How is the CCEA A2 5 Supporting the Family unit assessed?

A2 5 is internally assessed through a portfolio (controlled assessment) that your centre marks and CCEA moderates, rather than by a written examination. You build a body of work analysing family types and functions, the pressures a family faces, and how a range of services and professionals support that family. Marks come from applied, analytical detail about a chosen family or scenario rather than from timed recall.

What types of family does the unit cover?

The unit covers the diversity of family forms, including the nuclear family, the extended family, the lone-parent family, the reconstituted or blended family, and other forms. CCEA expects you to recognise this diversity without judgement, and to understand that different family types may face different pressures and need different kinds of support.

What functions does a family perform?

Families perform several key functions: primary socialisation (teaching children norms, values, language and behaviour), care and nurture (meeting physical needs and providing security and love), economic support (providing financially and sharing resources), and emotional support and stability (belonging, identity and coping with stress). Each function supports health and wellbeing across the physical, intellectual, emotional and social dimensions.

What pressures do families face?

Families face changes and pressures such as changing structures and roles, relationship breakdown and divorce, financial pressure and poverty, caring responsibilities (for children, older relatives or disabled members), ill health, bereavement, and work-life balance. These pressures can affect a family's ability to perform its functions, which is when external support becomes important.

How should I approach the A2 5 portfolio?

Choose a realistic family or scenario and analyse it. Identify the family type and the functions it performs, then the pressures it faces, then the services and professionals that could support it, explaining how each helps. Link the analysis to health and wellbeing and to safeguarding where relevant, and show how services work in partnership. Examiners reward applied, analytical detail rather than generic description.

Northern IrelandHealth & Social Care

CCEA A-Level Health and Social Care A2 5 Supporting the Family: family types, functions and the services that support families

Q: Which services and professionals support families?

Support comes from across the sectors: statutory services (social services, HSC trusts, family support workers, child protection), health professionals (GPs, health visitors, midwives), education and early years (schools, nurseries, early-intervention and parenting programmes), and voluntary organisations (charities and support groups for carers, lone parents or families affected by disability). Family policy and partnership working aim to strengthen and protect families.

A guide to the internally assessed CCEA A2 5 Supporting the Family unit. Covers the types and functions of the family, the changes and pressures families face, and the statutory, health, education and voluntary services and professionals that support families, with family policy and partnership working.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.814 min readCCEAUpdated 2026-06-16

Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed

Jump to a section

What this unit demands
Types and functions of the family
Changes and pressures
Services, policies and professionals
How this unit is assessed
Check your knowledge

What this unit demands

A2 5 Supporting the Family draws the qualification together around a unit central to health and social care: the family. CCEA wants you to understand the types and functions of families, the changes and pressures they face, and the services, policies and professionals that support them. Like the other coursework units, it is internally assessed through a portfolio, so success depends on applying these ideas to a chosen family or scenario with concrete, analytical detail.

This guide sets out the content and how to build a strong portfolio. The matching overview dot-point page works the same ideas with examples.

Types and functions of the family

A family can take many forms: nuclear, extended, lone-parent, reconstituted (blended) and others, reflecting modern diversity. Families perform key functions: primary socialisation, care and nurture, economic support, and emotional support and stability. Each links to health and wellbeing across the four dimensions from AS 3.

Changes and pressures

Families face change and pressure: changing structures and roles, relationship breakdown, financial pressure, caring responsibilities, ill health, bereavement and work-life balance. These can affect a family's ability to perform its functions, especially for children and other vulnerable members.

Services, policies and professionals

Support spans the sectors: statutory (social services, HSC trusts, family support workers, child protection), health (GPs, health visitors, midwives), education and early years (schools, nurseries, early-intervention and parenting programmes), and voluntary (charities and support groups). Family policy and partnership working aim to strengthen and protect families, linking back to safeguarding and service provision.

How this unit is assessed

A2 5 is assessed by an internally assessed portfolio (controlled assessment), centre-marked and moderated by CCEA. There is no terminal written paper for this unit.

Check your knowledge

Name four types of family. (4 marks)
State the functions a family performs. (4 marks)
Explain how one family function supports wellbeing. (2 marks)
Identify three pressures families may face. (3 marks)
Name a health professional who supports families and explain how. (2 marks)
Explain how services can work in partnership to support a family. (2 marks)

Sources & how we know this

CCEA GCE Health and Social Care specification — CCEA (2016)