Values and Principles: overview of SQA National 5 Care Unit 3
An overview of the Values and Principles unit of SQA National 5 Care, covering care needs and assessment, the health and social care sectors, the features of a positive care environment and the role of legislation, and the care values that underpin positive practice, with study tips and links to each key area.
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Values and Principles is one of the three areas of study of SQA National 5 Care. It is the foundation of the course: it explains why people need care, how their needs are identified and met, what makes a good care setting, and the values that guide everyone working in care. This page maps the key areas so you can answer questions on positive care practice confidently.
The key areas of Values and Principles
- Care needs and assessment
- What a care need is, why people need care, the physical, intellectual, emotional and social (PIES) types of need, and how methods of assessment identify a person's needs.
- Health and social care provision
- The statutory, voluntary, private and informal sectors, what each provides, and how they work together to support an individual.
- Positive care environment and legislation
- The features of a setting that is safe, respectful, inclusive and supportive, and how laws such as anti-discrimination, health and safety, data protection and care standards protect people.
- Care values and principles
- Dignity and respect, the right to choose, confidentiality, equality and anti-discriminatory practice, the right to be safe, independence and realising potential, and what person-centred care means.
How to study Values and Principles
- Learn each care value as meaning plus practice. Say what the value means and what the care worker actually does. This pairing answers most describe and explain questions.
- Keep "person-centred" precise. It means the individual's needs and wishes shape the care, not the service's routine. Explain it, do not just name it.
- Match needs and sectors to a scenario. Many marks come from reading a person's situation and naming suitable services and types of need, so practise this skill.
- Link the environment and the law to the values. A positive environment is the values in practice; legislation makes them a legal duty. Connect the three.
For the official course specification
The SQA publishes the full National 5 Care course specification, specimen question paper, past papers and marking instructions, and the coursework assessment task at sqa.org.uk. Always revise from the current course specification and SQA past papers.
Sources & how we know this
- National 5 Care Course Specification — SQA (2017)