anA*, candidates will need to achieve a grade A on thefull A Level qualification and an A* on the aggregate ofthe A2 units. For AS and A Level, candidates who failto reach the minimum standard for grade E will berecorded as U (unclassified) and will not receive aqualification certificate.

The AS Double Award qualification will be graded ona nine-point scale: AA, AB, BB, BC, CC, CD, DD, DEand EE. The full A Level Double Award qualificationwill be graded on an eleven-point scale: A*A*, A*A,AA, AB, BB, BC, CC, CD, DD, DE and EE. To beawarded an A*A*, candidates will need to achieve agrade AA on the full A Level qualification and an A* onthe aggregate of the best of two A2 units. For AS andA Level, candidates who fail to reach the minimumstandard for grade EE will be recorded as U(unclassified) and will not receive a qualificationcertificate.

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5.8 Re-sits and Shelf-life of Unit ResultsUnit results remain available to count towardscertification, whether or not they have already beenused, as long as the specification is still valid.

Each unit is available in June only. Candidates mayre-sit a unit any number of times within the shelf-life ofthe specification. The best result for each unit willcount towards the final qualification. Candidates who

wish to repeat a qualification may do so by re-takingone or more units. The appropriate subject awardentry, as well as the unit entry/entries, must besubmitted in order to be awarded a new subjectgrade.

Candidates will be graded on the basis of the worksubmitted for assessment.

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The Head of Centre is responsible to AQA for ensuring that coursework/portfolio work is conducted inaccordance with AQA’s instructions and JCQ instructions.

6.1 Supervision and Authentication of CourseworkIn order to meet the regulators’ Code of Practice forGCE, AQA requires:

• candidates to sign the Candidate Record Form(CRF) to confirm that the work submitted is theirown, and

• teachers/assessors to confirm on the CRF thatthe work assessed is solely that of the candidateconcerned and was conducted under theconditions laid down by the specification.

The completed CRF for each candidate must beattached to his/her work. All teachers who haveassessed the work of any candidate entered for eachcomponent must sign the declaration ofauthentication. Failure to sign the authenticationstatement may delay the processing of thecandidates’ results.

The teacher should be sufficiently aware of thecandidate’s standard and level of work to appreciate ifthe coursework submitted is beyond the talents of thecandidate.

In most centres teachers are familiar with candidates’work through class and homework assignments.Where this is not the case, teachers should makesure that all coursework is completed under directsupervision.

In all cases, some direct supervision is necessary toensure that the coursework submitted can beconfidently authenticated as the candidate’s own.

• If it is believed that a candidate has receivedadditional assistance and this is acceptable withinthe guidelines for the relevant specification, theteacher/assessor should award a mark whichrepresents the candidate’s unaided achievement.The authentication statement should be signedand information given on the relevant form.

• If the teacher/assessor is unable to sign theauthentication statement for a particularcandidate, then the candidate’s work cannot beaccepted for assessment.

6 Coursework Administration

6.2 MalpracticeTeachers should inform candidates of the AQARegulations concerning malpractice.

Candidates must not:

• submit work which is not their own;

• lend work to other candidates;

• allow other candidates access to, or the use of,their own independently-sourced source

• material (this does not mean that candidates maynot lend their books to another candidate, butcandidates should be prevented from plagiarisingother candidates’ research);

• include work copied directly from books, theinternet or other sources withoutacknowledgement or an attribution;

• submit work typed or word-processed by a thirdperson without acknowledgement.

These actions constitute malpractice, for which apenalty (eg disqualification from the examination) willbe applied.

If malpractice is suspected, the Examinations Officershould be consulted about the procedure to befollowed.

Where suspected malpractice in coursework/portfolios is identified by a centre after the candidatehas signed the declaration of authentication, theHead of Centre must submit full details of the case toAQA at the earliest opportunity. The form JCQ/M1should be used. Copies of the form can be found onthe JCQ website (http://www.jcq.org.uk/).

Malpractice in coursework/portfolios discovered priorto the candidate signing the declaration ofauthentication need not be reported to AQA, butshould be dealt with in accordance with the centre’sinternal procedures. AQA would expect centres totreat such cases very seriously. Details of any workwhich is not the candidate’s own must be recordedon the coursework/portfolio cover sheet or otherappropriate place.

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6.3 Teacher StandardisationWe will hold annual standardising meetings forteachers, usually in the autumn term, for thecoursework units. At these meetings we will providesupport in developing appropriate coursework tasksand using the marking criteria.

If your centre is new to this specification, you mustsend a representative to one of the meetings. If youhave told us you are a new centre, either bysubmitting an estimate of entry or by contacting thesubject team, we will contact you to invite you to ameeting.

We will also contact centres if

• the moderation of coursework from the previousyear has identified a serious misinterpretation ofthe coursework requirements

• inappropriate tasks have been set, or

• a significant adjustment has been made to acentre’s marks.

In these cases, centres will be expected to send arepresentative to one of the meetings. For all othercentres, attendance is optional. If you are unable toattend and would like a copy of the materials used atthe meeting, please contact the subject team [email protected].

6.4 Internal Standardisation of MarkingCentres must standardise marking within the centreto make sure that all candidates at the centre havebeen marked to the same standard. One personmust be responsible for internal standardisation. Thisperson should sign the Centre Declaration Sheet toconfirm that internal standardisation has taken place.

Internal standardisation may involve:

• all teachers marking some trial pieces of work andidentifying differences in marking standards;

• discussing any differences in marking at a trainingmeeting for all teachers involved in theassessment;

• referring to reference and archive material such asprevious work or examples from AQA’s teacherstandardising meetings; but other validapproaches are permissible.

6.5 Annotation of CourseworkThe Code of Practice for GCE states that theawarding body must require internal assessors toshow clearly how the marks have been awarded inrelation to the marking criteria defined in thespecification and that the awarding body mustprovide guidance on how this is to be done.

The annotation will help the moderator to see asprecisely as possible where the teacher considersthat the candidates have met the criteria in thespecification.

Work could be annotated by either of the followingmethods:

• key pieces of evidence flagged throughout thework by annotation either in the margin or in thetext;

• summative comments on the work, referencingprecise sections in the work.

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6.6 Submitting Marks and Sample Work for ModerationThe total mark for each candidate must be submittedto AQA and the moderator on the mark formsprovided or by Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) by

the specified date. Centres will be informed whichcandidates’ work is required in the samples to besubmitted to the moderator.

6.7 Factors Affecting Individual CandidatesTeachers should be able to accommodate theoccasional absence of candidates by ensuring thatthe opportunity is given for them to make up missedassessments.

If work is lost, AQA should be notified immediately ofthe date of the loss, how it occurred, and who wasresponsible for the loss. Centres should use the JCQform JCQ/LCW to inform AQA Candidate Services ofthe circumstances. Where special help which goesbeyond normal learning support is given, AQA mustbe informed through comments on the CRF so thatsuch help can be taken into account whenmoderation takes place (see Section 6.1).

Candidates who move from one centre to anotherduring the course sometimes present a problem for ascheme of internal assessment. Possible courses ofaction depend on the stage at which the move takesplace. If the move occurs early in the course the newcentre should take responsibility for assessment. If itoccurs late in the course it may be possible toarrange for the moderator to assess the work throughthe ‘Educated Elsewhere’ procedure. Centres shouldcontact AQA at the earliest possible stage for adviceabout appropriate arrangements in individual cases.

6.8 Retaining Evidence and Re-using MarksThe centre must retain the work of all candidates,with CRFs attached, under secure conditions, fromthe time it is assessed, to allow for the possibility ofan enquiry about results. The work may be returned

to candidates after the deadline for enquiries aboutresults. If an enquiry about a result has been made,the work must remain under secure conditions incase it is required by AQA.

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7 Moderation

7.1 Moderation ProceduresModeration of the coursework is by inspection of asample of candidates’ work, sent by post from thecentre to a moderator appointed by AQA. The centremarks must be submitted to AQA and to themoderator by the specified deadline (seehttp://www.aqa.org.uk/deadlines.php). We will letcentres know which candidates’ work will be requiredin the sample to be submitted for moderation.

Following the re-marking of the sample work, themoderator’s marks are compared with the centremarks to determine whether any adjustment is

needed in order to bring the centre’s assessmentsinto line with standards generally. In some cases itmay be necessary for the moderator to call for thework of other candidates in the centre. In order tomeet this possible request, centres must retain undersecure conditions and have available the courseworkand the CRF of every candidate entered for theexamination and be prepared to submit it on demand.Mark adjustments will normally preserve the centre’sorder of merit, but where major discrepancies arefound, we reserve the right to alter the order of merit.

7.2 Post-moderation ProceduresOn publication of the AS/A level results, we willprovide centres with details of the final marks for thecoursework unit.

The candidates’ work will be returned to the centreafter moderation has taken place. The centre willreceive a report with, or soon after, the despatch ofpublished results giving feedback on the

appropriateness of the tasks set, the accuracy of theassessments made, and the reasons for anyadjustments to the marks.

We reserve the right to retain some candidates’ workfor archive or standardising purposes.

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A

A Performance DescriptionsThese performance descriptions show the level ofattainment characteristic of the grade boundaries at ALevel. They give a general indication of the requiredlearning outcomes at the A/B and E/U boundaries atAS and A2. The descriptions should be interpreted inrelation to the content outlined in the specification:they are not designed to define that content.

The grade awarded will depend in practice upon theextent to which the candidate has met theassessment objectives (see Section 4) overall.

Shortcomings in some aspects of the examinationmay be balanced by better performances in others.

Appendices

Candidates:demonstrate, with fewomissions, a depth ofknowledge of the thehealth, social care,children and youngpeople and communityjustice sectors;demonstrate a depth ofunderstanding of thefunctions of the health,social care, children andyoung people andcommunity justicesectors; demonstrate arange of relevant skills ina variety of situations inan effective manner

Candidates: apply knowledge,understanding and skillsaccurately andindependently to a rangeof situations, relating todifferent client groups.

Candidates:undertake researchusing a range oftechniques; use a widerange of relevantinformation sources; usethe selected informationto analyse issues andproblems.

Candidates:evaluate evidence todraw valid conclusions;make reasonedjudgements aboutrelevant issues.

A/B boundary performance description

AO1 AO2 AO3 AO4

Candidates:demonstrate basicknowledge of the health,social care, children andyoung people andcommunity justicesectors, but there maybe significant omissions; show a basicunderstanding of thepurposes of the health,social care, children andyoung people andcommunity justicesectors; demonstrate alimited range of skills.

Candidates:apply knowledge,understanding and skillswith guidance to clientgroups and familiarcontexts

Candidates:collect information onissues using giventechniques; use a limitedrange of relevantinformation sources;carry out some basicanalysis of issues andproblems.

Candidates:evaluate evidence todraw basic conclusionsabout relevant issues.

E/U boundary performance description

AO1 AO2 AO3 AO4

AS Performance Descriptions

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Candidates:demonstrate in-depthknowledge of the health,social care, children andyoung people andcommunity justicesectors; show in-depthunderstanding of thefunctions of the thehealth, social care,children and youngpeople and communityjustice sectors;demonstrate a range ofskills in a variety ofsituations in an effectivemanner.

Candidates: apply knowledge,understanding and skillsto client groups andfamiliar contexts.

Candidates:select and justify:use of research andanalytical techniques;use of a wide range ofrelevant informationsources; use of selectedtechniques andinformation to analyseissues and problems.

Candidates:evaluate a range ofevidence to draw andjustify valid conclusions; make well-reasonedjudgements aboutrelevant issues.

A/B boundary performance description

AO1 AO2 AO3 AO4

Candidates:demonstrate basicknowledge of the health,social care, children andyoung people andcommunity justicesectors; show basicunderstanding of thepurposes of the health,social care, children andyoung people andcommunity justicesectors, but there maybe significant omissions;demonstrate a limitedrange of skills.

Candidates: apply knowledge,understanding and skillswith guidance to clientgroups and familiarcontexts.

Candidates:select and justify:undertake research intoissues using giventechniques; use of alimited range of relevantinformation sources; use collected informationto carry out astraightforward analysisof issues and problems.

Candidates:evaluate evidence todraw basic conclusionabout relevant issues; identify strengths andweaknesses of theevidence.

E/U boundary performance description

AO1 AO2 AO3 AO4

A2 Performance Descriptions

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B

B Spiritual, Moral, Ethical, Social and other IssuesEuropean DimensionAQA has taken account of the 1988 Resolution of theCouncil of the European Community in preparing thisspecification and associated specimen units.

Environmental EducationAQA has taken account of the 1988 Resolution of theCouncil of the European Community and the Report“Environmental Responsibility: An Agenda for Furtherand Higher Education” 1993 in preparing thisspecification and associated specimen units.

Avoidance of BiasAQA has taken great care in the preparation of thisspecification and specimen units to avoid bias of anykind.

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C

C Wider SkillsThe AQA Wider Key Skills qualifications are no longeravailable.

Key SkillsKey Skills qualifications have been phased out andreplaced by Functional Skills qualifications in English,Mathematics and ICT from September 2010.

90777

GCE Health and Social Care

Qualification Accreditation Number: AS Single 600/5259/4

AS Double 600/5258/2

Every specication is assigned a national classication code indicating the subject area to which it belongs.

Centres should be aware that candidates who enter for more than one GCE qualication with the same classication code will have only one grade counted for the purpose of the School and College Performance Tables. In the case of a candidate taking two qualications with the same classication code that are of the same size and level, eg two AS qualications, the higher grade will count.

Centres may wish to advise candidates that, if they take two specications with the same classication code, schools and colleges are very likely to take the view that they have achieved only one of the two GCEs. The same view may be taken if candidates take two GCE specications that have different classication codes but have signicant overlap of content. Candidates who have any doubts about their subject combinations should check with the institution to which they wish to progress before embarking on their programmes.

For exams and certification June 2014 onwards

For updates and further information on any of our specifications, to find answers or to ask a question:

Copyright © 20 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.13

AQA Education (AQA), is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (company number 3644723),and a registered charity . 1073334Registered address: AQA, Devas Street, Manchester M15 6EX.

http://www.aqa.org.uk/professional-developmentFor information on courses and events please visit:

register with ASK AQA at:http://www.aqa.org.uk/help-and-contacts/ask-aqa

The definitive version of our specification will always be the one on our website,this may differ from printed versions.

You can also download a copy of the specification and support materials from our website: aqa.org.uk

Adv Double 600/5256/9.

Adv Single 600/5257/0

A-level Health and Social Care Specification Specification

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Transcript of A-level Health and Social Care Specification Specification