A social care workforce for
the 21st century: addressing
the learning challenges.
Lessons from case studies.
Helen Rainbird & Elspeth Leeson, Birmingham Business School, Anne
Munro, Edinburgh Napier University. Presentation to SCWRI, Department
of Health, London 17th November 2009.
Introduction
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>Research project on institutional and organisational
capacity for skill development 2007-2009, funded by
Department of Health.
Examined institutional framework (22 interviews) and
13 case studies (53 interviews).
Focus on good practice organisations – all had won
awards/external recognition – individual organisations
and consortia arrangements, where new forms of
cooperation emerging at regional level.
This presentation: 5 organisational case studies:
focus on lessons to be learned from good practice.
Structure of paper
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Short description of organisations which had
innovative approaches to managing training
 The triggers for innovation – extent to which Care
Standards Act was significant/other factors
 Fuller & Unwin’s (2004) expansive/restrictive
continuum of learning environments – the extent to
which staff are engaged in a range of learning
opportunities which meet the needs of individual &
organisation, or meet minimum requirements for
training & assessment
The ‘good practice’ organisations
1. Residential Home (RH)
 Family owned limited company, village location since mid
1980s, 50 staff, care for 35 residents, some day care services
 Awards ‘care ambassadors’ scheme
 Owner active at regional level/organising sector
2. Community Caring Trust (CCT)
 Private company registered as charity, set up 1997 following
public sector cuts, growing from 85-500 staff, 700 service users
 Residential & day care for elderly, adults & children with
physical & learning disabilities
 5 day care centres, 35 properties for supported living
 Winner Times Top 100 companies to work for
The ‘good practice’ organisations
3. The Agency (A)
 Large family company dedicated to charitable activity,
part of a group of companies providing temporary
staff across labour market
 Recognised for training & CPD of agency workers
 See training as investment > reputation, former staff
become commissioners of agency workers
The case study organisations
4. The Not for Profit Provider & Training Division (NfPP)
 Established mid C19th as charity supplying surgical devices to
the poor. After NHS, refocused on care of elderly
 Four homes providing services for day care, residential &
nursing care, 300 staff, 200 residents
 National awards for BTEC induction programme, mgt &
leadership training
5. The Dementia Team (DT)
 Council Home Support Dementia Team working with NHS Trust
 14 staff, with home specialist home support workers, working in
teams of 3
 Skills for Care Accolade for most innovative new type of worker,
national winner of winners Accolade.
The case study organisations
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Shared characteristics: building of internal capacity;
whole organisation approaches, systematic approach
to managing business & training, ethos of care for all
workers
 Recruit workers for disposition over formal
qualifications and invest in training apart from DT,
rigorous induction
 Investment in training seen as reputation building, an
alternative to marketing
The ‘good practice’ organisations
Triggers for innovation
 RH – Training quality standard (Investors in People,1994)> strategic
approach, formalisation, owner a panel member > source of learning
 DT* – ‘new types of worker project’ funding by Skills for Care >
innovative teamwork using confident workers who share knowledge of
users’ needs
 A*– experience of failure – need to develop internal capacity & draw
down external capacity
 CCT – recognition that existing mgt systems were inadequate – high
levels of absenteeism – fundamentals of HRM - staff have to want to
come to work ‘Top 100 company to work for’
 NfPP* – need to meet statutory requirements
*Only NfPP triggered directly, A* indirectly by regulations, DT* availability
of funding
The expansive/restrictive continuum of
learning
Expansive learning environments – engage
staff fully in a range of learning opportunities
– meeting needs of individuals & organisation
 Restrictive learning environments – focus on
immediate, task related training/assessment
to meet regulatory requirements
(Fuller and Unwin, 2004 – study of
apprenticeship in the steel industry)
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The expansive/restrictive continuum
of learning environments in care
work
EXPANSIVE
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Assessor as trainer &
developer
Assessor as knowledgeable
care worker
Assessor has dual
qualification
(assessor/trainer)
Tailored assessment &
development
RESTRICTIVE
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Assessor as administrator
Assessor as administrator
Assessor has single
qualification
Standardised assessment
The expansive/restrictive continuum of
learning environments in care work
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EXPANSIVE
Whole organisation approach
Training, devpt & assessment
incorporated into organisational
practice
Internal capacity for assessment
& training
Moral/ideological commitment to
improvement & maximising staff
potential
Employee-driven learning
Trust in competent employees
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RESTRICTIVE
Reactive, compliance driven
approach
Training, devpt & assessment
bolted on
Organisation relies on external
expertise
Lack of commitment to staff
development
Employees see themselves as
‘just a care worker’
Staff treated as unskilled
workers with little autonomy
Expansive learning in the ‘good practice’
organisations
Other factors contributing to innovative approaches
 Trust in competent workers who know service users’ needs &
understand their medical conditions
 Sharing of knowledge of users’ needs – substitutability> quality
of service (cf ‘personalisation’ agenda – danger of
individualisation)
 Employee driven training & job expansion
 Organisations’ ability to grow own managers
 Access to educational qualifications for career development
 Training part of package of HRM practices which include
work/life balance – particularly important in reconciling workers’
needs with those of service users
References
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Fuller, A. & L. Unwin, 2004. ‘Expansive
learning environments: integrating
organisational and personal development’ in
Rainbird et al., Eds., Workplace Learning in
Context, Routledge/Taylor & Francis.