Member Article

SkillsFirst and Bournville College form Partnership

Leading Birmingham educational establishment Bournville College and awarding organisation Skillsfirst Awards, also based in the city, have joined forces to design and deliver a range of new courses for the care sector.

The courses and qualifications are aimed at providing those working, or hoping to work, in the care sector with the required knowledge and understanding to deliver the highest standards of care. The decision was made by Bournville College to invest in these new courses after a recent report by the Care Quality Commission found that improvements needed to be made in a number of areas, including assessing people’s needs, care planning, meeting people’s needs, delivering care and managing challenging behaviours.

The courses are available for those who want to start a career within the care sector, or for those who are currently employed within a care home or similar environment as part of their Continual Professional Development (CPD). Some of the programmes currently available include those focusing on end of life care, dementia and infection control.

In addition to complete QCF qualifications, Bournville College is offering a range of short courses ranging from half a day to five days. These cover a wealth of topics that add value to the care sector including first aid, safer handling of medication, disability awareness and managing complex behaviours – which clearly link directly to providing the best levels of care and welfare for people who use disability services.

To ensure the teaching fits in with the other commitments of the learners, the courses can be delivered at the college itself or within the workplace. This enables staff to access training whilst minimising disruption to the workplace.

Bournville College is also looking at ways to utilise technology within their learning environment, including the use of online communication and Skype. All necessary assessments are still carried out in the workplace, ensuring that learners are assessed properly.

Talking about the new partnership, business development manager for Bournville College Rose Rees said: “We work with some fantastic organisations whose primary concern is to provide exemplary quality of care to their clients. Our aim is to help these organisations maintain their high standards by ensuring they have ongoing, relevant training provided by our experienced team. By partnering with Skillsfirst Awards, we can also ensure the quality of the courses and qualifications we are offering are accredited by a leading, national awarding organisation.

“We want to encourage all care organisations to reflect on the level of current expertise of their staff and identify areas for development. The flexible delivery models we offer can increase staff participation in training, reduce issues regarding cover and enable more effective “up-skilling” to meet legislative requirements more pro-actively.”

To find out more about Skillsfirst Awards, visit www.skillsfirst.co.uk or call 0121 270 5100. For more information on Bournville College, visit www.bournville.ac.uk or call 0121 477 1300.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by SkillsFirst .