Health and Social Care
WorldSkills Occupational Standards (WSOS)
Occupation description and WSOS
The name of the skill competition is
Health and Social Care
Description of the associated work role(s) or occupation(s)
A Health and Social Care Practitioner offers a range of support to individual clients and their family and has a continuing responsibility to work professionally and interactively with the client in order to ensure their holistic care needs are met. Whilst the health and social care practitioner may work directly for the client they are normally employed by an organization within the Health and Social Care sector. Health and social care is closely associated with the medical and nursing profession.
Health is defined as a state of complete physical, mental, social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Thus a Health and Social Care Practioner participates actively in providing physical, mental, and social wellbeing to the patient and family and promoting health and preventing disease by supporting, caring, and aiding in recovery rehabilitation, in collaboration with the medical and nursing teams. The practioner's work extends into diverse work environments such as the hospitals, homes of clients, community day care, and residential care or nursing homes. The care is deliverd using scientific principles such as assessing, planning, delivering, and evaluating the outcomes of care.
Work organization and self-management, communication and interpersonal skills, problem solving, innovation and creativity, the ability to understand, empathize and work with clients to improve the quality of their life, are the universal attributes of the outstanding practitioner.
The practitioner may work in a team or alone or in both from time to time. Whatever the structure of the work, the trained and experienced practitioner takes on a high level of personal responsibility and autonomy. From accurately assessing the needs of clients through to building client relationships and delivering exceptional care for clients in a range of circumstances, every interaction matters and mistakes could have a serious, life threatening impact.
With the increasing international mobility of people the health and social care practitioner faces rapidly expanding opportunities and challenges. For the talented Health and Social Care Practioner there are many international opportunities; however, these carry with them the need to understand and work within diverse cultures and systems/regulations and undergo additional on-going training. The diversity of skills associated with health and social care is continually expanding and likely to expand further.
The WorldSkills Occupational Standards (WSOS)
General notes on the WSOS
The WSOS specifies the knowledge, understanding, skills, and capabilities that underpin international best practice in technical and vocational performance. These are both specific to an occupational role and also transversal. Together they should reflect a shared global understanding of what the associated work role(s) or occupation(s) represent for industry and business (www.worldskills.org/WSOS).
The skill competition is intended to reflect international best practice as described by the WSOS, to the extent that it can. The Standard is therefore a guide to the required training and preparation for the skill competition.
In the skill competition the assessment of knowledge and understanding will take place through the assessment of performance. There will only be separate tests of knowledge and understanding where there is an overwhelming reason for these.
The Standard is divided into distinct sections with headings and reference numbers added.
Each section is assigned a percentage of the total marks to indicate its relative importance within the Standards. This is often referred to as the “weighting”. The sum of all the percentage marks is 100. The weightings determine the distribution of marks within the Marking Scheme.
Through the Test Project, the Marking Scheme will assess only those skills and capabilities that are set out in the WorldSkills Occupational Standards. They will reflect the Standards as comprehensively as possible within the constraints of the skill competition.
The Marking Scheme will follow the allocation of marks within the Standards to the extent practically possible. A variation of up to five percent is allowed, if this does not distort the weightings assigned by the Standards.
WorldSkills Occupational Standards
Section |
Relative importance (%) |
|
---|---|---|
1 |
Work organization, management and sustainable practice |
5 |
The individual needs to know and understand:
|
The individual shall be able to:
|
|
2 |
Communication and interpersonal skills |
25 |
The individual needs to know and understand:
|
The individual shall be able to:
|
|
3 |
Problem solving, innovation, and creativity |
15 |
The individual needs to know and understand:
|
The individual shall be able to:
|
|
4 |
Assessing needs and planning client care |
10 |
The individual needs to know and understand:
|
The individual shall be able to:
|
|
5 |
Managing and delivering client care |
35 |
The individual needs to know and understand:
|
The individual shall be able to:
|
|
6 |
Evaluating client care |
10 |
The individual needs to know and understand:
|
The individual shall be able to:
|
|
Total | 100 |
References for industry consultation
General notes
WorldSkills is committed to ensuring that the WorldSkills Occupational Standards fully reflect the dynamism of internationally recognized best practice in industry and business. To do this WorldSkills approaches a number of organizations across the world that can offer feedback on the draft Description of the Associated Role and WorldSkills Occupational Standards on a two-yearly cycle.
In parallel to this, WSI consults three international occupational classifications and databases:
- ISCO-08: (http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/stat/isco/isco08/)
- ESCO: (https://ec.europa.eu/esco/portal/home )
- O*NET OnLine (www.onetonline.org/)
References
This WSOS (Section 2) appears most closely to relate to Nursing Assistants:
https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/31-1014.00
or Nursing Assistant: ‘
http://data.europa.eu/esco/occupation/87d0795a-d41f-47ee-979f-0ab7d73836e7
Adjacent occupations may also be explored through these links.
ILO 5321
Unfortunately no feedback was received from business and industry for WorldSkills Shanghai 2026.
Last updated: 16.09.2025 04:21 (GMT)
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