Prepare for a future career in Scotland’s social services

Prepare for a future career in Scotland’s social services

Four short learning resources to help you prepare for a job in social care #LifeChangingWork 

About the Careers in Care learning resources

Our learning resources offer an introduction to careers working with children, young people and adults across social services in Scotland. You can work through the information at your own speed, try out some activities and explore real care services with our 360° videos. 

These resources are good preparation for starting your career. They are based on four core topics that will appear in induction training and qualifications. Scroll down to see the topics below.

The content for these resources has been developed in partnership with social care employers, employability and training providers. With grateful thanks to everyone who has contributed.

Our four free resources

You can complete the resources in any order. Choose a topic and get started! 

Staying safe and well

Staying safe and well in a care setting, the focus of this resource, means a number of things.

It includes keeping yourself and others safe and well in the ‘here and now’ which you can do by following an employer’s health and safety procedures, or developing skills to support people in times of crisis or distress.

It also includes thinking longer term and identifying how health and wellbeing for yourself and others across the community can be protected, improved and promoted into the future.

Effective communication

Effective communication, the focus of this resource, relies upon a range of verbal and non verbal skills.

These communication skills help care workers to build relationships with people they support and those close to them, like their carers and family members.

When care workers use communication effectively they can achieve a great deal. They can help people to identify what’s important to them, keep information safe, develop in their career and so much more.

Promoting rights and choices

In this resource you’ll learn about laws made in Scotland and the United Kingdom (UK) which inform care workers and people using services about the rights and choices everyone should enjoy.

You’ll also learn about safeguarding. Everyone working in child and adult care is responsible for understanding harm and abuse, promoting people’s wellbeing and supporting people to keep themselves safe.

Finally, you’ll explore a real care home service and we’ll ask you to identify how rights and choices are being promoted for people living there.

Professional values

Values are deeply held attitudes and beliefs which shape our understanding about the world.

We all have a set of personal values, based on what is important to us as individuals. In roles in early years, social care and social work you are also encouraged to use professional values.

Using values at work helps us to make good decisions and provide the best support to others. They are central to careers in care and embedded in the Codes of Practice for Social Service Workers and Employers.