National Occupational Standards for Work with Parents

What are National Occupational Standards?

National Occupational Standards (NOS) are nationally agreed statements of competence* which describe what an effective and competent worker does and needs to know to deliver quality in their job.
*Competence is defined as "the ability to perform to the standard required in employment across a range of circumstances and to meet changing needs" (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA)).

Standards for Work with Parents

The National Occupational Standards for Work with Parents were developed in consultation with the sector and approved by the UK Regulatory bodies (QCA, SQA, ACCAC and QCA NI) on 26 April 2005.  They apply to Work with Parents across the four countries of the UK.  National Occupational Standards for Family Learning have also been developed and were approved at the same time. There is some common ground between the two sets of standards and because they have been approved at the same time, qualifications can be developed which take account of skills and knowledge common to both areas of work.
The standards can be used to:
◊        Recognise previously acquired competences
◊        Identify knowledge and skills gaps
◊        Benchmark practice against the standards
◊        Ensure training is relevant to job roles
◊        Facilitate self assessment
◊        Help to develop and retain a more effective workforce
◊        Support organisational review and planning
◊        Improve recruitment
◊        Enable staff to achieve through the workplace

What do the National Occupational Standards for Work with Parents look like?

The NOS for Work with Parents are made up of:

◊        Principles and values.  All work should be undertaken in accordance with the
           identified principles and values
◊        Units which describe an area of work
◊        Elements which give detailed descriptions of the activities for the area of work
◊        Performance criteria which describe the competence performance that needs to
           be achieved
◊        Knowledge and understanding which describes what the person needs to 
           know and understand in order to perform to the National Occupational 
           Standard
◊        Links to Key and Core Skills
◊        Glossary of some of the words used in the unit

Each competence is designed to address a discrete area of responsibility which a practitioner working with parents may be asked to undertake.  These are the sort of responsibilities you are likely to find on a job description, for example: "Take responsiblity for the safety and security of parents, staff and environments" or "Work with parents with complex needs who find services hard to reach".

The Principles and Values of the Work with Parents** sector are:

◊        Parenting education and support should reflect the rights of the child set out in
           the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) ratified by the UK in
           December 1991
◊        Practitioners work in partnership with parents at all times
◊        Mothers, fathers and those in a parenting role are acknowledged as having
           unique knowledge and information about their children
◊        Children are the responsibility of the wider society as well as their families
◊        Work with Parents should be non-judgemental and anti-discriminatory and
           should seek to empower by building on and valuing parents' existing 
           strengths, knowledge and experience
◊        Parenting education and support should be available to, and practitioners 
           should engage with, all those in a parenting role
◊        Gender, cultural diversity and different needs must be respected; entitlement,
           quality and inclusiveness are of fundamental importance to those who work
           with parents
◊        Anyone who works with parents should have specific training for that purpose
◊        Good practice requires reflection and a continuing search for improvement

**Throughout these National Occupational Standards, the term 'parents' has been used to mean mothers, fathers, carers and other adults with responsibility for caring for a child.  A range of parenting services which meet the National Occupational Standards should be available for all those in a parenting role, including step parents, adoptive parents, foster parents, grandparents or other family carers, gay and lesbian parents and their partners, residential care workers, and carers of young offenders in secure units.
(extract from Parenting UK webpage)

Link to National Occupational Standards

Staffordshire Children's Trust is not responsible for the content of external websites linked from this page.

Last Modified: 13/07/2009 16:01:39
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