What do you know about volunteering?

Do you want to get into volunteering? Have you got what it takes? Test yourself with this quiz...

What are the benefits of volunteering?

Have you ever considered becoming a volunteer? Take a look at some of the benefits and discover how you can get started...

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The importance of person-centred approaches to nursing care

Getting to know the person behind the patient is focal to person-centred nursing care, Professor Jan Draper and Dr Josie Tetley explain more in this article...

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BSc (Honours) Adult Nursing

Foundation Degree in Healthcare Practice

This qualification is designed to promote the development of healthcare career pathways, and to prepare healthcare assistants/healthcare support workers for the role of assistant/associate practitioner. It develops the knowledge and competences needed to deliver high quality, safe and compassionate care to service users from a diversity of backgrounds. You will explore the legal, ethical, political, policy and personal boundaries of your healthcare practice within multidisciplinary teams and develop competence to make appropriate referrals. You will also evaluate strategies for improving practice, contributing to the development of quality services and working with change.

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BA (Honours) Childhood and Youth Studies

What makes young people tick? What shapes and influences children's development? How can the adults who work with children support them more effectively? Childhood and youth studies is one of the UK's fastest growing academic disciplines. The OU is a pioneer in this field and over the last 15 years has developed this wide-ranging interdisciplinary degree for anyone working with children and young people or with a general interest in the field.

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An introduction to health and social care

We all depend on care services at some time in our lives ? at home; in hospitals, clinics or GP surgeries; or in community and residential settings. This key introductory OU level 1 module provides an authoritative overview of health and social care, with real-life case studies taking you deep into the experience of receiving care and working in care services. It has also been written for those new to university study and will help you develop the learning skills needed for degree study. Whether you're involved in care work (paid or unpaid), use services yourself, or simply have a general interest, this module will build knowledge and understanding, develop skills, and prepare you for further study.

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Introduction to childhood studies and child psychology

What influences children's development? How is childhood changing? How important are society and culture in understanding this change? This introductory module offers a fascinating insight into the lives of children and young people. It brings together approaches from anthropology, sociology and psychology, to provide a complete account of some of the complex influences that shape children's experiences. You will investigate topics central to the lives of children and young people, from birth to 18 years, and explore their emotional, physical, intellectual, social and cultural development. You'll be introduced to these thought-provoking topics through audio, video and interactive online materials.

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Youth: policy in practice

This online module continues the development of the critical, practical and analytical skills you need to work as a professionally qualified youth worker. This work-based learning module builds on the knowledge, skills and practice developed in earlier work-based learning modules. You must complete a minimum of 176 hours of direct practice with young people over the duration of the module ? approximately six hours of face-to-face practice a week. You will also need your organisation's permission to do work-based learning to study this module.

Introduction to child psychology

Childhood is a time of rapid growth and development, and studying these changes is endlessly stimulating. In this free course, Introduction to child psychology, you will be introduced to the discipline of child psychology and some of the key questions that guide the understanding of childhood. These questions include 'What influences children's development?' and 'How do psychologists study the physical and cognitive changes that occur during childhood?' As you work through this material, you will also gain a deeper understanding concerning how psychologists work with young children across a range of applied settings through activities and audio-visual materials.

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Care relationships

To set up a care relationship that works well is a delicate matter, whether you are at the giving or the receiving end. In this free course, Care relationships, you will explore the very varied meanings of care relationships and how these meanings arise. Millions of care relationships are going on as you read this, and each carries its own particular meanings for those involved. But where have all those people picked up their ideas of how to relate to each other? How does any of us know where to begin?

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Introducing ageing

Everyone is ageing, whatever their current age, and we live in a world where many people are living much longer than previous generations. This is often seen as a problem. But is it? This free course, Introducing ageing, will help you to think about this issue by introducing you to some key ideas in studying later life.