BA (Honours)/DipHE Health and Social Care Leadership and Management

Attendance

Part-time

Part-time – you typically attend the University for 12 Wednesdays over 17 month for each qualification stage

Starts September

At a glance

Develop your health and social care management and leadership skills on this work-based course, which is designed to involve minimal university attendance. The skills and knowledge you gain improve your career potential while making a direct impact on your workplace.  

Key points
• Improve your leadership and management capability.
• Develop an enquiring, analytical and creative approach to leadership.  
• Complete work-based modules and assessments ensuring that learning is directly related to your workplace.
• Enhance your qualifications while improving your workplace performance. 

About this course

Effective and high quality provision of health and social care depends on well-motivated, high performing staff who can work effectively individually, in teams, across organisations and through multi-agency care pathways. Leadership and management skills play a key role in being successful in these areas.

This course is for leaders and managers in health and social care who have experience of working at an operational level and who have either clinical or non-clinical backgrounds. It enables you to develop as an effective leader and manager within a workplace context.

This course stimulates an enquiring, analytical, resilient and creative approach to leadership and management, encouraging critical thinking, reflective practice and independent judgement.

The course aims to
• improve your leadership and management capability so that you can respond more effectively to meet the changing needs of your workplace
• ensure that your development is in line with business objectives and the organisational needs of health and social care providers
• enhance your qualifications while improving your workplace performance
• ensure that change is led and managed effectively within health and social care environments

All modules and assessments are work based, ensuring that your study directly relates to your leadership and management context. You develop your knowledge and skills by taking part in a range of leadership activities to produce • business plans • systems diagrams • video reports • needs analyses • project management • scenario analyses.

The academic teaching team has extensive knowledge and experience in leadership and management in health and social care and aim to ensure that you reach your career potential by combining academic study with workplace achievement.

Our Collegiate Campus has modern facilities and our teaching rooms are equipped with the latest technology. We use this technology to enhance your learning, using a virtual learning environment to help you complete modules via the internet, together with video teaching and conferencing, wikis and blogs.

The Centre for Leadership has its own learning centre specialists dedicated to our students with backgrounds in health and social care. These specialists provide bespoke support to you throughout your studies.

Associated careers

This course is designed to improve your individual capabilities and performance and the effectiveness of your organisation. This enables you to improve your career potential and accelerate your career development. Our previous graduates have a strong track record of becoming successful leaders and managers and have played key roles in improving and modernising their organisations.

Course content

Leadership and management themes

You complete modules from the following leadership and management themes
• developing compassionate leadership
• service structures, systems and policies
• quality and commissioning
• leading change
• innovation and enterprise

Level five modules

These modules will be available from September 2013

The enquiring leader
In the rapidly changing context of health and social care the enquiring leader must keep up with current changes, explore options and make informed judgements about service provision. This module aims to develop and embed your skills in critical analysis, reflection and open minded enquiry into your everyday practice.

The critically thinking leader
This module is linked to each study module and is delivered throughout the course. It provides the opportunity for you as a leader to develop your critical thinking abilities within a framework of collaborative peer engagement. It uses the key principle of assessment for learning which is based on the philosophy that you will make the most improvement if you understand the aim of your learning, where you are in relation to this aim, and how you can achieve the aim. Throughout the module you will subject your personal leadership development to peer scrutiny in order to co-create personal improvement plans that will incorporate relevant workplace impact measures

Leading people and teams for high performance working
This module forms part of the developing compassionate leadership theme and aims to
• explore strategies for improvement in these areas from the compassionate leader perspective for the individual, organisation and service user
• enable you to construct and maintain the organisational team and partnership frameworks that facilitate effective working and learning as a compassionate leader

Developing resilience in context
This module forms part of the developing compassionate leadership theme. Working in the health and social care sector can be very rewarding but also extremely demanding. This module aims to help
• develop leadership skills and strategies for developing, implementing and sustaining strategies for resilience on a personal, professional and organisational basis when working in climates of uncertainty and change
• you as a compassionate leader to understand your working environment and anticipate policy development at all levels which influence organisational effectiveness

Introduction to systems thinking and strategic leadership
This module forms part of the service structures, systems and policies theme. In an increasingly complex health and social care environment it is important for leaders to have tools that help to make sense of this complexity. This module aims to
• introduce key concepts of systems thinking such as interactions, loops, feedback mechanisms and will examine the application of the concepts within a learning organisation 
• explore the concept of strategy within organisations and to develop knowledge of the leadership role within this process

Level six module descriptions

These modules are available from February 2014.

Leading across organisational boundaries
Traditional forms of organisation in health and social care are changing rapidly, with an emphasis on networks, short-term teams and partnership working becoming more prevalent. This module aims to equip you with the skills and knowledge to enhance your effectiveness when working in this environment.

The critically thinking leader
This module is linked to each study module and is delivered throughout the course. It provides the opportunity for you as a leader to develop your critical thinking abilities within a framework of collaborative peer engagement. It uses the key principle of assessment for learning which is based on the philosophy that you will make the most improvement if you understand the aim of your learning, where you are in relation to this aim, and how you can achieve the aim. Throughout the module you will subject your leadership development to peer scrutiny in order to co-create organisational improvement plans that will incorporate relevant workplace impact measures.

Evaluating quality and understanding the commissioning process
This module forms part of the quality and commissioning theme. To be an effective leader in the evolving health and social care sector demands real understanding of quality drivers at organisational level. This module aims to
• help you as a leader to develop an understanding of the concept and purpose of quality in health and social care organisations
• provide an overview of current commissioning systems and practices, and explore the role of the service leader within commissioning

Leading effective change and developing cultural awareness
This module forms part of the leading change theme. Change in health and social care is a constant factor for leaders. The pace of change is accelerating and the task for leaders is becoming increasingly complex. This module aims to
• equip leaders with the essential tools and techniques to lead effective change in health and social care organisations
• increase your sensitivity to culture and to evaluate tools and models for analysis of change and development of culture

Project management for enterprise and entrepreneurship
This module forms part of the innovation and enterprise theme. Government policy pronouncements advocate the need for health service staff at all levels to be entrepreneurial in finding ways to make change happen. The aim of this module is to
• develop your ability to recognise and exploit opportunities for enterprise/entrepreneurship in health and social care
• understand the fundamentals of project management principles and be able to apply these in an organisational setting

Assessment

• business plans • systems diagrams • video reports • needs analysis • project management • scenario analyses

Entry requirements

Typically you need to have been working in a leadership, managerial or supervisory role for at least a year or have previous management experience, plus

• 120 credits at level four or an equivalent professional qualification for entry on the diploma
or
• 120 credits at levels four and five for entry on the degree

If you have considerable leadership and management experience and can demonstrate some academic learning at level four you may be classed as a suitable candidate for an alternative route which will enable you to gain direct entry to the level five diploma. Please contact us for more information.

Course enrolment - professional requirements
Before enrolling, you must fully declare during the admissions process any
• unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands or warnings. For further information on convictions that must be declared see the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) website.
• disciplinary proceedings during paid or voluntary employment or educational establishments
• involvement with safeguarding proceedings, social services or related organisations

You also need to complete
• a DBS Enhanced Disclosure, and provide us with a copy of your DBS Enhanced Disclosure Certificate if requested. Enrolment also depends on the DBS check being deemed suitable for professional training.
• occupational health screening to determine your suitability to undertake the course and an approved programme of immunisation, as recommended by the Department of Health. Health screening and immunisation are provided by the University.

If your personal circumstances change in relation to any of the professional requirements  – from when you apply to the end of your course – you must tell the Professional Issues Team immediately by calling  0114 225 3995 or 0114 225 5786.

Fees

Home and EU students

2013/14 academic year

Typically £9,000 a qualification stage

If you are currently employed by the NHS, Learning Beyond Registration (LBR) funding may be available. Contact your local LBR lead for more information.

How to apply

If you are LBR funded, complete the LBR application form available at www.shu.ac.uk/faculties/hwb/cpd/lbr

If you are self funding, complete the Sheffield Hallam application form available at www.shu.ac.uk/study/form

Contact details

For further information contact the Post-experience and Postgraduate Office, Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, Collegiate Crescent Campus, Sheffield S1 1WB. Phone +44 (0)114 225 2373, fax +44 (0)114 225 2394, e-mail hwb-leadership@shu.ac.uk or visit www.shu.ac.uk/faculties/hwb/clhsc