Careers Brief - Advanced Practice in Work with Children and Families HNC
Overview
Your HNC will have given you both a nationally recognised qualification at higher education level and evidence of your ability in your field. You will also have the opportunity for progression onto the HND and/or an honours degree programme within a related area.
Social care and education are among the largest employment sectors in the UK and opportunities are buoyant. However, to progress your career, you will need to be prepared to do further training and preferably be mobile.
Before deciding whether and where to continue studying, take time to review your career plans, as there are a variety of specialist courses and you might be required to do very specific training to attain your career goal.
Apart from the knowledge and experience of work with children and families gained from your employment and training, you will also have developed additional effective transferable skills, such as writing skills, group working, leadership, communicating, giving presentations and IT.
Use the web links below in the Resources section, to find out more about the variety of opportunities open to you, entry and training routes. To consider a wider choice of careers, matched to your interests, use Prospects Planner and other tools listed in the Career Planning section of this Guide.
Further Study
To search for suitable honours degree courses, go to www.ucas.com/search. Use the university/college links for course details. Entry point could depend on the overlap between courses, your grades and experience.
Shortened top-up degrees are specifically designed as a progression from HND and Foundation degrees to qualify for an honours degree, usually within one year full-time (or two years part-time).
Courses which could be of interest:
Bournemouth University ‘Early Years Care and Education’ ‘Health and Social Care’; Doncaster College ‘Early Childhood Studies’; East Lancashire Institute of Higher Education at Blackburn ‘Care Practice’; University of Greenwich ‘Social Care’; Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education ‘Social Care’; Kingston University ‘Early Years: Education and Child Care’; Newcastle College ‘Children and Young Persons’; Somerset College of Arts and Technology ‘Health and Social Care Management’.
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? Use the website www.aimhigher.ac.uk for information on student support and check the institution website for information on fees.
If you aim to become a teacher and were born after September 1st 1979, you will need maths and English (at grade C or above) at GCSE or equivalent and science at GCSE or equivalent. Go to the Training and development agency for schools careers site below for more information.
Resources
www.learndirect-advice.co.uk/helpwithyourcareer/jobprofiles
Learn Direct - national learning advice
www.connexions-direct.com/jobs4u
Jobs4U Careers Database - click on 'Job Families and Articles' for occupations in 'Education and Training', 'Healthcare', 'Social Work and Counselling Services'
www.prospects.ac.uk
Graduate Prospects is the national careers website for higher education students in the UK:
- Drop down 'Careers advice' and click on 'Your HND...what next?'
- Drop down 'Jobs & work to click on 'Explore job sectors'. Go to 'Education' and 'Social Care' and 'Voluntary sector' for an excellent overview on trends and opportunities. Click on 'key roles' and 'more roles' for job descriptions, entry qualifications, training, website links and more;
- Drop down 'My Prospects' and click on 'What jobs would suit me?' for Prospects Planner.
jobseekers.direct.gov.uk
Careers database and links to jobs nationally. Search by clicking on 'careers' and 'choosing a category' or type in job title.
GTI (publisher) graduate careers and jobs site.
www.socialworkandcare.co.uk/socialwork
Social Care and Social Work careers information site - including social work training and jobs without a degree
www.lgjobs.com
Local Government jobs
www.nhscareers.nhs.uk
National Health Service site to find out about careers in the NHS and look for jobs
www.tda.gov.uk
Training and development agency for schools - includes 'Get into teaching'
http://student.bton.ac.uk/studserv/careers/whatelsecanateacherdo.htm
University of Brighton Careers Service guide 'What else can a teacher do except teach?'
www.basw.co.uk
The British Association of Social Workers - representing social work and social workers in the UK for information and jobs
www.communitycare.co.uk
Communitycare.co.uk - magazine for the social work and social care professions, including jobs and employer directory
www.careandhealth.com
Care and Health magazine - features and jobs
www.csv.org.uk/socialhealthcare
Community Service Volunteers for work experience within social care settings
