Supporting learning and development during the pandemic

During the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic, learning and development continues to be integral in ensuring the workforce has the skills and knowledge needed to deliver high quality care. Here’s a reminder of some of the tools and resources we have to help.

'Learning from events’ – supporting your response to COVID-19

We launched this new digital learning module in October to support adult social care managers develop the knowledge and skills to carry out holistic learning reviews with their teams. The government asked employers in the Winter Plan to carry out a learning review after a COVID-19 outbreak or near miss.

The easy to use module commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care covers:

• what learning reviews are, why they’re needed and how they can help you
• how managers can move from completing reviews at an individual level to involving the wider team
• practical tips and templates for embedding learning reviews into your working environment.

After completing ‘Learning from events’ Karen Thornton, Director at Care 247 Ltd, a home care provider in Bradford told us, “I’m so pleased that I completed the learning review eLearning ‘Learning from Events’ as it provides me with a positive process for gathering everyone’s point of view without blame and the opportunity to deal with feelings of a particular event or situation. It embeds the culture of ‘togetherness’ to resolve problems and the pivotal role everyone in the team has to make improvements for the future. The training is easy to follow and simple to implement.”

The module is available on the Skills for Care virtual learning environment (VLE). Simply log in to your Skills for Care account (or register if you don’t have one) and select the ‘Virtual learning environment’ button. You’ll be directed to our VLE where you can access the ‘Learning from events’ digital module.

Find out more about the ‘Learning from events’ digital module.

Essential training during the COVID-19 pandemic

Whether it be refresher training for existing staff, rapid induction training for desperately needed new workers and volunteer training there’s been a need for training to continue during the COVID-19 pandemic. We developed three, fully funded packages of learning delivered by endorsed providers, to support employers in these different areas – an approach supported by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

But during this time, the learning environment has had to change for many learners. With face-to-face training not an option, endorsed providers have been using a range of methods, including virtual classroom sessions with trainer interaction and eLearning including video-based eLearning, and feedback from learners has been overwhelmingly positive…

You can find out more about the funding for essential training on our essential training webpage.

Workforce Development Fund

The Workforce Development Fund (WDF) continues to support learning and development in the adult social care sector and even through the challenging times of COVID-19, workers have been completing learning from the list of funded qualifications and learning and employers have been claiming money from the fund.

Here are some key dates if you’re wanting to make a claim from the 2020-21 WDF:

• You must have signed up to access the fund by 26 February 2021
• Your ASC-WDS account(s) must be updated in line with requirements by 31 March 2021
• The date to make claims has been extended until 31 May 2021. (Learner certificates must be dated between 1 January 2020 and 31 May 2021.)

Find out more about claiming from the WDF

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