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What people do in their work

This section outlines the kind of responsibilities someone within this role category is likely to undertake as part of their role.

This role category supports staff working in care to learn and develop within their roles, and into other roles if they so choose. Typically, learning and development practitioners do not provide direct care. Instead, they will take on a supportive role, supporting staff development within and across their organisation.

This may involve:

• designing and providing training programmes
• co-ordinating training schedules, including sourcing training from outside the organisation
• ensuring compliance with the relevant guidance and sector regulations
• leading training teams
• promoting professional development within the organisation
• aligning learning initiatives with the organisation’s goals

A learning and development practitioner could work across a variety of settings. You might work:

• in a residential or nursing care environment
• in a homecare environment
• in a day service environment
• in a supported living environment
• in a charitable organisation that provides care
• for a local council

As a learning and development practitioner, you may specialise in a specific area such as dementia, end-of-life care or safeguarding, or take on broader responsibilities across multiple areas of practice.

By providing high-quality training, you will equip care staff with the skills and confidence to provide safe, person-centred care, embedding values such as empathy, dignity and respect.

Examples of the type of role performed

The primary objective of a learning and development practitioner in adult social care services is to enhance workforce capability by designing, providing and co-ordinating effective training programmes that:

• support staff development
• ensure regulatory compliance
• promote high-quality, person-centred care

This role encourages continuous improvement, aligns learning with strategic goals, and fosters a culture of inclusion, professionalism and reflective practice across the organisation.

Given the diverse nature of adult social care services, the structure and responsibilities of learning and development roles may vary to suit the specific needs of each service.

Examples of roles that contribute or are responsible for this function include:

• education and training manager
• learning and development co-ordinator
• learning and development practitioner
• learning and development manager
• learning and development programme manager
• learning and development specialist
• talent development lead
• training and development lead
• training manager
• workforce development manager

Values

Values are the foundation underpinning the behaviours that people in this role category must show.

The values are:

• kind, compassionate and empathetic
• honest, trustworthy and reliable
• respect
• courageous and principled
• see the whole person
• flexible, open and learning
• proud and positive

The behaviours people must show (must do)

Behaviours are the way that values are demonstrated in practice.

This section outlines the behaviours required to work within this role category. These are the things people must be doing in their job.

Kind, compassionate and empathetic

You must:

• act with compassion and empathy, creating a positive, inclusive learning culture
• recognise the pressures faced by care staff and manage access to learning in a supportive, stress-aware way

Honest, trustworthy and reliable

You must:

• apply ethical standards to training practice, ensuring learning enables responsible, values-led decision making
• act proactively to identify training needs within your organisations and take responsibility for ensuring they are met

Respect

You must:

• personally promote equality, diversity, inclusion and human rights, and ensure your staff are sensitive to people’s culture, age, gender, religion, race, sexual orientation and disability
• enable learners to participate in decisions about their training and development and incorporate their views where possible
• treat everyone with dignity and respect, ensuring interactions are culturally sensitive and inclusive

Courageous and principled

You must:

• respond appropriately to sensitive information, using sound judgement and emotional awareness
• challenge yourself to try new things, supporting others to do the same

See the whole person

You must promote person-centred thinking, valuing lived experience and encouraging co-production in learning and development activities.

Flexible, open and learning

You must:

• create an environment where feedback and reflection are welcomed and used positively, ensuring this informs practice
• remain adaptable to diverse learning needs, contexts and situations
• seek out and act on opportunities for self-development and improvement
• continuously refine and improve training provision to maximise effectiveness for staff and people drawing on care and support

Proud and positive

You must:

• demonstrate pride, enthusiasm and commitment to high-quality learning experiences
• show leadership through coaching and mentoring and develop others to do the same
• encourage and celebrate achievements, supporting a culture of shared learning

Working together

You must:

• build positive and collaborative relationships with learners, colleagues and stakeholders
• work with others to design and provide learning that meets organisational and learner needs
• communicate clearly about learning expectations, methods, timeframes and support available

Professionalism

You must:

• demonstrate and set high standards of personal and professional behaviour, acting as a role model
• maintain up to date professional knowledge to support new practice, innovation and regulatory changes
• promote safeguarding, confidentiality and ethical practice across all learning interventions

Knowledge and skills people should have

Knowledge is the understanding someone needs to carry out the responsibilities of the role.

Skills are the ability to apply that knowledge in practice.

This section outlines the knowledge and skills someone working in this role category should know and the things they should be able to do in their job.

The structure and responsibilities of learning and development roles covered by this role category may vary by service or setting. Not all knowledge and skills will apply in every context, and some others may be required, such as completing dementia training when working in a dementia care setting.

Digital skills

As part of learner knowledge and skill development, you should also develop both level 1 (digital skills for all) and, where suitable for the setting or role, level 2 (go further) skills from the .

Knowledge and skills breakdown for this role category

Understanding training design, provision and evaluation

You should:

• understand how diversity and inclusion should shape learning and development planning and provision
• understand how to identify and analyse knowledge and skills gaps in your organisation or setting through the use of policy, research and organisational data
• understand the means available to you and your organisation to train and develop your staff. This might include:
  • qualifications
  • internal training
  • shadowing and other internal skills or knowledge sharing methods
  • learning programmes
  • external training provision, including accredited and non-accredited training
• be able to address knowledge and skills gaps by the provision of training, education and development opportunities
• be able to support learners’ access and ability to engage with external training, including qualifications
• be able to design and provide engaging sessions for diverse roles, including induction and ongoing development
• understand how to draw on the existing evidence base, subject expertise and experience from within your organisation to design and provide training
• understand the limits of the subject expertise within your organisation and when these gaps may need to be met by external training provision
• understand how to engage learners of varying abilities, using diverse techniques and effective questioning
• be able to facilitate learning across face-to-face, blended and digital environments
• understand how the learning environment (such as face to face or online learning) can affect how people learn, and be able to account for these differences in training provision
• be able to manage participation, attitudes and behaviours to achieve learning objectives
• understand the difference between learning outcomes and assessment criteria
• understand the methods you can use to observe practice and assess staff competency
• be able to provide timely, accessible feedback to learners to support reflection and improvement
• be able to collect and use data to analyse needs and ensure effective delivery of training
• be able to evaluate the effectiveness of training, education and development, and refine programmes based on feedback and learner experience

Understanding strategic co-ordination and programme management

You should:

• be able to consult with stakeholders, such as your internal senior leadership team, individuals and families or accredited training bodies, to gather relevant information and provide feedback to inform learning and training requirements
• be able to plan and co-ordinate training schedules, potentially across multiple sites or regions, balancing the day-to-day needs of the business alongside the need to continually train and develop your staff
• understand how to align training initiatives with organisational goals and regulatory requirements
• be able to manage training logistics, documentation and compliance tracking
• be able to monitor provision against contractual obligations and service-level agreements

Understanding how to coach others

You should:

• understand the role that a learning and development practitioner has in relation to coaching others
• understand the purpose of coaching in adult care and the differences it has from mentoring
• be able to develop a coaching relationship with people receiving coaching
• work in partnership with the people you are coaching to set targets, review progress and, when completed, set new targets
• be able to apply coaching skills to support learner progress, including supporting other coaches within your organisation

Managing leadership and workforce development

You should be able to:

• lead and support regional trainers and learning and development teams
• promote reflective practice and continuing professional development (CPD) across your organisation or setting
• keep your own knowledge and skills up to date through CPD, modelling lifelong learning
• provide effective onboarding support to new starters
• support effective career progression within your organisation or setting
• support succession planning in your organisation or setting
• support the implementation of innovative learning approaches, including digital and blended formats

Developing sector-specific and compliance knowledge

You should:

• be able to maintain up-to-date knowledge of adult learning principles and care sector regulations. This may include knowledge about:
  • the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and its role in adult social care
  • safeguarding
  • mental capacity (and mental capacity assessments)
  • Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS)
• be able to ensure that mandatory training requirements are met and documented
• understand person-centred care principles and apply them in training content
• be able to uphold UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and data protection standards in training records
• be able to support regulatory compliance by monitoring training provision, maintaining accurate records and preparing for internal or external audits

Managing partnerships with learners in an adult social care environment

You should:

• be able to build trust and strong relationships with learners
• be able to work collaboratively with learners to achieve learning goals
• understand the value and experience that people drawing on care and support can bring to learning, co-designing learning and development within your organisation or setting
• understand the learning and development opportunities available in adult social care, including how they support skills development and career progression
• be able to help learners understand their learning and development options, providing information in a way they can understand and engage with
• understand the boundaries of the learning and development role and how to escalate concerns or challenges appropriately to ensure safe and effective practice
• understand the pressures that learners face in the completion of their role and how you can help manage their access to learning and development in a compassionate and considerate way

Understand how to apply learning

You should be able to:

• train the trainer (through completing ‘train the trainer’ learning)
• assess learning (through completing assessor training)

Oliver’s Training

Complete Oliver’s Training on Learning Disability and Autism: Tier 1 (if not done so already). Tier 2 can be undertaken in settings providing direct care to individuals with autism or a learning disability.

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