Social Science

Component 1: Human Life span development

In this component, students will study how people grow and develop over the course of their life, from infancy to old age, this includes physical, intellectual, emotional and social development and the different factors that may affect them. An individual’s development can be affected by major life events, such as marriage, parenthood or moving house, and students will learn about how people adapt to these changes as well as the types and sources of support that can help them.

Component 3: Health and Wellbeing

What does being healthy actually mean? It can mean different things to different people: you might think ‘healthy’ is not having to visit the doctor but an older person might consider it being mobile and able to get out and about, being happy and having friends.

In this component, students look at the factors that can have a positive or negative influence on a person’s health and wellbeing. They will learn to interpret physiological and lifestyle indicators and what they mean for someone’s state of health and will learn how to use this information to design an appropriate plan for improving someone’s health and wellbeing, including short- and long-term targets. Additionally, students will explore the difficulties an individual may face when trying to make these changes.

Component 2: Health and Social Care services and Care values

At some point in your life you will need health care. It is likely that you have already had an appointment with a doctor. If you did, you are described as a ‘service user’. That means you have been given health care from a person who was trained to give you care – they are called ‘service providers’. You might know someone who needs social care. This is different from health care, although both types of care are very closely linked. People who need social care are not always ill – they may be unable to do everyday activities like getting dressed or feeding themselves, or need help with their day-to-day lives.

Providing good health and social care services is very important and a set of ‘care values’ exists to ensure this happens. Care values are important because they enable people who use health and social care services to get the care they need and to be protected from different sorts of harm.

This component will give students an understanding of health and social care services and will help you develop skills in applying care values which are common across the sector (some of which are transferable to other sectors that involve interactions with clients or customers). This component will help students progress to Level 1 or 2 vocational or academic qualifications.