WHY ARE WE TEACHING A KNOWLEDGE-RICH CURRICULUM?

Our Health and Social Care curriculum is designed so that students can understand how the health, social care and early years settings impact on all of our lives. The knowledge rich curriculum uses a mainly systematic approach which gives students a framework to develop a richer understanding of the key rights, values, legislation and theory of Health and Social Care. It allows students to explain how topics are connected and impact on people (service users) and their lives. A key aim of this curriculum is to help students come to appreciate the complexity of the systems in place to deliver care in health, social care and early years settings. For example, students will be able to understand that legislation have multiple and complex reasons for them being introduced and implemented. This knowledge will enable students to engage in contemporary events with a deeper understanding of their real life context.

WHY ARE WE TEACHING THIS CONTENT?

When considering what we teach, we think about the content that will help students come to understand the discipline of the Health and Social Care sectors so they can eventually think independently and make decisions based on the impact they as an individual or a society can have on public services and vice versa. We also consider content that will help students develop cultural literacy so they can understand common reference points in our current culture. For example, the legislation and aspects covered in our curriculum have cultural significance, which will enable students to engage in the wider society/ world in a law-abiding way. These areas include an awareness of laws and legislation, the way we communicate with one another, how we support one another and the impact we have as individuals on public services. 

Together these will help students gain awareness of British culture(s) and their place within this culture. For example, we teach how the Equality Act is enforced and the impact this has on various groups of people such as ethnic minorities, those that are disabled, etc. This help students think critically.

WHY ARE WE TEACHING IT IN THIS ORDER?

Our curriculum is mainly delivered systematically. By doing this we can build a foundation of knowledge and scaffold the learning to progress into deeper thought processing of topics. This allows students to be challenged at different times throughout each topic. For example, we begin to look at the types of communication students may use in various settings, but then delve deeper into what impacts these have. Students then begin to be reflective practitioners in order to identify their strengths and weaknesses when communicating and evaluate and develop their skills further. 

WHAT DO PUPILS NEED TO REMEMBER AND BE ABLE TO DO IN THIS SUBJECT?

Students need to be able to know individuals rights, the values of care, key legislation and have an understanding of the impact these have on various settings and service providers. They need to know how to communicate in various situations and as they progress through the curriculum be able to apply their knowledge and understanding of the content to various scenarios, such as in an emergency when giving first aid. They will be able to analyse and evaluate their performance in aspects such as giving first aid or measuring body system functions. 

Fundamentally we want students to know the importance of giving a good service in health and social care and early years settings. And understand the impact it can have on a service user and reflect on their own performance. 

Students will read and draw inferences from a range of sources and be able to know how to reference this information.

WHAT METHODS DO WE USE TO HELP STUDENTS SECURE THIS KNOWLEDGE IN LONG-TERM MEMORY?

Methods used are retrieval quizzing at the start of each lesson, with a mixture of more recent questions but always including questions from previous topics and previous years. We use past papers from the exam board and online quizzes. We also build on coursework and their knowledge and understanding is used from this in their exam work. 

We systematically order topics and reflect on when knowledge has been previously learnt from across other subjects such as science, PE, PSHE, RE, etc. and how this knowledge and understanding connect to the ones they are currently learning.

WHAT METHODS DO WE USE TO HELP STUDENTS SECURE THIS KNOWLEDGE IN LONG-TERM MEMORY AND APPLY IT IN COMPLEX TASKS?

We draw comparisons and connections between current and previous units so that pupils can find that certain themes run throughout - this is known as synoptic learning. These connections enable them to produce extended writing using PEEL which analyses a range of knowledge and understanding such as making their point, using example sand evidence to support it and linking it to other aspects of the course

To view the Health and Social Care Curriculum Overview click here.

More information on the Health and Social Care can be found on their website here.