Promote active support
Active support is a person-centred approach that enables individuals with learning disabilities to engage in meaningful activities and daily routines, promoting independence, choice, and inclusion. It requires support workers to translate core values like dignity and respect into practical actions by using enabling relationships, positive interaction, and systematic planning. This unit equips learners with the skills to develop, implement, and evaluate person-centred daily plans that enhance an individual's quality of life and community participation.
Assessment criteria
Topic Overview
The TQUK Level 3 Diploma in Adult Care (RQF) is a comprehensive qualification designed for those working in adult care settings, such as care homes, domiciliary care, or supported living. It covers the knowledge and skills required to provide person-centred care, support individuals with their daily living, and promote their independence and well-being. This diploma is essential for senior care workers or those aspiring to supervisory roles, as it deepens understanding of legal frameworks, safeguarding, and effective communication.
This qualification is structured around mandatory units, including 'Promote Personal Development in Care Settings', 'Promote Equality and Inclusion in Care Settings', and 'Safeguarding and Protection in Care Settings'. Optional units allow specialisation in areas like dementia care, end-of-life care, or learning disabilities. By completing this diploma, learners demonstrate competence in delivering high-quality care that respects individual rights and preferences, aligning with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) standards and the Care Act 2014.
Mastering this diploma is crucial for career progression in health and social care. It not only enhances practical care skills but also develops leadership abilities, enabling care workers to mentor junior staff and contribute to service improvement. The qualification is recognised by employers across the UK and provides a pathway to higher-level study, such as the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Adult Care.
Key Concepts
Core ideas you must understand for this topic
- →Person-centred care: Tailoring support to an individual's needs, preferences, and values, ensuring they are active partners in their care planning.
- →Safeguarding: Protecting adults at risk from abuse, neglect, or harm, following local policies and the Care Act 2014's six principles.
- →Duty of care: Legal obligation to act in the best interest of individuals, avoiding acts or omissions that could cause harm.
- →Effective communication: Using verbal and non-verbal techniques to build trust, respect confidentiality, and support individuals with communication difficulties.
- →Equality and inclusion: Ensuring everyone has equal access to care and opportunities, challenging discrimination, and promoting diversity.
Learning Objectives
What you need to know and understand
- Understand how active support translates values into person-centred practical action with an individual, Be able to interact positively with individuals to promote participation, Be able to develop and implement person-centred daily plans to promote participation, Be able to use person-centred records to evaluate an individual’s participation in activities
- Explain how active support translates person-centred values into practical actions that promote individual participation.
- Apply positive communication and interaction techniques to encourage individuals to engage in meaningful activities.
- Develop person-centred daily plans that reflect an individual's preferences, goals, and required support to promote active participation.
- Implement person-centred daily plans effectively, making adjustments in real time to maximise engagement.
- Evaluate an individual's participation in activities using person-centred records to inform future support and enhance outcomes.
- Identify barriers to active participation and describe strategies to overcome them in line with person-centred principles.
Assessment Criteria
Key criteria assessors look for in your portfolio
- Award credit for demonstrating how active support principles are applied in practice, such as using step-by-step breakdowns of tasks to enable participation and offering graded assistance tailored to the individual's abilities.
- Award credit for evidence of positive interaction techniques, including open body language, active listening, and encouraging the individual’s choices, demonstrating a respectful and empowering communication style.
- Award credit for person-centred daily plans that clearly link to the individual’s identified preferences, strengths, and communication needs, with documented involvement of the individual in the planning process.
- Award credit for clearly demonstrating how values (dignity, choice, independence) are embedded in daily support activities and interactions.
- Credit for providing evidence of using effective communication skills (verbal, non-verbal, assistive) to engage individuals in decision-making.
- Credit for producing a detailed, person-centred daily plan that includes the individual’s own preferences, goals, and the level of support needed.
- Credit for showing how participation has been accurately recorded and how those records have been analysed to adjust future support.
- Credit for reflection on own practice when implementing active support, including any challenges faced and learning gained.
Assessment Guidance
Guidance for achieving higher grades
- 💡In your written evidence, provide specific examples of how you used prompting, modelling, or graded assistance to promote participation, as this demonstrates practical application of active support.
- 💡Ensure your person-centred daily plans include measurable outcomes and evidence of the individual's involvement in the planning process, such as their signature or recorded choices, to meet assessment criteria.
- 💡When evaluating participation, compare initial baselines with progress over time using person-centred records, and reflect on your own practice to show continuous improvement and adherence to active support values.
- 💡Provide specific, anonymised examples from your practice to illustrate how you applied active support principles in real situations.
- 💡Explicitly link your actions to person-centred care models or frameworks (e.g., the Active Support model) in written reflections.
- 💡Use a structured 'record, review, revise' cycle when evaluating participation to show a systematic, evidence-based approach.
- 💡Demonstrate understanding of both the interpersonal skills (positive interaction) and the practical planning skills required to promote participation.
- 💡Use real-life examples from your work placement to illustrate how you apply person-centred care, safeguarding, or communication strategies. This shows practical understanding and meets assessment criteria.
- 💡When answering questions about legislation, always link it to your practice. For example, explain how the Mental Capacity Act guides your decision-making when an individual lacks capacity.
- 💡Pay attention to the command words in assignments, such as 'explain', 'evaluate', or 'analyse'. These require different levels of detail – 'explain' needs reasons, while 'evaluate' requires weighing pros and cons.
Common Mistakes
Common errors to avoid in your coursework
- Confusing active support with passive assistance, such as performing tasks for the individual without encouraging their active participation or choice, which undermines independence.
- Overlooking the importance of consistent positive interaction, relying instead on directive or task-focused communication that fails to engage the individual meaningfully.
- Developing daily plans that are not truly person-centred, lacking input from the individual or their advocacy, and failing to incorporate their preferred communication methods or daily rhythms.
- Confusing active support with performing tasks for the individual rather than enabling them to do things themselves.
- Creating generic daily plans that are not tailored to the individual’s specific interests, abilities, or communication needs.
- Neglecting to use person-centred records effectively, leading to missed opportunities to recognise progress or adapt support.
- Assuming participation only involves physical activities and failing to include social, cognitive, or emotional engagement.
- Misconception: Person-centred care means always doing what the individual wants. Correction: It involves balancing their wishes with professional judgment, safety, and legal requirements, such as the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
- Misconception: Safeguarding only applies to physical abuse. Correction: It includes financial, emotional, sexual, and neglect, as well as self-neglect and modern slavery.
- Misconception: Confidentiality is absolute. Correction: Information can be shared without consent if there is a risk of harm, a legal obligation, or a public interest, following the Caldicott Principles.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions students ask about this topic
Pass / Merit / Distinction Evidence Checklist
How your portfolio evidence is graded for TRAINING QUALIFICATIONS UK LTD Promote active support
Every vocational unit is marked against named criteria rather than an exam percentage. Your tutor's brief lists the exact codes for this unit — here is what each band is asking you to do.
Demonstrate baseline knowledge, accurate terminology, and core practical application.
Provide detailed analysis, structured explanations, and clear workplace reasoning.
Deliver thorough evaluation, original problem solving, and fully justified recommendations.
Before You Start
Prior knowledge that will help with this topic
- •Completion of the Level 2 Diploma in Care or equivalent experience in an adult care setting.
- •Basic understanding of the Care Act 2014 and the principles of safeguarding.
- •Good literacy and numeracy skills to complete written assignments and handle medication calculations.
Coursework AI Review
Paste your assignment brief and check your draft against its P/M/D criteria
Key Terminology
Essential terms to know
- Understand how active support translates values into person-centred practical action with an individual, Be able to interact positively with individuals to promote participation, Be able to develop and implement person-centred daily plans to promote participation, Be able to use person-centred records to evaluate an individual’s participation in activities
- Person-centred values in practice
- Positive interaction techniques
- Person-centred daily planning
- Participation evaluation through records
- Empowerment and independence
Ready to learn?
AI-powered learning tailored to this unit