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Working with children (image)

27 Nov 2025

Social service workforce

Children help shape standards

Listening to people with real-life experience helps us make better decisions. Their views have been key to updating the National Occupational Standards (NOS) and the current SVQ and modern apprenticeship review.

Listening to all ages 

In line with the SSSC Involving People strategy, we are committed to engaging with people of all ages. Thanks to support from our stakeholders and networks, we have a wide range of opportunities to engage with people who have lived experience from all age groups and we were delighted as part of this to be able to hear feedback from school aged children.

Children share their ideas

Indigo Childcare Group’s Early Years Manager, Debby Larkin and Quality Co-Ordinator, Leigh Cavanagh worked with their team in school aged services to get feedback from the children around ’what skills they believe that adults caring for them should have’.

They explored different ways to encourage the children to have their say, including creative activities such as poster making. They also created a job description using the children's own words which will be used to support recruitment. The children said their ideal worker would be:

  • patient
  • positive
  • silly
  • fun
  • caring
  • kind
  • nice
  • adventurous
  • autism friendly
  • and someone who listens to them.

Supporting workers to engage

In April 2025 we launched the Codes, Rights and Keeping the Promise learning resource It helps people who work with children and young people talk about their rights and the SSSC Codes of Practice.  So far, the resource has had over 2,500 visits.

You can find out more and visit the resource here.

Get involved

If you’d like to find out more or contribute to the SVQ and apprenticeship review you can contact us by email at SVQandapprenticereview@sssc.uk.com

Contact information

Sandra Wilson
Communications Officer
Scottish Social Services Council
media@sssc.uk.com