Advice Network and Training Partnership (Bradford and District) Charity no. 1105947
Trainee
Basic Advice Work Skills (BAWS) Course
> The Basic Advice Work Skills course is 15 sessions covering the topics which advice centres in Bradford agree are the basic minimum to become an advice worker. Currently these are:
o A Background to Advice Work Skills
o An Introduction to Benefits
o Benefits and Services for People with Disabilities
o Job seekers Allowance and Income Support
o Pension Credit / Towards Interviewing Skills 1
o Towards Interviewing Skills 2 and 3
o Tax Credits/ Challenging Benefit Decisions
o Review and recap
o Incapacity Benefit/Social Fund
o Council Tax/ Council Benefits
o Housing
o Debt
o Consumer Advice/ Negotiating Skills
o Employment
o Immigration and Nationality/ The Next Step
By accepting a place on this course, you are making a commitment to attend all these sessions.
We try to employ teaching methods which make learning interesting, such as working in small groups or pairs and looking at case studies. The amount of material you need to cover during the course means that many of the sessions are information based. In other sessions you will have a chance to share and discuss your views, ideas and attitudes.
> In order to complete the course you will need to be able to read reference books in English (e.g. CPAG Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook) and be able to write your answers to assessment questions in English.
> If you have any special or support needs we will try to help where we can. Please contact us as soon as you can about this.
> The course is accredited by the Open College Network (OCN). This means your learning will be formally recognised. You have the chance to work towards a total of 21 OCN credits.
There are no exams and no ‘pass or fail’, but the course includes several written exercises, some of which will be assessed to make sure you fully understand a topic. Many of these exercises will be completed during the sessions, but about half will be completed at home or at your centre. We estimate that on average, trainees will need to do around two hours work a week outside the teaching sessions to achieve all the OCN credits.
> There will be support with completing the work and organising it into a ‘portfolio’ from the Training Officer. However, you must take responsibility for joining in, doing the work and asking for help if you are having problems.
> The course runs parallel to practical experience you will gain from attending your centre and observing advice work interviews
> We understand that learners have varied experience of life, work and learning. In all the sessions we will be starting from basics and will not expect you to know anything about any of the topics covered.
> At Advice Network & Training Partnership (B&D), Equal Opportunities for all is an important principle. We are committed to making sure everyone feels comfortable on the training course and has the best possible chance to succeed. Each group discusses and agrees their own ground rules and there are also ‘core ground rules’ for all staff and trainees to follow
If you wish to apply or discuss the Basic Advice Work Skills Course, a member of our team will be happy to help. Please contact us.