1. mutual trust + mutual interest
Partnerships in Higher Apprenticeship development in Adult Social Care
Finbar Lillis, Skills for Care Associate, Credit Works (Services) Ltd
Finbar Lillis
Skills for Care Associate, Credit Works (Services)
This is my POV on partnerships – not necessarily a SfC corporate position….
…having managed the development of the HE strand of the HA project last year for SfC and now working for SfC to expand the offer among more HE providers across England and explore further wider options for in HE and ways to improve and assure quality of the HA provision over time…
And on ways to interlock FE voc quals into HE seamlessly for the whole sector… at all levels – from Access to HE to Masters level.
So I am going to say briefly how ‘mutual trust and mutual interest…’ worked and still influence the development of the HA in Care Leadership and Management – and how these factors are balanced to maintain the stability of partnerships.
Of course this is a discussion panel – and you could argue I am keeping it simple for the sake of argument. I would agree 

2. Mutual Trust + Mutual Interest Skills for Care and Employers
Skills for Care and FE Providers
Skills for Care and Awarding Organisations
Mutual Trust
Between the SSC and employers – SfC actually does represent employer interests in the AS Care sector in England – and is carefully controlled by employers through its governance and management – employers are not just ‘on the board’ – employers are the means for action and the target for SfC activities:
…work closely with the 39,000-plus organisations that employ adult social care workers, together with people who use services, carers and other key partners to develop effective tools and resources that meet the workforce development needs of the sector.  Skills for Care supports employers (organisations and people who 'directly' employ PAs) develop the knowledge and skills of nearly 1.56 million workers and support the sector to plan for the future using data from our National Minimum Data Set for Social Care (NMDS-SC).
Employers have to trust SfC operates in their interests and that these are paramount.
Skills for Care and FE Providers
SfC has 35 staff supporting area stakeholder networks – these work on the ground with employers and providers… Each area network has a core network group with members representing different sector constituencies who will help shape the activities of stakeholders, set priority areas for discussion and allocate a core network member to each stakeholder theme.
FE providers know that SfC is well placed to bring them into contact with potential employer clients and that the intelligence and resources on offer through the stakeholder networks are invaluable to their business. They have to trust that SfC really does represent employers and understands what employers want and that SfC has credibility with employers. There is plenty of scope for competition between providers however.
Skills for Care and Awarding Organisations – there is a partner body of orgs like SfC across the UK – called SFCD. SFCD worked with AOs to develop QCF voc quals and this continues… reviewing current quals, designing new ones… the pattern of VQs for the sector is therefore consistent but there is plenty of flexibility for employer and learners built into these quals… and AOs need to know that these quals are the ones employers want. qual content and design and intelligence on market demand is v useful for AOs – they have to trust this information and know that their competitors have equal access…
plenty of room for competition in how AOs offer them to LPs…
Partnerships in Higher Apprenticeship development
in Adult Social Care

3. Mutual Trust + Mutual Interest Skills for Care + HE providers…
HE providers get similar benefits to the FE providers and AOs and of course they do both – provide and award…
HE providers have to trust that SfC represents employer interests, and that what SFC says employers want from a Higher Apprentice – is true.
But the HA project goes further than that. HE providers are asked to:
Design a qual at level 5 which recognises at face value – the 80 QCF credits gained for achieving a QCF Diploma at level 5 within the HE qualification.
And Meet SfC requirements set out in a specification for HE provides designing the Specialist Pathway .
Why would they do this?
They know the qual has the background I described – meets national standards, is the competence qual for employees at this level in management and specialist roles, has high level of take up and is trusted by employers, the CQC and the Department of Health.
Links them directly to employers – through the stakeholder networks and SfC’s credibility with employers
Links them to FE and PTPs if they need this – especially those offering the L5 diploma.
Opens up a market to them which they may feel is closing off… decline in part time study – increasing costs to learners – higher expectations form learners and employers that the quals they gain have a value at work.
AND the specification provides guidance and flexibility – there is no one prescribed way of designing the FHEQ level 5 qual – there are some requirements but there is a lot of flexibility to build on successful products and expertise.
Links them to a national scheme marketed by SfC through its networks.
And the HE providers can compete and use the HA to do so…
Partnerships in Higher Apprenticeship development
in Adult Social Care

4. Mutual Trust + Mutual Interest
Of course in my simple model, SfC as the employer body, is the sun around which the other interest groups revolve….. But it is more dynamic than it may look… each of the interest groups I have talked about is in competition with its rivals – some having to compete very fiercely to keep hold of their market, other doing so because they are keen to expand. There is the question of who owns what and who across providers… and how much is who getting for what? So there are always tensions there… but gravity does it job…
SfC has to hold the ring and get the best for employers and be even handed with all. Which it is – but I have to say we are really interested in quality and innovation – so we will identify and promote great ways of working across these interest groups – and encourage them to do this together.
So everything is stable and in perfect balance…
Well not quite – as Bob said….in ‘Idiot Wind’
It was gravity which pulled us down and destiny which broke us apart. (He may have been thinking ahead unwittingly to the latest review of apprenticeships )
But that’s a bit bleak in my view.
Gravity holds the SfC HA partnership together - and destiny? Let’s see. I think gravity is stronger.
Partnerships in Higher Apprenticeship development
in Adult Social Care