At St Edward’s, our Level 3 Health & Social Care 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 and development 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) and consider your relationship with your personal community and the society in which you live. You will have greater empathy for the range of additional needs that service users may have and how our health and social care provision in this country is designed to support. 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

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, and the factors affecting development and the effects of ageing.

Unit 2 Working in Health and Social Care (external examination)
Learners will explore what it is like to work in the Health and Social Care Sector, including the roles and responsibilities of professionals and the organisations that regulate them.

Unit 5 Meeting Individual Care and Support Needs (internally assessed coursework)
Learners focus on the principles and practicalities that underpin meeting individuals’ care and support needs, which are the foundation of all the care disciplines.

Unit 12 Supporting Individuals with Additional Needs (internally assessed coursework)
Learners have an opportunity to consider the significance of a diagnosis of additional needs on the individual, their family and society. They will evaluate the support available to the individuals and their families in the context of improving wellbeing and life chances.

Pearson BTEC: Exam code QAN 601/7197/2

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.

Key information

Download Entry Requirements

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