Manage Skills

Glossary

Care workplace terms

AQAA: Annual Quality Assurance Assessment; these are self-evaluation forms for adult social care providers that are a mandatory requirement from the Care Quality Commission

Care Quality Commission: The body responsible for inspecting the quality of services provided in the adult care sector.
Care Quality Commission website: www.cqc.org.uk

CIS: Common Induction Standards in social care. These standards are produced by Skills for Care. For a complete copy of the CIS go to our Standards and qualifications section. The CIS are being refreshed in 2010. Find out more about the Common Induction Standards from the Skills for Care website: www.skillsforcare.org.uk

DH: Department of Health. The Government department with overall responsibility for adult social care services. Department of Health website: www.dh.gov.uk/en/index.htm

GSCC: General Social Care Council; administers registration for the workforce and produces the Codes of Practice governing the standards of conduct expected of workers and employers in the sector. You can access a complete copy of the GSCC Codes of Practice from our Standards and qualifications section. Find out more about the Codes of Practice from the General Social Care Council website: www.gscc.org.uk

induction: ‘ensuring the effective integration of staff into or across an organisation for the benefit of both parties’ (CIPD)

Makaton:a system of communication based on a combination of spoken words, sign language vocabulary and graphic symbols; primarily used by people with learning disabilities

NMS: National Minimum Standards of service provision in social care; produced by the Department of Health and inspected by the Care Quality Commission

POVA: Protection of Vulnerable Adults; government vetting and barring scheme which lists care workers who have harmed vulnerable adults in their care

SCIE: Social Care Institute for Excellence; SCIE develops and promotes knowledge about good practice in the social care sector. SCIE is the principal funder of the Care Skillsbase project. SCIE website: www.scie.org.uk

SISCo: Supporting Induction in Social Care, a joint project between SCIE, Skills for Care and SEEDA, which was the predecessor of the Care Skillsbase website.

Skills for Care: the sector skills council for adult social care in England. Skills for Care sets the National Occupational Standards for adult social care, as well as the Common Induction Standards. Skills for Care co-sponsors Care Skillsbase. Skills for Care website: www.skillsforcare.org.uk

RMA: Registered Managers' Award; required for those who are the 'responsible individual' for their service; superceded (2008) by the Leadership and Management for Care Services Award.

IT terms

browser: the software that enables you to view pages from the web. The most common browsers are Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox

cookie: information that a website (in this case Care Skillsbase) puts on your computer so that it can remember something about you at a later time

download: take information from the web and put it onto your own computer

FAQ: frequently asked question

ICT: information and communication technologies; this term includes mobile phones, digital television, MP3 players as well as computers and internet technologies

IP address: a number that identifies each computer that sends or receives information through the internet

IT: information technology

PDF: portable document format

server: the website host computer that serves pages requested by a website visitor

Skills terms

Basic Skills: in social care, Basic Skills in social care are defined as communication and number skills; see the About communication & number skills section of this site for more.

BIS: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; Government department responsible for higher education, further education and skills: www.bis.gov.uk

DCSF: Department for Children, Schools and Families. The Government department with overall responsibility for education and training initiatives for children and young people. DCSF website: www.dcsf.gov.uk

ESOL: English for speakers of other languages

Functional skills: ‘English, maths and IT skills to ensure young people and adults can engage purposefully as citizens and in employment’ (DfES 2006); see the About communication & number skills section of this site for more on this

Key Skills: ‘the skills commonly needed for success in a range of activities in work and training’ (DfES); see the About communication & number skills section of this site for more on this

NOS: National Occupational Standards; specify the standards of performance that individuals are expected to achieve in their work, and the knowledge and skills they need to perform effectively. They have been agreed by employers and employee representatives and approved by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in England. The standards-setting body for adult social care is Skills for Care.

NVQ: National Vocational Qualifications; these are the work-related, competence-based qualifications based on the National Occupational Standards. During 2010 NVQs will be replaced by qualifications under the new Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF). For more on the QCF in social care see Skills for Care's website: www.skillsforcare.org.uk

PDP: personal development plan; structured and supported process to help individuals develop the skills they need to function effectively and progress at work.

QCF: Qualifications and Credit Framework. The QCF is a new flexible way of recognising and rewarding skills and qualifications. It will present units and qualifications in a simpler way and lead to qualifications that are flexible and meet the skills and knowledge needs of the workforce. See the Skills for Care website for more information: www.skillsforcare.org.uk

SEEDA: South East England Development Agency, the regional development agency for the SE of England. SEEDA were co-sponsors of the SISCo project which led to Care Skillsbase. SEEDA website: www.seeda.org.uk

Skills Check: on Care Skillsbase these are short activities to help you decide if a member of staff has the communication and number skills needed to work safely and meet quality standards. Each Skills Check focuses on specific communication or number skills.

Skills for Life: the UK Government’s strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy skills; see the About communication & number skills section of this site for more on this.