Importance of continuous professional learning in Social Care; My personal reflections
The Importance of Continuing Professional Learning in Social Care: My Personal Reflection
As committed and hardworking social care professionals, we find great fulfilment in supporting people. It is what we do. Whether we are supporting older adults, children, or people with disabilities, our commitment to delivering high-quality, person-centred care remains unwavering – it is the foundation for everything we do every day without fail. But how do we ensure that we stay on top of our skills, that our knowledge remains up-to-date, and our practice is consistently excellent? The answer lies in Continuing Professional Learning (CPL).
So, what is CPL, and why should it matter? The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) recognises the critical role of CPL in maintaining professional standards and improving outcomes for service users and I agree. In this article, I would like to share my perspective on the recent SSSC CPL requirements and what this means for those working in the sector.
New SSSC CPL Requirements: A Closer Look
Looking at the SSSC’s new CPL website, they have considered the importance of transitioning between adult and children’s services and how common this is for a developing and changing workforce. The SSSC clearly supports flexibility in qualifications for registration and this adaptability will undoubtedly ensure that if you work in care, your expertise will remain transferable across different care contexts which is crucial to recognising and supporting the work that care workers do.
The new framework appears to have been built to ensure flexibility and revision of CPL requirements, if needed. This approach will I hope, enable them along with the organisations delivering care, to stay on top of the challenges being experienced and ensure that as a sector, we are responsive and supportive to organisations delivering care now and into the future. So, all that aside, let’s have a look at the core learning elements, or the “CPL Pathways” component of the framework and see what they key focus areas are.
Core Learning Elements: The CPL Pathways
When embarking on any CPL journey within Social Care now, those registered with the SSSC must consider seven core learning elements. What impact will these core elements have on those working in care, let’s explore them in a bit more detail.
1. Rights-Based and Ethical Practice
“Upholding the rights and dignity of service users while adhering to ethical principles is non-negotiable”. A statement that in every way, describes the values and beliefs of any care worker, it needs no other explanation. What this core learning element will do however, is support care workers to learn about advocating for fairness, equality and social justice and what this looks like in practice; critical in an ever changing world that if we aren’t careful, can sometimes blur the lines of decency and equality.
2. Effective Communication and Building Relationships
Again, this one goes without saying. Communication is the bedrock of any care workers professional armoury, without it, building relationships and fostering trust and understanding will be impossible. It is critical that those working in care, regardless of the role they have, strive to build meaningful relationships to support people in what can sometimes be, the hardest time of their life. It is understandable therefore that this would be a core learning focus – introducing experiential learning and opening opportunities to learn in different ways will help immensely with this often difficult and challenging part of any role.
3. Prioritising Wellbeing and Self-Care
When we prioritise our own growth and wellbeing, we find that we can better support those who we care for. Kelly Rudolph’s words serve as a powerful reminder that self-care isn’t selfish; it’s an investment in our ability to make a difference. Managing stress and fostering self-awareness are essential if we are to continue supporting others in a way that is meaningful and prioritises everyone’s wellbeing. I am delighted that this is a core element and can’t stress enough (no pun intended!) how important it is to build it into personal development.
4. Safeguarding and Protection
As social care professionals, the importance of acquiring essential skills and knowledge related to trauma awareness and adult and child protection is becoming ever more critical and relevant. Understanding trauma-informed practice and how to protect people allows us to create safer environments for those we work with – a must in this ever complex and challenging world we live in. Again, it goes without saying that recognising signs of abuse and taking appropriate action is part of everyone’s responsibility. There are some great resources that are immensely helpful for supporting people working in the sector to understand their responsibilities and to know what to do should they have concerns about anyone they support. It would be good to see a SSSC Open Badge on this in the future due to the importance of the subject but there are lots of great resources including NHS Education for Scotland’s e-learning course on their Turas platform (https://learn.nes.nhs.scot/64316) and the one I always go back to just to refresh my own skills and knowledge, the “Tell Someone” Resource funded by the Scottish Government. Scottish Care provide a direct link to the resource at https://scottishcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/ASP_Act_CD-Rom_DVD_Booklet-2017_01_04-10_24_27-UTC.pdf.
Safeguarding vulnerable people should be at the core of everyone’s practice. We all have the right to live in safety, free from harm and any form of physical or emotional abuse or neglect, therefore seeing this as a core element of everyone’s CPL requirements is by in far the most important part of the framework.
5. Continuous learning for your Role
Staying informed about best practices, policies, and research is a great way to build knowledge and develop practice. Experiential learning lends itself well to delivering this element of the framework. I regularly see shadowing taking place to support new staff to settle into their role, but using shadowing for experienced staff and combing this with case study work where colleagues can sit down and consider ethical, legal or decision-making, can be a great source of learning and really embed learning into day to day practice. It is the difference between going to a course either online or in person, and then walking back into the ‘reality’ of your role and not having the time to put what you have learned into practice. Let’s put the ‘continuous’ back into our learning!
6. Reflective Practice
As a coach I constantly ask people to reflect and evaluate what they have learned through their coaching journey. Reflective practice in the context of Social Care CPL is no different. Regularly evaluating our practice allows us to learn from experiences and adapt what we do based on our reflections. Professional supervision is a fantastic tool within our sector to do this. The Step into Leadership Resource (https://stepintoleadership.info/assets/pdf/SSSC-Supervision-learning-resource-Sept-16.pdf) is helpful to support this part of learning. I think we need to get better at building reflection into the process and allowing those taking part, to have the safe space to explore without fear or judgement. As a sector we are getting there, but I think we could do better.
7. Championing Quality Assurance and Leadership:
Now as someone who lives, breathes and champions Quality Assurance and Improvement, this element hits a cord with me. As practitioners, we recognise that maintaining and enhancing our knowledge and skills is vital. This principle emphasises effective leadership and elevating care standards by encouraging us to take ownership of our learning journey so that we actively contribute to better outcomes and ethical practices both at ground and leadership level – we are all leaders in the sector, so it is critical that we all play an active role in building quality and improvement into everything that we do. Ultimately, championing Quality Assurance and leadership empowers everyone to evolve and benefits both ourselves and those we support.
The last, but certainly not the least, is the requirement to now complete an annual declaration. This declaration outlines how care staff have fulfilled their CPL requirements over the year. Why is this important? For two reasons, firstly personal accountability – it is the responsibility of all of us to ensure that we continuously undertake development to stay up to date of what is happening in the sector. Secondly, there is a requirement, if selected for sampling by the SSSC, that we can provide additional evidence of learning against the core elements. Personally, I believe this is a significant step forward for the field of Care. Not only does it align us with other regulatory organizations, such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council, but it also emphasizes the importance of the work done by hardworking and dedicated staff. The complexity and challenges faced by care staff often go unrecognized, and this annual declaration helps shine a spotlight on their contributions. At the recent Scottish Care Revolution: Time to Act conference in Glasgow , Dr Donald Macaskill said the sector must now come together to fight for the recognition it deserves, while reclaiming the very essence of what social care is all about. We are absolutely at that point as a sector so committing to professional growth and shouting about the great things we do as part of our CPL journey is a great way to do that.
My conclusion? CPL isn’t just a checkbox—it’s an investment in professional growth and well-being so its important that we keep elevating Social Care, build learning and development into everything we do and giving ourselves the recognition we deserve as a sector. A structured approach by the SSSC to support those working in the sector and one that I hope is followed through, successful and brings lots of benefits to those working diligently in the background. To learn more, visit the SSSC CPL page (https://learn.sssc.uk.com/cpl/)