About In Touch Care In Touch Care (ITC), based in Sheffield, is a leading training provider in the care sector. It delivers programmes to schoolchildren and adults in health and social care, childcare, oral health, and customer services. Alongside Apprenticeships, ITC also provides assessor and teacher training programmes in the lifelong learning sector, from Preparing to Teach (PTLLS) through to the Diploma in Teaching (DTLLS). In a recent Ofsted inspection, the organisation achieved 13 Grade 1 results.

Role on the SER Programme ITC was invited to become involved in the Skills and Employer Responsiveness (SER) Programme in Yorkshire and the Humber as one of the lead organisations providing peer support in the region. ITC hosted and lead a master class on meeting the challenges of working in the health and social care sector. Peer advisers from ITC delivered continuing professional development (CPD) events and mentored three organisations. This case study relates to one of these organisations and the unanticipated partnership that emerged which has been to the benefit of both organisations.

A new partnership The supported provider, Definitive Training, had been delivering Train to Gain opportunities within a consortium but had left the consortium and thus lost the associated funding. The organisation asked to work with ITC on two of the strands within the SER

programme – Apprenticeships and employer engagement Definitive Training had four assessors who worked with a large network of employers with access to Skills for Care Training Strategy Implementation (TSI) funding. The organisation made a request to partner with ITC with a view to this being a long-term arrangement and to maximise ITC’s Skills Funding Agency (SFA) contract. As well as having experienced assessors, Definitive Training also had expertise in training in dementia care. ITC therefore took the opportunity to maximise the use of this expertise on a national basis.

Support provided ITC supported the Definitive Training assessor team in the following ways:

• ITC’s teaching and learning team supported the knowledge requirement relating to the new Apprenticeship programmes that were introduced in January 2011. Definitive Training’s

Case study

Skills and Employer Responsiveness Programme

In Touch Care – An effective and alternative approach to supporting a partner organisation

It was really good to have operational activity involving Apprenticeship deliverers working actively with Skills for Care representatives.

team of assessors had previously only assessed the Health and Social Care NVQ and therefore the journey required for the new Apprenticeship programme was quite extensive.

• ITC’s technology development team supported the e-portfolio developments as well as supplying the technology required when working with ITC’s learner programmes. Staff at Definitive Training are now using technology to improve assessment practices during the delivery of Apprenticeship programmes.

• The assessors from the Definitive Training needed to have an induction into the standards required within the ITC assessment centre, including attendance at assessor meetings where standardisation and effective practice were shared and disseminated.

• To enhance the SER programme support offer and gain additional knowledge, staff from Definitive Training attended the Association of Learning Providers (ALP) care sector meeting and the ALP 14–19 special interest group. They also joined the executive director at the National Skills Academy for Social Care conference,

and attended the master class that supported activities relating to current challenges in the care sector. This ensured that staff were up to date on current issues in order to disseminate to the teams within the organisation.

• In addition CPD involving generic issues including equality and diversity, leadership and management and safeguarding further enhanced the support. As a result of the CPD staff now have improved awareness and knowledge in these key areas.

Once staff at Definitive Training were ready to start delivering Apprenticeship programmes, a senior person from the ITC customer service undertook an organisational/training needs analysis with employers and learners. Following this activity learners were enrolled on to Apprenticeship programmes, which included an in-depth initial assessment, an induction and the development of individual learning plans.

Peer review To support Definitive Training further, staff attended a peer review activity which included a representative from Skills for Care. This activity reviewed the health and social care Apprenticeship framework in depth. A flowchart to support the Apprenticeship journey was developed by the group, followed by allocating times to the processes involved within the new Apprenticeship programme. The group also identified the changes that would be required in April following the introduction of personal learning and thinking skills and the employer responsibilities and rights (ERR) assessment. ITC’s finance and contracts manager identified the funding available for the ‘worst case scenario’. The case given was for delivering an Apprenticeship programme to an apprentice aged 25 or over who would be co-funded and requiring to undertake both key skills (communications and application of number). This was used knowing that funding

The benefits include a new partnership, additional assessors and additional expertise including dementia care as well as support in maximising ITC’s Skills Funding Agency contract. This has certainly been a win-win situation which is now being formalised into a more official partnership.

in August would be reduced from what is currently available. Having then identified the time for initial assessment, induction, reviews and internal verification, ITC used the remaining time for planning, teaching and assessing the Apprenticeship programme. This was an extremely fruitful activity and very beneficial, as identified by Skills for Care. It was really good to have operational activity involving Apprenticeship deliverers working actively with Skills for Care representatives. It was felt at this stage that staff from Definitive Training were now ready to deliver the Apprenticeship programmes. The team still needed a tremendous amount of support, having not previously delivered ‘technical knowledge’ or key skills. This ‘hand-holding’ practical approach was seen to be beneficial, rather than an academic exercise of processes that need to be followed.

Next steps It is still early days for Definitive Training and there are still events to attend. These events will further support the additional challenges in meeting the Apprenticeship Agreement requirements within the Apprenticeship Bill being introduced in April 2011. A second event will support equality and diversity further by the introduction of equality co-ordinators within Definitive Training as well as within their employer organisations.

Benefits to In Touch Care As well as the supported provider benefiting from the SER programme, ITC has also benefited enormously. The benefits include a new partnership, additional assessors and additional expertise including dementia care as well as support in maximising the SFA contract. This has certainly been a win-win situation which is now being formalised into a more official partnership.