Case study: RSPCA Newbrook Farm Education Centre
Zoe Teague, Senior Education Officer at RSPCA Newbrook Farm Education Centre, has been using Unit Award Scheme (UAS) for the past four years to complement a six-week rolling programme on animal welfare. Find out why her centre chose UAS and how the scheme has helped to create opportunities for their learners.
Why we chose UAS
We chose UAS because it allows learners to receive official, external certification. Formal recognition by UAS has served to highlight the value of students' time away from school to study on our course. This has resulted in greater uptake from schools.
With UAS, young people and adults, who may have struggled in mainstream education, can build up their CVs with evidence of achievements through UAS certificates. This can help them secure places on other courses. UAS units are suitable for young people and adults who have special educational needs or mental health issues, as they can be assessed by education officers in an adapted environment.
Another reason we chose UAS is because it offers flexibility. For example, we've been able to write our own units to match our courses perfectly. At the same time, it's been easy to find pre-written units for our task-based courses. In spring and summer, we run a horticulture course. In winter, we run a project in our wildlife garden, covering practical skills such as pond relining.
Units taught during the course
Here is a selection of the units we teach during our six-week course on animal welfare:
Feedback from staff
We love being able to write our own units to perfectly complement our courses.
Staff tell me they appreciate:
- the fact that young people and adults can get official CV-building certificates
- that some units do not require written or student-completed work, appealing more to learners who struggle with mainstream education or have certain special educational needs and disability (SEND) requirements
- how easy and straightforward it is to complete the summary sheets and upload learners' details to the website
- having the freedom and flexibility to write units themselves: "We love being able to write our own units to perfectly complement our courses"
- seeing the pride learners feel when they receive their certificates.
Key facts
- In 2022, we awarded 355 UAS certificates and are well on the way to surpassing this in 2023.
- Every year, we're aiming to enrol a total of 288 young people and adults on our courses – if we achieve this target, it means 1728 certificates will be awarded by AQA each year.
Building confidence and creating opportunities
We have many stories of how young people return successfully to mainstream education with increased confidence, having gained UAS certificates from completing our courses. Similarly, we're finding young people and adults, who may have been out of education for some time, have received a great boost in morale from participating in the scheme.
A few over 18s have gone on to volunteer at our animal centre, using UAS units as a great starting point to increase and expand their knowledge of animal welfare. We have even had an individual start their own dog walking and pet sitting business; and another start a horticulture and gardening enterprise.
What's more, a recently developed course called 'The experience' has been enhanced through UAS units, available when working in our animal centre, animal hospital and inspectorate departments. One adult who completed this course went on to successfully gain paid employment within the animal centre as an Animal Care Assistant.
We also have lots of young people and adults who go on to gain entry to animal care colleges and universities.
The AQA accreditations I received during the course helped build confidence in myself and with other people. Gaining the UAS certificates showed me I was capable of doing things I put my mind to even when I told myself I couldn't. – feedback from a learner on the animal welfare course
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