About the National Skills Academy for Social Care
The National Skills Academy for Social Care, which is currently in its business planning stage, will be the first welfare-related Skills Academy in the 16-strong National Skills Academy network. The Skills Academy is being supported during its development by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), with periodic meetings and set milestones marking process towards acceptance of its business plan. Only on the acceptance of the business plan by the LSC will it become a fully operational Skills Academy. This process is envisaged to be completed by early autumn 2009.
The Skills Academy is also being developed with the support of a 15-member steering group representing individuals, small, medium and large care employers, and the Department of Health and the LSC. The group has been working to develop the Skills Academy following the proposal by Dame Denise Platt in her 2007 report, ‘The Status of Social Care’. The steering group, which is chaired by David Sherlock, the former Chief Inspector of the Adult Learning Inspectorate, will form the nucleus of a registered charity and company limited by guarantee, with time-limited appointments to their trustee and director roles. They are appointed as individuals, not as representatives.
In addition to the LSC, officials from the Department of Health retain a strong and very supportive interest in the success of the Skills Academy, and are also key core and programme funders. The development and management of a positive endorsed work programme, linked to agreed outcomes, will be central to the success and continuation of this relationship.
There are also funding accountabilities to the LSC, who will manage their relationship with the Skills Academy through the formal business planning process on an annual basis, and the appointment of a designated account manager, who will observe Skills Academy board meetings.
As with the other National Skills Academies, the National Skills Academy for Social Care is employer-led. It will target learning support and training practice to the 1.5 million social care workers and 35,000 employers in England, with a particular emphasis on small and medium-sized organisations with limited training budgets. It will promote the importance of leadership and management in skills development, learning support and training practice and work to transform the quality and quantity of qualified workers, managers and leaders.
The Skills Academy will only be successful if employers (and funders) see it as valuable. It is being developed to provide practical support for employers in running a good business, with the emphasis on leadership and management. It aims to complement the other key organisations in the social care sector – Skills for Care, the Care Quality Commission, the Social Care Institute for Excellence and the General Social Care Council – identifying gaps and promoting excellence.
It is important that the Skills Academy practice what it espouses. It needs to be an example of excellence in its own operations and as an employer, however small or large the number of members, employees, contractors and supporters. And it needs to lead by example through its director, board and senior management team. This will require energy, personality and a real ability to influence and engage employers, both publicly and privately.
The Skills Academy aims to identify and celebrate excellence in skills development, learning support and training practice. To do this it needs to identify what excellence is and how best to disseminate best practice and excellence to those who need it. There are likely to be tensions between the availability and affordability of excellence, and the demands, resources and distribution of employers. These tensions will have to be skilfully managed, rooted in successful outcomes for users and carers, derived from the programmes, products and services identified.
Membership bodies for employees are also important to the Skills Academy. The director, board and senior management team will need to be politically attuned, and practice a model of disseminated leadership (also to be espoused throughout the Skills Academy) that focuses on accountable outcomes rather than territorial gains or losses. The possibility of losing employer confidence is a risk if the Skills Academy and its partners cannot deliver in an integrated way.
For further information about the National Skills Academy for Social Care, please visit http://www.nsasocialcare.co.uk/.
