Unit 502

Outcome 1

      1.1 Professional development refers to people acquiring and learning skills to develop and make progress in their chosen field of work. Sometimes it is also referred to as CPD, Continual Professional Development. Within health and social care, legislation and best practices change on a regular basis, therefore it is important to keep up to date with the changes. It is important to continually improve knowledge and practice in my work place to give the best service possible to the young people I care for. It not only benefits myself but also my organisation and my colleagues. It enables me to keep up to date with knowledge and currant legislation as it forms part of the Codes of Practice where social care workers are expected to keep skills and knowledge up to date. There are also other benefits such as increased job satisfaction. The focus of training is generally on the whole staff team but can also target individuals to meet their own development needs. Supervision and appraisal are forums in which individuals can voice their needs for specific training to continue in their professional development. Supervision takes place monthly and appraisal takes place annually. When new staff members start working for the organisation, they are assigned a mentor. The mentor works alongside the staff member to complete their induction framework booklet in order to be registered as a social care worker. Once the registration is complete, individuals can then enter their completed training onto their profile and be up-to-date with what is required.
      1.2 There are many potential barriers to professional development. There are organisational barriers such as poor communication.   If staff members do not attend training for reasons such as it not being communicated to them correctly, this could potentially limit their progression in that area. Another barrier to professional development is that there may not be a training course available for the area in...