Edexcel Level 3 BTEC Nationals in Health and Social Care

UNIT 46: INDEPENDENT LEARNING IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CAREAssessmentThis unit may not be combined in a programme with Unit 47: Academic Literacy inthe Health and Social Care Sectors.This unit could be assessed by means of four assignments.An initial assignment could be used for P1 and M1. Learners need to describe, for P1,a wide range of available resources, in order to demonstrate good understanding ofwhere to find information on different aspects of health and social care. This shouldinclude resources available in the local area as well as those such as textbooks,newspapers, magazines, the internet and tutors, peers and relatives. For M1 learnersneed to use specific examples of resources to explain why they are presenteddifferently due to the type of media. Examples that illustrate at least four differenttypes of media should be provided.A second assignment could then be used to assess P2, P3, M2, M3, D1 and D2. Thisshould be based on a complex piece of work that learners are preparing, or haveprepared, for the assessment of another unit. This could, for example, be theresearch project for Unit 22: Research Methodology for Health and Social Care, orthe campaign for Unit 20: Health Education. For P2 learners need to examine theresources they used and describe how they used them, why they chose thoseresources, and their contribution to the piece of work. This should be extended forM1, with learners explaining the use and value of the resources, with reasons, and forD2, with learners evaluating the resources and assessing them for validity. For P3learners need to consider the format and presentation of the complex piece of work,and justify this. They need to examine it in more detail for M3, and for D2 they needto evaluate it.A third assignment could then be used as a vehicle for learners to provide evidencefor P4 and M4, though this could be linked to the first assignment. Learners need toexamine writing styles, and for P4 they need to use at least three examples todescribe different styles of writing used in health and social care. They could, forexample, use pieces of scientific report writing, reflective writing and journalisticwriting in order to be able to describe different styles. For M4 these need to beexamined in more detail.Finally, the fourth assignment will provide evidence for P5, P6, M5 and D3. For P5learners need to provide evidence that illustrates the various aspects of their studies,and also their personal/professional lives. They need to identify possible conflictsand tensions, any difficulties encountered and how these can be, or were, overcome.They should consider issues in relation to time and environment as well as studymethods such as different methods of note taking. They should also considerpreparation for examinations, if appropriate to them, and how to manage assignmentwork and deadlines. For P6 learners need to go on to consider different learningstyles, and reflect upon their own learning style. They should then develop anddescribe some objectives for future study. They should be encouraged to bereflective throughout this assignment. For M5, learners need to extend this andproduce a personal development plan for future learning and study time, evaluatingthe plan for D3. This plan has a slightly different focus to the plan that learners needto develop for Unit 6: Personal and Professional Development in Health and SocialCare, though it should relate to it. The plan is based on learners’ study, including theuse of resources, time and environment for study, different learning styles and studymethods. It should take into account short-term priorities, such as assignmentdeadlines during the coming month/two months/three months, and long-term566BN018467 – Specification – Edexcel Level 3 BTEC Nationals in Health and Social Care– Issue 1 – February 2007 © Edexcel Limited 2007