Educators and industry leaders are set to discuss the role of training and education in safeguarding the quality of the social care and childcare industry and ensuring public safety.
The City & Guilds Group, a global leader in skills education, is holding a flagship Forum event to debate the future of the social care and childcare sector in Wales.
The Social Care and Childcare Forum for Wales will be held on Thursday 8 May at the Thistle Parc Hotel in Cardiff. It will bring together an exciting programme of speakers with keynote presentations from leading voices within the industry, including the Care Council for Wales and the Welsh Government. It will also feature a panel debate followed by a series of interactive workshops.
The Forum will provide an important platform for outlining how to help the sector to develop and professionalise, to ensure future challenges are met. It will encourage debate, highlight best practice and offer practical advice and guidance to educators and employers who deliver teaching, learning and assessment in the social care and childcare sector in Wales. It will also provide a valuable opportunity for major employers in the social care and childcare sector in Wales to come together to network with educators and with each other, and share their experience and challenges.
Wales currently has more than 11,000 registered social care workers, according to the Care Council for Wales, making it one of the largest workforces in the country. It is vital for public safety that every individual meets rigorous standards of care and professionalism. It is also important to safeguard the industry’s workforce for the future as the pressures of a rapidly ageing population and the stretched remits facing many local authorities are challenges the industry must be prepared to meet. Childcare is a similarly pressing issue. Rising costs are becoming increasingly difficult for families to manage, and care providers are feeling pressure to deliver appropriate services to more, for less.
City & Guilds offers a comprehensive range of qualifications across the health, social care and childcare spectrum, including mental health, learning disabilities, children’s care, nursing and social work. These have been developed in close consultation with industry leaders and regulators, to meet the specific needs of today’s employers.
Keynote speakers include Jacky Drysdale, Workforce Development Manager for the Care Council for Wales on the efforts being made to professionalise Wales’ social care workforce in order to assure public safety and the Welsh Government’s Head of Vocational Qualifications, Kim Ebrahim, will speak on the wider challenges that industry-focused qualifications face in Wales.
Within the workshop sessions, Janet Preece from Rhondda Cynon Taf’s award-winning Early Years Training Centre will explain how RCT has developed an in-house training centre to create a more sustainable early years workforce, whilst All Wales Nutrition Training Facilitator, Lisa Williams, will outline the support on offer to assessors on nutrition and hydration modules.
City & Guilds consultants Paul Robottom and Karen Pontin will also present updates on the latest social care and childcare qualifications, including flexible and e-learning programmes and the introduction of RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) training.
Suzi Gray, Health and Social Care and Children Portfolio Advisor at City & Guilds, said:
‘The Social Care and Childcare Forum is a great opportunity for educators, employers and industry leaders to come together to discuss the future of what is a vitally important sector in Wales.
‘With our society ageing at quite a dramatic rate, this industry will only become more significant in the years to come and it is recognised that we must take steps now to ensure that high standards of professionalism and care are maintained.
‘The Forum will highlight the good practice already in place in Wales and provide delegates valuable insight into how the sector is likely to change and the challenges that need to be met in terms of preparing the workforce of the future. I look forward to welcoming all attendees to share their ideas and experience.’
For more information on the Social Care and Childcare Forum for Wales, please email the [email protected] or simply call 01924206777.
Registration page: http://www.cvent.com/d/g4qz0y
