In a bold new initiative for the UK care sector, Waterhaven Place care home in Chichester has partnered with Open Study College to offer staff hundreds of education opportunities focused on personal development and lifelong learning. Under the arrangement, staff will have the opportunity to access to more than 400 courses from Open Study College’s catalogue at heavily discounted rates, ranging from GCSEs, A-Levels, and professional qualifications to more passion-led subjects like Animal Care, Beauty Therapy, Football Management, and even Indian Head Massage The home’s parent company, Connaught Care, will fund almost any course participants are interested in, with the only requirement being they explain how they will use their new skills to enhance the resident experience. The initiative builds on the group’s existing investment in professional development, which already includes leadership programmes, apprenticeships and role-specific training. However, the new partnership goes a step further by supporting the wider hobbies, interests, and ambitions of team members – including subjects which go far beyond traditional care training. Laurence Feather, Head of People at Connaught Care, comments: “There is already a very strong focus on professional development across the care sector, and rightly so. For me, however, what is often missing is a genuine investment in the personal development of staff. At Connaught Care, we believe that if you grow the person, you grow the professional. This has enormous benefits not only for the people who work here, but also for our residents – who benefits from being surrounded by a team of driven, well-rounded and, ultimately, happier carers”. The idea for the partnership emerged from conversations between Laurence Feather and local teams about the many ways staff enrich daily life at the homes simply by sharing their hobbies and interests during the normal course of their work. Seeing an opportunity to build on this, he contacted Open Study College about creating a dedicated learning partnership – an idea the college immediately embraced. Happily, several Connaught Care team members have already enrolled on courses, with many choosing subjects they have been fascinated with for years but previously felt they didn’t have the time or resources to pursue seriously. At The Chase in Huntingdon, for example, Housekeeper Rebecca Turner has enrolled on a Beauty Therapy course to support her long-term ambition of working in the beauty industry. She will soon begin applying her new skills within the home by helping deliver the beauty and wellbeing sessions offered to residents at the home’s on-site spa. At Willowbrook View, the home’s Chef de Partie, Lathino, has also enrolled on a Nutrition Consultant and Weight Management course. Aside from furthering his own interest in the food science and nutrition, he hopes this learning will help him further developing the home’s wellbeing-focused approach to dining and menu design at its bistro. Meanwhile, Meadowbrook Deputy Manager Ilona Kreciszewska has enrolled on a Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Psychology course to deepen her understanding of communication and leadership. Commenting on this, she said: “I’m really looking forward to better understanding how people think and communicate and using that to connect more closely with both residents and the team. For me, it’s about growing as a leader and bringing that insight back into the home.” Andrew Wrensch, Group Training, Learning and Development Manager at Connaught Care, shares his thoughts: “When we began exploring new approaches to staff training, our aim was to create something distinctly different for our hard-working teams. For us, this partnership is about recognising that people have interests and ambitions that extend beyond their jobs, and that nurturing those talents means everyone around them benefits. Already we have seen participants bring a fresh wave of ideas, energy and knowledge to the homes – and we simply can’t wait to see what they do next”.
Laurence Feather also believes this more personal approach to staff development could offer a valuable response to the growing recruitment and retention challenges facing the UK care sector. By giving employees the opportunity to learn and grown in their roles, while making those roles more engaging and reward, he hopes the partnership could provide a model for improving staff retention across the care sector.
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