At St Edward’s, the Level 3 Alternative Academic Qualification (AAQ) BTEC National in Health & Social Care extended certificate course will equip you with the skills you need for work or to undertake further education in the vocational setting of Health and/or Social Care. The focus of the course throughout is one of holistic development of practical, interpersonal, and thinking skills required to succeed in employment and higher education.


Why Study BTEC Health & Social Care?

Health & Social Care is a great choice if you are considering a career in nursing, midwifery, social work, youth work, occupational or physiotherapy, care work, counselling, or education including special education. It also allows learners to develop valuable skills that would be useful in a number of other employment settings.  It could also be part of an excellent preparation for the demands of a university degree. 

The course content requires you to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to recognise and respond to individual needs, to demonstrate the skills and values that underpin the Health & Social Care sector and understand good working practice as set out in law.  It prepares you to understand and reflect on human growth, development and the human body structure and systems and why at times individuals may need support. You are provided the opportunity to reflect on your own personal attributes, beliefs, and ethics, and are encouraged to make contextual links to other curriculum subjects (such as psychology, sociology, and human biology). You will consider the health of your community and the society in which you live and how public health can be addressed and supported. You will have greater understanding You will have an understanding of a variety of laws that guide practices. 

Course Contact

Mrs Vikki Pirie
Health & Social Care Subject Leader

Course Content

The course has 3 mandatory units covering the following topics:

Units 1 Human Lifespan and Development (external examination)

Learners gain a fascinating insight into the physical, intellectual, emotional, and social development across the human lifespan, interventions and the different professionals providing care and treatment.

Unit 2 Human Biology and Health (external examination)

Learners will explore the human body structure and systems, normal physiological functioning and the impact of common disorders.

Unit 3 Health and Social Care Practice (internally assessed coursework)

Health education, its purpose and use of different approaches and models to achieve positive health outcomes.

The course has one optional unit:

Unit 5 Promoting Health Education (internally assessed coursework)

Health education, its purpose and use of different approaches and models to achieve positive health outcomes.

The course also encourages students to develop transferable skills through this qualification using a Transferable Skills framework. They are:

  1. Managing yourself (taking personal responsibility, developing personal strengths and resilience, career orientation planning and personal goal setting
  2. Effective Learning: managing your own learning, continuous learning and research skills
  3. Interpersonal Skills: written communication, verbal and non-verbal communications, teamwork, cultural and social intelligence
  4. Solving Problems: critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and innovation

Pearson Level 3 Alternative Academic Qualification BTEC National in Health and Social Care (Extended Certificate): 610/3964/0

360 guided learning hours; equivalent in size to one A level.

Where can this take you?

After studying L3 Health & Social Care at St Edward’s, you could go on to work in a health and/or social care setting or study Health and/or Social Care related degrees at university. Many of our students have chosen this route at higher education.

Student Testimonials

"What I enjoy about health and social care is the real-life aspect of the subject. You get a sense of the real world in this subject, which you don’t get with other subjects. Not only will this subject help me with my application to university, but it will also help me in the real world too; that is amazing."

Sam, KS5 Health & Social Care student