Unit covered:
DH3K 34
Social care theory for practice
Introduction
Social Care Theory for Practice is a major component of your HNC in Social Care.
You may note that it is worth two credits within the framework of your qualification, and it certainly underpins major concepts in social care. It covers important elements like values, anti-discriminatory practice, legislation, care planning and intervention methods, as well as team work, and is very much focused upon how theory relates to day-to-day work. You may also find that it lends itself to other areas of study, like psychology, social policy or sociology, and hopefully, as you gain experience in workplaces, you will benefit from understanding how theories and class work relate to actual real-life work. It will challenge your thoughts and experiences, help you to analyse your own understanding of the world around you, and hopefully encourage you to consider the nature of your own opinions.
This is a challenging area of study; Social
Care Theory should enhance your analytical skills and while it may not make you change your mind about some things, it should help you to understand your own views and the views of others.
This chapter aims to explain the main concepts relating to the central themes of the unit in a step-by-step way. However, in any work setting, you should be mindful of individual policies and procedures, team structures and mission statements which relate to some of the areas mentioned.
Certainly, as an area of study, Social Care
Theory for Practice is aptly named:
it aims to help you to understand some of the broad themes in the huge field of social care and equip you with enough underpinning knowledge to practise safely, ethically and responsibly. It will also give you a degree of factual knowledge in relation to theories on teams, management styles and communication. It should also give you a an insight into the sometimes daunting area of legislation, covering major Acts which