RCC 3.

14: Engage in professional development in

residential childcare settings
Unit reference F/506/7782 Unit level 3
Credit value 3 Guided Learning 20
Unit aim This unit provides the knowledge and skills required to engage in
professional development in residential childcare settings.

1. Understand what is required for competence in own job role in a

residential childcare setting.

1.1. Explain the duties, responsibilities and boundaries of own job role.

Your duties and responsibilities will be as described in your job description, which
will relate to the area you work in and your workplace. Your responsibilities are
governed by relevant legislations and codes of practice. Your workplace policies and
procedures will be built around these Legislations and code of practice, which in turn
will define your job role and responsibilities.

Your job description may be something like as follows but this will vary from
workplace to workplace:

Main Purpose of Job

To actively promote the rights of young people as individuals and provide them with
quality care in accordance with the policies and procedures of the organisation. To
assist in the provision of a safe and homely environment both individually and as part
of a team to help young people achieve their potential by strengthening areas of
weakness and developing areas of strength. This will entail the ability to work within
Equal Opportunities and Quality Assurance framework and may include undertaking
delegated responsibilities for designated tasks. The ability to maintain confidentiality
of client information is also important.

Accountable to
On line accountability to the Unit Manager and their Deputy, overall accountability to
the Directors …………………….

Main Duties and Responsibilities

Physical/Emotional/Social Needs of Young People

1. Assist in the development of new techniques and approaches to child care
provisions
2. Encourage development of individual interests and attitudes
3. To promote, safeguard and protect the welfare of each young person
4. Establish and maintain positive and trusting relationships with the young people
that will promote their sense of security
5. Provide firm, consistent and fair boundaries in respect of their behaviour and
employ appropriate and agreed sanctions
6. Ensure that appropriate medical help is provided in cases of illness and accidents
7. Promote the development of a healthy lifestyle for Young People
8. Assist Young People in the development and sustaining of positive social
networks with adults and other peer groups
9. To organise and participate in group activities and group holidays
10. To assist in the provision/preparation of meals in the unit
11. To assist and support Young People through the process of leaving care
12. Encourage Young People to develop their full educational and vocational
attainment
13. Observe and assess the behaviour of Young People
14. To engage in and supervise day to day care practices, creating an accepting
environment conducive to the positive personal development of each Young Person
15. To undertake in planning for and preparation of Young People for admission or
discharge, to and from residential care. This may include professional negotiations to
ensure that the Young Person transfers to an environment stable for that individual
and one where he/she can cope or be assisted to cope.

Team Membership
1. To assist client need and ensure that all Young People have care plans and to
develop, implement and review packages of care
2. To work as a member of a team, ensuring that the reception, on going care and
discharge of Young People is undertaken in accordance with the statutory framework
and policies & procedures of the organisation
3. To attend and contribute to staff meetings; this involves participation and
collaboration with other staff in the provision of care to enable the development of
the unit.
4. To work closely and in co-operation with carers, social work staff, specialists and
other professional agencies in accordance with the role and function of the unit. To
develop and maintain appropriate professional relationships with families and other
agencies.
5. Attend child care reviews and other forums where residents’ needs are being
considered
6. To support less experienced staff from time to time as part of their programme of
induction to the work and operation of the unit in conjunction with the organisation’s
policies and procedures
7. Undertake sleep in duties as appropriate
8. Make positive use of supervision by senior staff
9. Participate in the staff appraisal scheme
10. To show a willingness to undertake appropriate training as part of overall
professional development.
11. All staff are expected to undertake training to Diploma level.

Administrative
1. To undertake routine administrative tasks and provide written reports and maintain
the Young Person’s file as required by the organisation’s policies and procedures
2. Compile reports, including Review, Progress and Incident reports
3. Adhere to appropriate guidelines and procedures
4. To receive complaints in accordance with the policies and procedures of the
organisation
5. To undertake financial management and recording of day to day petty cash
maintenance in accordance with the organisation’s policies and procedures
6. To carry out duties in accordance with the health & safety at work act, adopting
safe working practices, in accordance with the organisation’s policies and
procedures
7. All duties and responsibilities will be carried out in accordance with the policies
and procedures of the organisation
8. To participate in alternating shift pattern

1.2. Explain expectations about own job role as expressed in relevant

standards.

Standards may include:

 codes of practice
 regulations
 minimum standards
 professional standards.

National Occupational Standards (NOS)

describe what a person needs to do, know and understand in their job, in order to
carry out their role in a consistent and competent way. In essence, they inform ‘best
practice’ by bringing together skills, knowledge and values.

National minimum standards

The national minimum standards (NMS) are designed to ensure that care provision
is fit for purpose and meets the assessed needs of people using social care services.

Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.

Residential child care – key principles
 Children in residential child care should be loved, happy, healthy, safe from
harm and able to develop, thrive and fulfil their potential.
 Residential child care should value and nurture each child as an individual
with talents, strengths and capabilities that can develop over time.
 Residential child care should foster positive relationships, encouraging strong
bonds between children and staff in the home on the basis of jointly
undertaken activities, shared daily life, domestic and non-domestic routines
and established boundaries of acceptable behaviour.
 Residential child care should be ambitious, nurturing children’s school
learning and out of-school learning and their ambitions for their future.
 Residential child care should be attentive to children’s need, supporting
emotional, mental and physical health needs, including repairing earlier
damage to self-esteem and encouraging friendships.
 Residential child care should be outward facing, working with the wider
system of professionals for each child, and with children’s families and
communities of origin to sustain links and understand past problems.
 Residential child care should have high expectations of staff as committed
members of a team, as decision makers and as activity leaders. In support of
this, children’s homes should ensure all staff and managers are engaged in
on-going learning about their role and the children and families they work with.
 Residential child care should provide a safe and stimulating environment in
high-quality buildings, with spaces that support nurture and allow privacy as
well as common spaces and spaces to be active.
The Regulations prescribe nine Quality Standards which must be met by children’s
homes:
1. The quality and purpose of care standard (see regulation 6)
2. The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard (see regulation 7)
3. The education standard (see regulation 8)
4. The enjoyment and achievement standard (see regulation 9)
5. The health and well-being standard (see regulation 10)
6. The positive relationships standard (see regulation 11)
7. The protection of children standard (see regulation 12)
8. The leadership and management standard (see regulation 13)
9. The care planning standard (see regulation 14)

The NICE, Quality standards for the health and wellbeing of looked-after
children and young people define best practice in health and wellbeing for looked
after children from birth to 18 years and care leavers. They apply to all settings and
services working with and caring for looked-after children and young people, and
care leavers. The NICE quality standards will have relevance across the Quality
Standards set out in the Children’s Homes Regulations.

OFSTED - The purpose of Ofsted’s inspection of children’s homes is to assess the

quality of care being provided for children. Inspection focuses on the outcomes that
children are being supported to achieve. It tests compliance with the relevant
regulations.

The Children's Care, Learning and Development (CCLD) National Occupational

Standards. They describe the skills and knowledge required by those working in a
variety of Early Years settings and in services for children and young people.

1.3. Explain the importance of own resilience, maturity and emotional

intelligence when working in a residential childcare setting.

When working in a residential child care setting you need to have the ability to care,
a commitment and passion for the job, emotional maturity, intelligence and resilience
and core knowledge and practice skills that are required. Below is a chart showing
the skills, knowledge and attributes, described as being desirable in residential child
care staff.

Core Skills, competencies and Core Personal attributes

knowledge
• Caring, compassionate, empathetic
• Written and verbal communication and nurturing manner
• Listening • Committed and passionate about the
• Conflict and behaviour management job
• Working with others (people and • Emotionally intelligent, resilient and
team working) mature
• Parenting • Reflective and self-aware about
• Knowledge of child development and themselves and their practice
attachment theory • Fun, lively and good sense of
• Understanding of the requirements of humour
 primary care • Physically and mentally agile
• Understanding of how to manage • Positive and enthusiastic
physical and mental health conditions • Creative
• Understanding of safeguarding and • Calm, patient and easy going
assessing risk • Firm but fair
• Basic practical skills (e.g. driving and • Flexible, non-judgemental, tolerant
cooking) and open minded
• IT, literacy and numeracy • Honest
• Problem solving • Confident and assertive
• Organisation, planning and time
management
• Leadership and management (for
managers)

Resilience, is the ability to cope with pressure, underpins safe, high-quality, person-
centred care and support. Developing your resilience is one of the keys to having the
right values and behaviours. It protects your mental and physical health and
wellbeing and helps you to deliver quality services, consistently. It is argued that
emotional resilience may be a particularly important quality for helping professionals,
as it can help them adapt positively to stressful working conditions, manage
emotional demands, foster effective coping strategies, improve wellbeing and
enhance professional growth (Morrison 2007) Greater self-awareness and
understanding of others (enhanced emotional intelligence) – leading to better
personal and working relationships

1.4. Describe ways to ensure that personal attitudes or beliefs do not obstruct
the expected standard of own work.

Best practice means you need to put your personal attitudes and beliefs to one side
and ensure they do not impose on your work. You can do this by respecting and
understanding the personal attitudes and beliefs of the people you work with.
Everyone has a right to their own personal attitudes and beliefs and no one should
force them to change these. Part of your role is finding out about the history, needs
and preferences of those you care for.

By reflecting on and being aware of your background and experiences will allow you
a greater understanding of how your own personal beliefs and attitudes have been
formed. By being open and understanding of other people’s attitudes and beliefs and
respecting those differences you can ensure it does not obstruct the expected
standards of own work.

Ways to ensure that personal beliefs and attitudes are not affecting your work is to
ask for feedback, regards your practice and seek professional development
opportunities to develop your knowledge and understanding regards others cultures
and backgrounds of those who use the service.

2. Be able to reflect on own practice.

2.1. Explain the cyclical process of reflection.

The reflective cycle is a simple tool that will help you to improve your practice. It is
very simple to use. Following an incident or an experience, you and other people can
reflect upon it, even if you were not directly involved. This means that you can learn
from other people’s practice, as well as your own. You can still use the steps in the
reflective cycle, and just imagine that you were involved in the incident. How would
you have felt? What would you have done differently?

This is explained by “Kolb’s learning Theory”

Another cyclical process of reflection is Gibbs’ Reflective cycle. This is an effective

tool to reflect after the event on ‘critical’ incidents; those events that have had a
profound negative or positive impact on you – learning by doing. These can be
events that have occurred in learning, practical or personal areas. Gibbs’ (1988)
cycle is considered useful for students who are new to reflecting as it has clearly
defined sections:
2.2. Explain the importance of reflective practice in continuously improving
own practice and the service provided.

Reflection is the examination of personal thoughts and actions. This means focusing
on how you interact with colleagues, children and the environment. It means thinking
about how you could have done something differently, what you did well, what you
could have done better, how you could improve what you did. It also means
reflecting on your own values, beliefs and experiences which shape your thoughts
and ideas. This will allow you to obtain a clearer picture of your own behaviour and a
better understand of your strengths and take appropriate future action, continually
improve your practice and the quality of care you provide for the service users.
Reflective practice is important because it helps you develop and improve your
practice by thinking about what you are doing. Reflection is about thinking things
over. It can help you to understand feelings and the wider issues involved. By
reflecting on events it can allow you to make sense of something that has happened
or been said and possibly see the meaning and reason behind someone else’s
actions or words. By reflecting on our own actions we are able to see areas where
we could improve so reflective practice is a great tool to aid our learning.

2.3. Reflect on own practice.

This will be covered either by observation/professional discussion with your
assessor or through a reflective account.

This could take place during a supervision with your manager where you might
reflect on various incidents, emergencies, conflicts or dilemmas, which have taken
place during the course of your practice. Or it could be an occasion where you
receive feedback from your manager, colleague, assessor, key people or an
individual regarding your practice.

Regular reflections make for good practice. Think about ways you can record your
reflections such as:
• Keep a reflective journal / diary
• Learning log
• Diary
• Critical incident journal

Use the learning cycles in 2.1 to support your reflections.

2.4. Reflect on how work demands have impacted on self.

The demands of your work may on occasion cause you stress. This could be for
many reasons including:
• High workloads
• Coping with change
• Interpersonal conflict
• Bullying
• Ineffective management
• Lack of resources
• Unsociable or inflexible working hours
• Lack of respect (for the individual worker)
• Unclear job specification
• Little or no involvement in decisions
• Few opportunities for training or personal development
• Threat of redundancy

The daily stressfulness of care work can contribute to:

■ errors and misjudgements
■ low morale
■ sickness absence
■ burnout
■ staff turnover in the sector.

These are all factors that undermine quality in all sorts of ways. It’s not possible to
take the pressure out of care work – which makes it all the more essential to do what
you can to help yourself cope with pressure – to become, in other words, more
resilient.

3. Be able to evaluate own performance.

3.1. Evaluate own knowledge and understanding against relevant standards.

Your knowledge, understanding and performance against relevant standards will

stress the importance regarding personal development and reflective practice. The
standards can be used as the basis of a training needs analysis which will help you
to identify areas for development. They also provide objective measures to judge
existing skills and knowledge against development needs.

Personal development is a lifelong process. It's a way for people to assess their skills
and qualities, consider their aims in life and set goals in order to realise and
maximise their potential. Personal development means developing personal qualities
and skills that everyone need in order to live and work in the wider society. Showing
empathy, being patient, maintaining good communication and relationship. Working
with dignity in care will lead to the development of self-confidence, self-esteem and
self-respect.
Reflective practice is important in continuously improving the quality of service
provided when working as a carer. It allows you to reflect on what you did well and
what you could do better. It allows you to think about how to improve the way you
provide care.

3.2. Obtain formal and informal feedback from others on the impact of own
actions and interactions in the workplace.

The term ‘feedback’ is used to describe the helpful information or criticism about
prior action or behaviour from an individual, communicated to another individual (or a
group) who can use that information to adjust and improve current and future actions
and behaviours. Feedback can motivate, can improve performance and be used as a
tool for continued learning. Feedback is about giving information in a way that
encourages the recipient to accept it, reflect on it, learn from it, and hopefully make
changes for the better. Specifically, feedback can:
 Clarify good performance
 Raise awareness of strengths and weaknesses
 Help develop self-assessment (reflection)
 Deliver high quality information
 Encourage dialogue
 Encourage motivational belief and self-esteem
 Provide opportunities to close the gap
 Provide information to carers to improve skills

Feedback is important to the ongoing development of learners in healthcare settings.

Many work situations involve the integration of knowledge, skills and behaviours in
complex and often stressful environments with time and service pressures on both
teacher and learner. Feedback is central to developing learners' competence and
confidence at all stages of their care careers. You play a part in encouraging
feedback. You should be open to feedback and encourage an honest appraisal. You
should also ask for specific examples so that you fully understand any issues that
are raised.

Feedback can be both formal and informal. Formal feedback consists of formal
performance reviews or meetings whereas informal feedback is communicated in
everyday interactions or independently of formal mechanisms. Formal feedback is
planned beforehand and systematically scheduled into the official procedures of the
organisation such as at supervision or appraisal with your manager. Formal
feedback could also come from training sessions with other professionals, such as
district nurses, social workers, g.p’s, speech abd language therapists,
physiotherapists etc. Informal feedback may come from children and young people in
the workplace, their family members or advocates.

Try to:
 seek feedback on a regular basis, especially after you have identified
development goals. Exchanging information and perceptions is a process, not
a single event
  receive feedback as a gift that provides you with honest information about
your perceived behaviour/performance. Be open to what you will hear
 let the person finish what he or she is saying
 try to paraphrase (express in different words) what you are being told, either
back to the person or in your own mind
 ask clarifying questions
 ask for specifics, if not provided
 ask the person to give you alternatives to your behaviour
 monitor your non-verbal and emotional responses
 thank the person for being helpful to you
But do not:
 take it personally
 become defensive or explain your behaviour. You can either spend your time
mobilising your defences or you can spend your time listening. Defending
your actions is counterproductive, where listening is extremely useful
 interrupt the other person
 be afraid to allow pauses and periods of silence when you receive feedback.
This gives you time to understand what is being said and it gives the other
person time to think about what they say
 ask the person to defend his or her opinion (there is a difference between
‘defending’ and ‘explaining’). Feedback is purely subjective perceptions of
information. You can place your own value on it later.

3.3. Evaluate own performance using feedback.

Once feedback is received, you can use it to evaluate your own performance. It
allows you to reflect on what went well and what didn’t go so well. What would you
do different next time or what skills you need to improve a particular area of your
practice. Feedback is an essential part of evaluating your performance. Colleagues,
and clients will be able to identify what you have done well, but they will also be able
to objectively identify areas for improvement. Take the time after the feedback
interaction to evaluate the information and consider specific actions for
improvements. Feedback can help you self-monitor your behaviour at times when
you are not at your most effective.

4. Be able to engage with professional supervision to plan and

review own development.

4.1. Participate in supervision in accordance with requirements in the

workplace.

Care work is emotionally demanding but research shows that good supervision can
help managers get the best out of staff. With good quality supervision, people have
better job satisfaction and commitment to their job, and tend to stay
longer. Research suggests that good one-to-one supervision has the following
features: 
 it occurs regularly in a safe environment,
 it is based on a respectful relationship,
  and the process is understood and valued and is embedded in the
organisational culture.
Through regular, structured meetings with a supervisor, care staff can develop their
understanding and improve their practice. The primary functions of supervision are: 
 administrative case management;
 reflecting on and learning from practice;
 personal support;
 professional development;
 and mediation, in which the supervisor acts as a bridge between the individual
staff member and the organisation they work for. 

Generally the process of formal supervision takes place in a private location and is
protected time in the sense that it should not be subject to any interruptions. It should
also be a planned and regular occurrence. A record of some sort will be kept of
matters discussed and certain safeguards should exist with regard to the
confidentiality of the information contained therein.

4.2. Use supervision to review and prioritise own:

 learning needs
 professional interests
 development opportunities.

4.3. Use supervision to agree own professional development plan.

A professional development plan may have a different name but will record
information such as agreed objectives for development, proposed activities to meet
objectives, timescales for review, etc. Any personal development plan (PDP) needs
to be SMART which means it needs to be: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic
and timed targets. A PDP needs to be regularly reviewed to ensure it remains up to
date and a true reflection of your development needs, goals or plans for the future.

What is a personal development plan (PDP)?

A PDP is:
 an individual plan to suit you
 a systematic way of identifying and addressing your educational and
professional development needs
 a tool that can identify areas for further development and encourage lifelong
learning. A PDP can identify goals for the forthcoming year and methods for
achieving these goals
What makes a good PDP?
 time and thought
 one that identifies your learning needs - what you want to develop for either
your current role or for a future one
 is achievable
 is a product of reflection
For each learning need, ask yourself:
 what do I want/need to learn?
 what will I do to achieve it? 
 what resources and/or support will I need?
  how will I know I have been successful? What are my learning outcomes?
 what are my target dates for completion and review?
Tips for a useful PDP 
Your PDP must be:
 personal to you
 a working document, something you continuously update
 flexible (used as a guide only)
 supported by evidence
 reviewed regularly
Good personal development planning will help you achieve your potential as it will
help you to identify your skills gaps and improvement areas/learning needs.

Below are some templates of how your PDP might look.

https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/
personal_development_plan_template.pdf

w can I develop my knowledge and skills?

5. Be able to use reflective practice to contribute to professional
development.

5.1. Use reflective practice to evaluate how learning activities have affected
practice.
Think about a learning activity you have recently taken part in. Some training is
formal, and you may have received a certificate for attending a course, such as first
aid or moving and handling. Formal training is not the only way you can learn new
skills and knowledge. In fact, many workplace skills are learned informally from
working with colleagues and by work shadowing. You can also learn new information
and knowledge by asking people questions, and through discussions with other
learners, colleagues and your assessor. You may want to do your own research by
reading books and using the internet.
Make a list of some of the training events you have been to so far in your
current job role. Then for each training event state:
• whether the training was formal or informal
• what your input was. For example, did you ask any questions, or were you asked to
take part in any practical activities?
• what you learned from the training
• how you used the new knowledge and skills to improve your practice.

5.2. Demonstrate how reflective practice has contributed to improved ways of

working.

Reviewing and reflecting on your practice is not something you only do when you are
working in care. It is something you do in your daily life. For example, if you have
learned to drive, you would have reviewed your practice so that you could improve
and pass your driving test. Reviewing your knowledge and skills is something you
will use throughout your life. Reflecting on and reviewing your practice leads to
improved ways of working.

Example
A few weeks ago, John attended a moving and handling training session. On the
course John learned how to use a slide sheet and realised they were not so difficult
to use, after all. John’s colleagues had always said that they would not use a slide
sheet because they would take too much time. After the training session, John’s
manager asked if he would use a slide sheet for a service user who needed turning
regularly. John was very nervous at first, but he followed the advice given at the
training session, and it went well. John decided to use an improvement action plan to
increase the number of times he used the slide sheet. Within a month he was able to
use the slide sheet easily. However, when John talked with his work colleagues, they
still said they did not like using slide sheets, because they said they were difficult to
use. When John asked, they had only actually tried to use slide sheets once or twice
since the training session. John reflected on this and agreed to support other
members of staff to use the slide sheet so they could practice its use more.

By supporting his colleagues to use the slide sheet, they would all be working in a
better way and so it had improved their ways of working.

5.3. Record progress in relation to professional development

Your organisation may have a system for recording your personal development. This
is sometimes called “PDR”. Your supervisor / manager should keep details in your
supervision file and you may have a training department who keeps training course
records and e-learning. It is recommended that you keep a folder of evidence of all of
the learning and development activities that you have completed. In the folder, you
can keep things like training course certificates, testimonials from individuals you
support, compliments and thank you letters.

Your Personal Development Plan and Record should be regularly updated and will
help to reflect on what you have achieved over the past year as well as plan for the
future.