Careers Brief - Health & Social Care FdA
Overview
Health and social care is one of the largest employment sectors in the UK and opportunities are buoyant. However, to develop your career successfully, you will need to be prepared to do further training and preferably be mobile.
Your Foundation degree will have given you both a useful qualification and grounding in the fields of health and social care. Before deciding whether to continue on to complete the Honours degree, you will need to take time to review your career plans, as alternative applied training courses might be more appropriate, particularly within the allied health professions.
Use the website links below to find out more.
To consider a wider choice of careers, matched to your interests, use Prospects Planner and other tools listed in the main Career Planning section of this Careers Guide.
Further Study
You will be able to apply for a Top-up degree. Top-up degree courses are designed for direct progression from Foundation degrees to achieve an Ordinary or Honours degree.
Alternatively, you could transfer into a related Honours degree course. Entry point would depend on the overlap between courses, your grades and experience but could be into the final year.
Go to the Links on the HE Home page for information on the BA (Hons) Health and Social Care Top-up degree at Bournemouth University (click on sub-heading 'Courses') studied full-time or part-time.
Other institutions offering related Top-ups include:
Blackpool & Fylde College; University of Bradford; University of Brighton; University of the West of England, Bristol; Buckinghamshire New University; Cornwall College; University of Kent;
Leeds Metropolitan University; University of Southampton; Swansea Metropolitan University; University of Wolverhampton; University of Worcester.
To search for degree courses go to www.ucas.com/ (UCAS - Universities and Colleges Admissions Service for the UK) . Use the university/college links for course details.
You will need to use UCAS to apply for courses. Contact the Course Tutor of your chosen course to find out your position, before you make your formal application.
Find out how much this will cost you. Where is the funding coming from? Go to the university/college website for information on costs and finance and to www.direct.gov.uk/uni/ for additional help with student support.
With a good Honours degree (First or 2.1), you could progress onto an appropriate higher level Masters and/or PhD doctorate. This could be to develop your area of study to a more in-depth practical or academic level or to gain other specialist training.
For information on all postgraduate courses and research, go to the national online directory at www.prospects.ac.uk/links/pgstudy/ .
Go to the main section on Further Study of this Guide for more information and help.
Resources
Graduate Prospects - online national careers service for HE students studying in the UK:
- Drop down 'Career advice' and click on 'Your Foundation degree...what next?'
- Drop down 'Sectors' and click on 'Health & social care'
- Drop down 'Jobs & work' and click on 'What jobs would suit me?' for Prospects Planner
http://careersadvice.direct.gov.uk/helpwithyourcareer/jobprofiles/
Career Advice Service
www.connexions-direct.com/jobs4u
Jobs4U Careers Database - click on sub-heading 'Job Families & Articles'
http://jobseekers.direct.gov.uk/
Careers database and links to jobs nationally. Search by either clicking on side-heading 'Careers' and choose a category or type in job title.
Working in the NHS - find out about careers in the NHS in England and look for jobs
NHS Leadership Programmes
Social Care and Social Work careers information website for social work training and jobs in social care without a degree
Careers in Local government
Local government jobs
British Association of Social Workers - information and jobs
Department of Health providing health and social care policy, guidance and publications for NHS and social care professionals
GTI publication for graduate jobs and careers intelligence - go to sub-headings 'Career sectors' + 'Careers advice'
Community Care magazine online - includes jobs and employer search
Go to the Job Applications section of this Careers Guide for additional help and advice with making applications.
