Maisie Smith
Examining the benefits
of work experience in
health and social care
for own learning and
development
UNIT 6 – WORK EXPERIENCE IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
MAISIE SMITH
,1|Page
P1 – Explain how work experience can support the development of own professional skills
and personal attributes for work in the health and social care sector
Placement will help me to reflect on what it is like to work in a care setting, and it will aid
with developing my skills when I am there, for example my communication skills will
develop as I get to know the staff and the residents, and I may become more confident with
what I am doing and with my general knowledge on working in care settings. It will help be
to recognise what skills I need to develop as I complete different tasks and observations. I
may recognise that I am good at different thing whilst I am doing placement which may help
me in the future when I am deciding on what path I want to go down.
Placement will also help me to recognise the
importance of different aspects of
professionalism, for example, I may learn the
importance of wearing certain clothing, such as
clothes that are appropriate and clothes of a
suitable colour so they won’t get any stans on
them, additionally I may recognise that
comfortable footwear is appropriate if I am on
my feet for a while.
I hope that placement will aid me to develop my
communication skills, my listening skills may improve
along time as I get used to talking to different residents.
Communication and interpersonal skills help to convey
empathy and display active listening. Listening skills are
important as they show a person that you value them
and the things that they are talking about, for example,
nodding my head and repeating things that people are
saying. My speaking skills in general improve as I become
more confident in the setting. My non-verbal
communication skills may improve when talking to
different individuals, for example if they have limited communication skills, things like eye
contact and facial expressions may help to convey different emotions and make people feel
more comfortable.
Organizational skills are very important in any health and social care setting, I will learn that
it is important to plan different things ahead of time and to show up at an appropriate time,
for example, if I need to get changed when I get to a setting for hygiene reasons etc, I may
want to be there 5 minutes early or if I need to get a certain thing done to mark it off in my
placement book then I may want to discuss it with someone at the setting the week before
so it can be organised in time.
, 2|Page
Placement will be vital for me to learn
different technical skills, like data
handling and using specialist equipment.
By observing other staff, I may learn
how they handle personal data and how
they protect service users personal and
confidential information, i.e., keeping
confidential records, like medical
records, locked away. I may learn about
the different policies and procedures of
the placement that I go to and the
different ways that the staff follow these so I can understand how I could put different
policies and procedures into practice in the future. Observing people using specialist
equipment may give me some insight in what its like for different service users if they have
certain issues, like mobility issues, and I will see how different equipment is used which may
be helpful for the future if I work in a setting with specialist equipment.
Teamwork is important in health and social care because it
improves safety, efficiency, and the quality of care. By
observing how professionals work in a team and being a part
of different type of team that I am usually working with, I will
develop my teamwork skills and I will learn how it is important
to communicate well with all the members of a team so that
everyone is fully informed about what is going on.
Being on my placement may help me to develop my
confidence, by developing a positive state of mind by
getting used to what its like to work in a health and
social care setting and building my confidence in
different aspects of this. I have a personal responsibility
to complete my work experience placement to the best
of my ability, if I don’t work to the best of my ability, I
may face consequences such as, the placement no
longer wanting to have me or not being able to properly
fill out my placement book if I were not doing as much
as I am able to.
Placement will help me to link the theory of what I have learnt into practice. In unit one,
Human lifespan and development I learnt about different theories and facts about
individuals in different stages of life. If I were in a school setting, I might observe children in
their play time or in their lessons and see what stage of their learning they may be at based
on Piaget’s model According to Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, a five-year-old will
have very little understanding of how things like numbers, mass and volume really work. If I
were doing an activity with a child and had a wide dome glass and a thin cylinder glass with
the same volume of water in both and I asked the child which one has more water in it, they
Examining the benefits
of work experience in
health and social care
for own learning and
development
UNIT 6 – WORK EXPERIENCE IN HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
MAISIE SMITH
,1|Page
P1 – Explain how work experience can support the development of own professional skills
and personal attributes for work in the health and social care sector
Placement will help me to reflect on what it is like to work in a care setting, and it will aid
with developing my skills when I am there, for example my communication skills will
develop as I get to know the staff and the residents, and I may become more confident with
what I am doing and with my general knowledge on working in care settings. It will help be
to recognise what skills I need to develop as I complete different tasks and observations. I
may recognise that I am good at different thing whilst I am doing placement which may help
me in the future when I am deciding on what path I want to go down.
Placement will also help me to recognise the
importance of different aspects of
professionalism, for example, I may learn the
importance of wearing certain clothing, such as
clothes that are appropriate and clothes of a
suitable colour so they won’t get any stans on
them, additionally I may recognise that
comfortable footwear is appropriate if I am on
my feet for a while.
I hope that placement will aid me to develop my
communication skills, my listening skills may improve
along time as I get used to talking to different residents.
Communication and interpersonal skills help to convey
empathy and display active listening. Listening skills are
important as they show a person that you value them
and the things that they are talking about, for example,
nodding my head and repeating things that people are
saying. My speaking skills in general improve as I become
more confident in the setting. My non-verbal
communication skills may improve when talking to
different individuals, for example if they have limited communication skills, things like eye
contact and facial expressions may help to convey different emotions and make people feel
more comfortable.
Organizational skills are very important in any health and social care setting, I will learn that
it is important to plan different things ahead of time and to show up at an appropriate time,
for example, if I need to get changed when I get to a setting for hygiene reasons etc, I may
want to be there 5 minutes early or if I need to get a certain thing done to mark it off in my
placement book then I may want to discuss it with someone at the setting the week before
so it can be organised in time.
, 2|Page
Placement will be vital for me to learn
different technical skills, like data
handling and using specialist equipment.
By observing other staff, I may learn
how they handle personal data and how
they protect service users personal and
confidential information, i.e., keeping
confidential records, like medical
records, locked away. I may learn about
the different policies and procedures of
the placement that I go to and the
different ways that the staff follow these so I can understand how I could put different
policies and procedures into practice in the future. Observing people using specialist
equipment may give me some insight in what its like for different service users if they have
certain issues, like mobility issues, and I will see how different equipment is used which may
be helpful for the future if I work in a setting with specialist equipment.
Teamwork is important in health and social care because it
improves safety, efficiency, and the quality of care. By
observing how professionals work in a team and being a part
of different type of team that I am usually working with, I will
develop my teamwork skills and I will learn how it is important
to communicate well with all the members of a team so that
everyone is fully informed about what is going on.
Being on my placement may help me to develop my
confidence, by developing a positive state of mind by
getting used to what its like to work in a health and
social care setting and building my confidence in
different aspects of this. I have a personal responsibility
to complete my work experience placement to the best
of my ability, if I don’t work to the best of my ability, I
may face consequences such as, the placement no
longer wanting to have me or not being able to properly
fill out my placement book if I were not doing as much
as I am able to.
Placement will help me to link the theory of what I have learnt into practice. In unit one,
Human lifespan and development I learnt about different theories and facts about
individuals in different stages of life. If I were in a school setting, I might observe children in
their play time or in their lessons and see what stage of their learning they may be at based
on Piaget’s model According to Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, a five-year-old will
have very little understanding of how things like numbers, mass and volume really work. If I
were doing an activity with a child and had a wide dome glass and a thin cylinder glass with
the same volume of water in both and I asked the child which one has more water in it, they
