LEEDS BECKETT UNIVERSITY
Course Specification
Cert Maternity Support Workers
2016-17 (CTMSW)
Our courses undergo a process of review periodically, in addition to annual review and
enhancement. Course Specifications are updated on an annual basis to include
modifications approved through our University’s quality assurance processes. This Course
Specification provides an indication of the current curriculum. If any changes are made to
material information an updated Course Specification will be made available.
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Faculty of Health & Social Sciences Award and programme title: Certificate MATERNITY SUPPORT WORKERS Level of qualification: 4 Contained awards available: N/A Length and status of programme and mode of study: Part time, 1 year, City Campus Course Specification Overview and Aims The aim of the Certificate in Maternity Support Work is to provide a structured and systematic process for the training and education of support workers in the Maternity Care. The course will enable people from a range of backgrounds and levels of achievement to develop their competencies to consistently contribute to the health and wellbeing of mothers and their babies. The programme of academic study and practice‐based learning develops reflective learners able to take responsibility and be accountable for the process of their learning and its practical application whilst adding diversity and a shared experience to enrich multi‐
disciplinary learning. This course is part of the Faculty’s Health & Social Care Support Workers Scheme. It is therefore delivered alongside other Support Worker courses in Health and Social Care. Not only does this allow for shared learning and the cross fertilization of ideas, but it allows the students to see other clinical environments and approaches to care. Building on the success of the Scheme, it is hoped to add further courses in the near future. The uniqueness of this course is not only owing to its inter‐disciplinary focus, but also because there are very few courses either in the further or higher education sector that seek to train and educate the support worker workforce. This therefore meets the requirements found in many enquiries and case reviews for support workers to be educated to provide quality care. Students exiting the programmes will find that they are able to provide quality assured care and will also be prepared to be educated for new roles such the associate/assistant practitioner or to move through an apprenticeship into one of the many health and social care professions. Course Learning Outcomes 1 2 3 4 5 6 Practice within current legislation and policy, demonstrating accountability and responsibility in the role of Maternity Support Worker. Apply knowledge, skills and understanding of key standards to support the delivery of care to women throughout antenatal, labour and postnatal periods. Develop and demonstrate effective interpersonal skills to enable clear communication with a diverse population of mothers, families and the multi‐disciplinary team. Evidence personal and workplace development through reflective practice and portfolio, inclusive of online engagement in groups and communities. Demonstrate an understanding of the concept of health and wellbeing in maternity care and discuss the application of principles of health promotion within maternity services. Show a range of assessors the ability to undertake and record these skills appropriately and safely. Course Structure
This course is one programme from the Scheme for Support Workers in Health and Social Care. Two modules are shared with other disciplines, with one skills based module being unique to the student’s chosen area of practice. Each specific course has its own course leader who is a specialist from the student’s discipline, these course leaders work together as a course team. Course Structure Level 4 Support worker courses are divided into three Level 4 modules that are delivered via 12 face‐to‐face days and blended with guided learning via the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and experiential learning. Some courses also require additional ‘skills based’ days to simulate practice. The overall purpose for attendance is to support work place learning. This work based learning is supported via a practice based mentor/clinical supervisor. This aids the theory/practice and assures skills acquisition. Mentors/clinical supervisors are therefore invited to preparatory sessions run by the course team. The modules structure and sequence has been designed to meet the needs of support worker students, the majority of whom are new to Higher Education (HE). Personal Development in Practice will equip them with the skills required for HE, Working with People sets the context of and provides skills for working with a diverse public. Both of these modules support the skills based discipline specific module learning. Assessment is commensurate with Level 4 learning. This skills based module runs throughout the duration of this short course as it provides the practical skills to assure graduating students are fit for purpose and practice. Semester 1 Core (Y) Semester 2 Core (Y) Personal Development in Practice Maternity Care Y Working with People Y Y Learning and Teaching Learning and Teaching Approaches Students on this course are engaged as adult learners. Given the diversity of their past experience and educational background they are taken through the learning process to increase their own confidence and competence. Besides being inducted to the conventions of HE, students are engaged in a range of learning experiences and contacts that facilitate reflection, skills development and application of new learning to their clinical practice. Appropriate use of technology enhanced learning is used throughout the course on all modules to develop digital literacy, as is classroom time, contact with tutors, contact with fellow learners and support with skills of directing one’s own learning. The support worker courses attracts student with a wide range of previous experience, hence fulfilling the university’s desire to be inclusive to all. Students may take the opportunity for orientation where they have an opportunity to engage with the university VLE and develop confidence in their ability to succeed. During the course students are encouraged to access ’skills for learning’ which is the university’s support network. Students have the support of their employers via learning contracts to enable dedicated time in the work place for the work related activities linked with the course and assessments. Staff contributing to the course have relevant academic and professional experience and external credibility therefore the delivery is contemporary, evidence based and in line with current government agenda. Students are taught alongside other support workers from other disciplines. This encourages multi‐disciplinary working through multi‐disciplinary learning. It also allows for exchanges of knowledge between the teaching staff and student body alike. This aids students to apply knowledge to a variety of differing scenarios that they may not have considered. This in turn enhances the employability of graduates. Given that our students have a range of personal and work experience before they come to us, we take some opportunity throughout the course to acknowledge this through self‐
assessment, self‐reflection, being reflexive and engaging feedback from key figures in their learning such as practice mentors. Learning and Teaching Activities The course places an emphasis on blended learning which means that students will benefit from the dynamic and quality assured virtual learning environment to support distance‐
learning activities. Both online activities and face‐to‐face contact will maximise the benefits of learning across disciplines and service boundaries. Face‐to‐face teaching and learning will be provided in environments appropriate to the learning outcomes of modules. Students are encouraged to engage with a range of tools to help to develop their learning and especially in the VLE with asynchronous discussion and reflective log tools. Students are encouraged through the use of discussion boards and email to stay in‐touch with their peers, as well as being given formative group work, and discussion tasks to cross‐fertilize learning on face‐to‐face taught days. VLE learning logs and asynchronous discussion boards enable teaching staff to take part in discussion and comment on reflection to optimise learning. Students may also wish to send course work electronically for peer and tutor feedback and appraisal as a formative assessment. Other specialist learning environments such as the communication suites can be used for skills practice and peer feedback. Learning is typified by reflective activities that sustain knowledge transfer into practice. The Faculty has invested in state‐of the art simulated environments on campus as well as well‐equipped communication suites that may be used to develop key communication and practice skills. Students also attend 12, inter‐professional, face‐to‐face days over the academic year to enable some face‐to‐face teaching and foster peer and tutor relationships. Joint sessions are delivered at each of these days which encourage multi‐professional thinking and an appreciation of the diverse roles within health and social care. Typically there will be a mix of lectures, discussion, simulation, and skills practice and seminar activities on days of attendance that reflect both the inter‐professional context and discipline specific areas. As an overall learning experience the course will provide a range of learning activities to complement the range of styles and preferences students bring. Not only will students play to their strengths but the course will help them identify and develop areas in a number of ways. The course team acknowledges that for these students there can be high levels of anxiety and unfamiliarity with digital learning, and so contact with the course team, a sound induction and contact with library staff will all contribute to a well‐rounded, inclusive experience. Graduate Attributes Global Outlook: Students are working in health and social care and are therefore working with clients from a diverse community. A feature of their study is the context of working in and with communities. They will also be assessed in how to effectively utilise communication with a diverse and multicultural population. Digital Literacy: All students are provided with the VLE that they are expected to engage with through discussions, communication and completion of tasks. Not engaging in this process limits their success on the course. They are assessed in the production of materials such as presentations together with written assignments. Throughout the course of study the students are actively engaged with creating and developing their e‐portfolio which forms development of their part of the assessment. The students engage with an orienteering of the online environment and this is expanded into communicating with tutors and each other in discussion board activities to effectively establish understanding of the diversity of the cohort and their own practice. This is monitored by tutors and students skills at contributing and effectively managing their on line submissions is monitored and fed back through this environment. The use of skills for learning via the university website is referred to for supporting those who may struggle with some aspects of digital, techno, information literacy and techno social practice Enterprise: This is a concept that, for some students, is very new. This is particularly the case for students who work within the NHS. However, for other such as those who provide care outside of the NHS or who work in the Charitable or Voluntary sector this may not be new. By encouraging reflection and self‐awareness through the personal development module the student can begin to identify opportunities in practice and consider innovation within their area of work whilst ensuring continued and developing questioning in an appropriate way. In setting the health and social care context for the course and in ensuring ‘professionalism’ of the student, enterprise will be assessed. Use of the Virtual Learning Environment Use is made of VLE across the course modules to support face‐to‐face delivery through the provision of flexible access to:  Learning materials including reading lists, handouts and appropriate and thoughtfully selected online multimedia resources  Support for formative and summative assessments through, for example, the use of computer‐marked multiple‐choice questions offering instant feedback and the provision of written and audio feedback to individuals and groups.  Online communication tools to facilitate scheduled communication between students and tutors and peers. This ranges from the use of online announcements to effectively communicate module information, to the integrated use of discussion boards to support group work and online discussion activities following on from timetabled sessions using Elluminate software which enables the students to attend synchronous learning in a non‐university environment. The students are given the opportunity to experience working in groups to complete tasks linked with their modules and receive further supporting information. In the instances this is not successful (due to many reasons) a recording of the session and supporting information is made available for those students to engage at an asynchronous time.  The discussion boards are used to support the students in integration within the cohort and to foster and develop understanding of each profession specific area including for example the use of documentation within the students working life. All students engage and develop their understanding by posting their content following a prescribed format that then allows others to make comments as an add on. Tutors then engage with this asynchronous learning by posing interesting thoughts and perspectives which encourage the students to develop their learning through a questioning and thought provoking way All courses under the support worker scheme follow the same format for using tools in the VLE and fostering learning through developing ideas. This enables consistency in student messages and communications which fosters a supportive environment for students from diverse backgrounds who may not have previously engaged with learning in this way and ensures that they are able to easily engage and locate course materials quickly e.g. each module will have an assessment folder. Use of Blended‐Learning The course places an emphasis on blended learning which means that students will benefit from the dynamic and quality assured virtual learning environment to support distance‐
learning activities. Face‐to‐face teaching and learning will be provided in environments appropriate to the learning outcomes of modules. Activities carried out wholly online include, discussion boards on learning style, documentation and grounded theory of communication as well as practice MCQs. Assessment Strategy The course team use a variety of different methods to aid in the assessment, learning and teaching of the students; from standard face to face teaching to online discussion groups, use of MCQs to provide students with feedback on their progress and reflective working on their own and multi‐professional working. Assessment strongly emphasizes the centrality of reflection for the health and social care practitioner. A range of formative assessments are engaged including diaries/journals, a learning contract, group work and debate. Formative assessment supports the completion of summative assessment that helps students make the link between reflection, theory, evidence and practice. The sequence of modules is such that generic personal and skills for learning areas are engaged first before gaining greater disciplinary specificity in later modules. This scaffolds the learning process to maximise the likelihood of student achievement. Practice competencies are assessed by quality assured mentors in the relevant practice area. Where students are failing practice components this will be subject to the academic regulations of the University where they are a summatively assessed components. Mentors are encouraged to be in dialogue with the course leaders and will be supported in their preparation for assessing students. It is not appropriate for the course team to make judgements about the suitability of employment of students assessed in their area of practice although the course team reserves the right to contact the supporting line manager if there are concerns about data protection, ethical and safe practice. The assessment strategies of the course are in line with the Learning and Teaching Strategy 2011‐2015 in that they recognise that our students bring a range of personal and professional strengths and experiences as part of a diverse and engaged learning community. Assessment is aimed at creating an increasingly employable, skilled and generally ‘fit for purpose’ health and social care workforce. The course team has both expertise and experience in responding to a diverse group of learners and helping them optimize their achievements. Feedback on Assessed Coursework
Timely and relevant feedback is provided to students on all summative tasks from the teaching team. This is offered against the qualities expected of the academic level, and against the module learning outcomes. Formative feedback may be offered and elicited from within the student group, amongst peers, from the course team, and students are encouraged to seek feedback in practice. Formative assessment is integrated throughout the majority of modules on the course. Some modules have skills based sessions in the clinical laboratories/skills areas allowing tutors managing these sessions to provide students with instant feedback on their techniques/results. Other modules will have formative peer assessment or have presentations assessed formatively and then this can be utilised to inform their summative submission. Summative assessment feedback will be provided in line with University policies (i.e. 4 week turn around period) for summative assessment and results will be placed on the VLE. Practice competencies are assessed by quality assured mentors in the relevant practice area. Where students are failing practice components this will be subject to the academic regulations of the University where they are a summatively assessed components. Mentors are encouraged to be in dialogue with the course leaders and will be supported in their preparation for assessing students. It is not appropriate for the course team to make judgements about the suitability of employment of students assessed in their area of practice although the course team reserves the right to contact the supporting line manager if there are concerns about data protection, ethical and safe practice. The sequence of modules is such that generic personal and skills for learning areas are engaged first before gaining greater disciplinary specificity in later modules. This scaffolds the learning process to maximise the likelihood of student achievement. Module Assessment Methods
Presentation Reflective writing Case study Portfolio ‐ Assessment in Practice Module Titles Personal development in Practice Working with People Maternity Care Core (Y) Assessment Method Mapping Y Y Y 100 100 100 P/F Employability and Professional Context
The delivery of formal health and social care in England is increasingly delivered by a plurality of providers, with the boundaries between NHS, social care, private care and the charitable and voluntary sector becoming blurred. As these organisations change, as do many of the ‘traditional’ roles within them. A key feature of this change is that roles previously that of ‘professional’ staff are being delegated to Support Workers. The extent of this change is significant and has led to media attention and publications from the Department of Health together with the Royal Colleges. This attention has focused upon the dearth of education, training and regulation of Support Workers that could lead to poor quality care. This course is a response to this challenge, where successful students receive education, training and practice based assessment of competence. This will place course graduates in a strong position to respond to employers needs of appropriately educated Support Workers who are ‘fit for purpose and practice’. Once our course graduates meet this requirement they have the opportunity to:  Flexibly change organisations‐ they will have the skills and confidence to do so.  Continue to study to work toward and apprenticeship into ‘the professions’  Stay in their current role and work toward studying toward an ‘associate’ or ‘assistant’ practitioner. Work‐Related Activities Students are Support Workers are employed by Health and Social Care provider organisations. They attend University for their ‘taught’ component and then return to the workplace to develop, assimilate and have this learning in practice assessed. This is detailed and supported in their ‘portfolio handbook’. To support this process students are supervised or mentored by a named person who takes overall responsibility to sign the student as being competent against predefined workplace competencies. This supervisor or mentor is supported by the University who invite them to a short preparatory session. The course leader continues to be a point of access for this supervisor or mentor. Ideally, this mentor or supervisor should hold a suitable practice teaching qualification. However, the course team recognise that this is not always possible. What is essential is that time is allocated by the mentor and student for work based teaching, learning and assessment. As a guide we recommend 50 hours of time, but this can only be a guide and should be dictated by students learning needs. As a workplace is essential to learning and assessment, if the student leaves employment it would be expected that they will also leave their course of study. However, it may be possible to transfer this learning to a new workplace if the new employer can satisfy the learning and assessment needs. Placement or Work‐Related Activity Level This is consistent with Level 4 learning. Placement or Work‐Related Activity Length in Weeks For the duration of their course (and as an employee). Type of Placement or Work‐Related Activity Development, assimilation and assessment of learning in practice. Reference Points used in course design and delivery
All our courses leading to Leeds Beckett University awards have been designed and approved in accordance with UK and European quality standards. Our courses utilise the Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) and relevant subject benchmarks (where these are available) and professional, statutory and regulatory body requirements (for professionally accredited courses). We review our courses annually and periodically, responding to student feedback and a range of information to enhance our courses. Our University is also subject to external review by the Quality Assurance Agency. Our latest report can be found on the QAA website at http://www.qaa.ac.uk/reviews‐and‐reports We appoint External Examiners to verify that our University sets and maintains standards for awards which adhere to relevant national subject benchmark statements and the FHEQ (UK), ensure standards and student achievements are comparable with other Higher Education Institutions in the UK, with which they are familiar, and ensure that assessments measure achievement of course and module learning outcomes and reach the required standard. External Examiners may also provide feedback on areas of good practice or potential enhancement.