Social Care - leadership and management programme

Birmingham Care Development Agency - Learning and Development Service

Now in its third year, this programme has become part of the family of leadership and management courses offered to managers across the social care workforce by Birmingham Care Development Agency (Birmingham City Council ) Learning and Development Service.

It has been designed and developed for managers and aspiring leaders wishing to progress who are employed, or are employers themselves, in the private, voluntary, independent and statutory care provider sectors. Participants and employers value the opportunity to learn alongside others addressing similar challenges across the whole sector in a collaborative rather than competitive way.

This bespoke programme is unique locally in providing a springboard for people who may wish to develop core leadership and management skills and at the same time obtain academic qualifications which are fit for purpose. It is of particular benefit to people who may not have had this opportunity in the past or who would like to brush up their academic skills before moving into higher education.

In line with the national developments of Foundation Degrees in social care this programme was designed and developed with the involvement of employers identifying the core skills and topic areas of most relevance to their businesses. It incorporates substantial and supported work-based learning through the use of Action Learning based approaches. It incorporates the specialist National Occupational Standards (NOS) or other standards, as appropriate.

Successful participants on this programme achieve a bcda Award, an endorsed Award from the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) and academic credits towards a Foundation Degree in Social and Health Care Management at Coventry University. Participants and their employers alike have reported significant improvements in confidence and competence as leaders and managers and there have been some quantifiable outcomes for care businesses.

"The most important practice that I have learnt and put into place is having the flexibility to change my leadership style to accommodate the situation and the individuals involved. This has helped me and the staff team to move the provision of service forward to a more personalised service with greater unity of thinking and understanding of the benefits of the changes" – Participant

"I have seen their confidence grow substantially as a result of completing the course and getting such good feedback. They really stretched themselves on the course e.g. delivering presentations, writing essays etc and this has continued into their day to day job. Both are taking on extra areas of responsibility, both have developed their managerial and leadership skills , both run really good, even excellent, homes and they are amongst my very best managers. I am really pleased that they attended the training and hope the programme continues so that future employees of the organisation can benefit".- Employer