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Part A

NCFE Level 2 Certificate in Information,

Advice or Guidance

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Disclaimer:This resource uses real life case studies where specifically stated and referenced. All other references to individuals, groups and companies contained within these resources are fictitious.

These learning resources and assessment questions have been approved and endorsed by NCFE as meeting the requirements of the Level 2 Certificate in Information, Advice or Guidance.

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Information, Advice or Guidance

Certificate in Information, Advice or Guidance

Welcome to this Level 2 Certificate in Information, Advice or Guidance.

As you start to read through each page you will be able to make notes and comments on things you have learnt or may want to revisit at a later stage. At the end of each section you will be asked to answer the relevant assessment questions.

Once you have answered the questions, go to the next section and continue studying until all of the assessment questions have been completed.

Please make sure that you set aside enough time to read each section carefully, making notes and completing all of the activities. This will allow you to gain a better understanding of the subject content, and will help you to answer all of the assessment questions accurately.

Good luck with your study. Now let’s begin!

We hope you find all of the information contained in this resource pack interesting and informative. This learning resource and the assessment questions have been approved by NCFE as a great way to meet the learning outcomes for this qualification. (A complete list of the learning outcomes can be found on the last page of this resource.)

The course is made up of two parts (A, and B). This is Part A which contains two units:

UNIT 1: Information, advice or guidance in practice

UNIT 2: Developing interaction skills for information, advice or guidance.

Introduction

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Unit 1: Information, advice or guidance in practice

Welcome to unit one.

Section 1: Information, advice and guidance

Section 2: Ways of meeting information, advice or guidance requirements of clients

Section 3: The boundaries of your role in meeting information, advice or guidance requirements of clients

Section 4: The purpose of accurate record keeping to fulfil good practice guidelines

This unit is split into four sections. These are:

Section 1: Information, advice and guidance

This section will explore the following:

• The differences between information, advice and guidance.

• Information, advice and guidance provision in your organisation.

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The difference between information, advice and guidance

STOP AND THINK!

What is your understanding of the terms ‘information’, ‘advice’ and ‘guidance’? Take a few moments to think about what each means and make notes in the spaces below.

!

a) Information

b) Advice

c) Guidance

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Information

Advice

Information is considered to be any fact, set of facts or knowledge. Information is communicated by others or obtained by personal study or investigation.

• From leaflets or articles regarding your organisation.

Information is factual and not based on opinion or one person’s point of view, therefore it is normally something you can rely on.

Advice is a recommendation and is not always based on fact. Advice is normally given if a person provides more information about their situation.

Examples of advice within the workplace include:

• A recommendation to speak to a certain department or person

• A recommendation of who to speak to based on a question or information provided by the client (for example, a client explaining they have had problems with their rubbish collection and are unsure who to speak to, you may well advice them to speak to the refuse department.)

Advice is based on the person’s experience and knowledge. Advice is not always based on information and therefore can often be wrong or misguided. It is important to be as accurate as possible when giving advice to clients.

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Advice is normally based on short conversations and is not normally reviewed once given.

During this course we will refer to “clients” a client is a person or organisation using the services provided by a company. For example:

• A client for a careers Advisor would be someone looking for careers advice, such as a school leaver.

• A client for a customer service advisor would be someone looking for information about council services.

Guidance

Guidance is commonly known as the act of guiding, leading or providing direction. Guidance is often carried out over a long period of time. It is normally given by an experienced and appropriately qualified person, such as a careers advisor or counsellor.

Examples of guidance within the workplace could be:

• A newly appointed member of staff being given a mentor within that organisation.

• A housing advisor helping a client and explaining the different options and available to them.

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STOP AND THINK!

Think of some examples of where you have been given information, advice or guidance.

Make a note of these below

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Common examples include:

• Doctors’ surgery

• Council Offices

• Post Office

• Careers advisor.

You may have thought of other examples.

Information in the workplace is often obtained by:

• Clients either coming into the workplace in person or by calling on the telephone to ask questions (for example, ‘What are your opening times?’ or ‘Could you give me the phone number for…’)

The main differences between information, advice and guidance are listed in the table below.

As you can see from the table above, information is factual and is normally given by someone who knows the answer. It does not normally require any experience or qualifications and is normally not reviewed. Examples of information are opening times of a department or the name of the complaints manager. Information may be given by junior members of the team.

The key differences between information, advice and guidance.

Fact or Judgement

Fact No No

No

Normally Reviwed

One off

One off

Yes

Yes

Judgement

Judgement

Experience needed

Qualification needed

One off or reviewed

Information

Advice

Guidance

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Advice is based on a person’s judgement rather than fact. It is normally given by people with experience who do not always need a specific qualification and again is not normally reviewed. For example, a senior member of the helpdesk advising a client of the best person to talk to.

Guidance is also based on a person’s judgement rather than fact. It is normally given out by more experienced members of staff with a specific qualification and is reviewed over time. For example, a careers officer giving guidance to a client regarding work opportunities

Key Facts

• Information is considered to be any fact or set of facts or knowledge either communicated by others or obtained by personal study or investigation

• Advice is a recommendation with some action and is not always based on fact

• Guidance is commonly known as the act of guiding, leading or providing direction

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Information, advice and guidance provision in your organisation

STOP AND THINK!

Think about examples of information, advice and guidance that are given in your workplace, or a workplace you are familiar with, and make a note of them in the space below.

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Information

Advice

Information can be found in many places within different organisations, for example:

• The website – this may inform clients about opening times, phone numbers and members of staff

• Help desk staff

• Reception staff

• Company materials such as leaflets, newspaper articles and flyers.

In a place of work, different types of information can be used by members of staff as well as clients. For example, when an employee starts in a new organisation, they receive information as part of their induction to their role. This is to make sure they are aware of their responsibilities and workplace policies and procedures.

The main difference between advice and information relates to staff having more experience, these staff can draw upon their knowledge and judgements to provide advice. Junior staff with less experience may need

to pass information on where more than simple facts are required.

Clients are likely to gather advice from:

• Phone and face to face contact with experienced staff.

• Previous users of the service perhaps advising them of the best time to attend or the best person to speak to.

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You may well have received advice from your school careers advisor about which sixth form or work opportunities are right for you. Or perhaps advice from a peer mentor about the best options for you.

You may have thought of other examples. You can use your notes to help with your assessments at the end of this section.

STOP AND THINK!

Think about where you might have received advice from in the past perhaps from within your organisation. Make some notes below.

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Guidance

Guidance is normally given by staff with specific knowledge, experience and even qualifications in a given area. For example, an environmental health officer will work with restaurants to provide guidance on the regulations they need to comply with. This will be done over a period of time and the environmental health officer will be qualified and have experience within their role.

You might have experienced guidance by your line manager or perhaps senior colleague in your work, which might involve setting objectives and reviewing them over a period of time.

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Let’s Summarise!

Take a few moments to answer the following questions to help you summarise what you have learnt in this section. This will help you answer the upcoming assessments.

1. Give three examples of places you might receive information, advice or guidance from.

2. List the key differences between information, advice and guidance.

CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE NOW COMPLETED SECTION 1. PLEASE NOW GO TO YOUR ASSESSMENTS AND ANSWER

QUESTIONS Q1 AND Q2.

Check your answers by looking back over this section.

1.

2.

3.

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