The recent SCA awards
Brian Corrigan, Scotland Officer with the Social Care Association, reflects on the recent SCA awards and lecture…
Qualified Futures in Scottish Social Care
Around 40 delegates were welcomed to this year’s Qualified Futures Awards Ceremony held on Wednesday 23rd November at the Trades Hall in Glasgow.
This was the second annual Awards Ceremony held for this project and represents the conclusion of year two of the ESF funding package.
The Qualified Futures in Scottish Social Care project is a partnership consisting of Barnardo’s, Crossreach, Cora Learning, NCH, Quarriers, SCA Education and Vocational Portfolio Development, it is part funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) with match funding provided by the partner agencies.
The project is aimed at raising skill levels in the social care workforce in Scotland through the achievement of Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQ’s) It is hoped that these qualifications will enable beneficiaries to secure and develop their current and future employment opportunities whilst at the same time raising professionalism and service standards generally within the care sector.
Included as part of the benefits of the project, the beneficiaries were also offered training membership of the Social Care Association and at the end of the ceremony were given the opportunity to upgrade to full membership of SCA.
Mary Howden, representing the senior management team from the Scottish Social Services Council – herself a former recipient of this award – gave a brief presentation highlighting her own experiences and recognising the achievement of the beneficiaries receiving their awards. Mary also talked about the importance of professional development and noted the opportunity presented by such initiatives.
Margaret Graham representing one of the partner agencies, Barnardos talked about the role of SVQs and their importance in raising service standards and professionalism across the sector.
A total of sixteen beneficiaries were presented with a certificate of achievement by Kate Pryde, Council Member of the Scottish Social Services Council on behalf of the partnership.
SCA (Scotland) – Third Annual Lecture
Around fifty delegates attended the SCA’s (Social Care Association, Scotland) Annual Lecture, which was also held in the Trades Hall, on the evening of Wednesday 23rd November in Glasgow.
The theme for this year’s event was: “Social Innovation, Social Enterprise & Social Care – The Way Forward?”
The speakers included Nick Baxter, CEO from Cornerstone Community Care and Graham Bell, CEO from Kibble Care and Education. Alexis Jay, CEO from SWIA chaired the event.
The presentations focused on the respective speakers views in relation to current innovations within social enterprise companies. The speakers highlighted the key issues for any organisation looking to develop new initiatives and services in such ventures and prompted a number of detailed and probing questions from the audience on the night. The general feedback from those attending indicates that they enjoyed the evening and found the presentations both stimulating and informative.
The SCA (Social Care Association, Scotland) will be looking to run a similar event around the same time next year and would be interested to consider suitable ideas for next year’s theme. Also anyone interested in making a presentation at next years event should contact Brian Corrigan, SCA’s Scotland Officer at [email protected] or at 0141 889 6667.
Finally I would like to thank Care Appointments for their sponsorship of this years lecture through their extensive promotional support and detailed coverage of the event. I would also like to thank our caterers for the day ‘Encore’ and the Trades Hall staff for their services and support throughout the day.
Forthcoming SCA Event
Please add a note in your diary for SCA’s next major event. The SCA Annual Seminar which will be held in the De Vere, Heron’s Reach Hotel, Blackpool on 19th and 20th March 2006. Full details of this event and how to book a place are contained on our website at www.socialcaring.com
