Oliver McGowan was a young man whose death shone a light on the need for health and social care staff to have better skills, knowledge and understanding of the needs for autistic people and people with a learning disability.
About the training
The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is delivered in two Tiers.
Tier 1
Tier 1 of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is for people who require general awareness of the support autistic people or people with a learning disability may need.
Tier 2
Tier 2 of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism is for people who may need to provide care and support for autistic people or people with a learning disability.
Watch this video for more information:
The Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism – YouTube
How to complete the training
The training is standardised and to complete it individuals must:
- Complete this elearning package and:
- Tier 1 – the 1 hour online interactive session co-delivered by experts by experience and a subject matter expert facilitator; or
- Tier 2 – the 1 day face to face training co-delivered by experts by experience and a subject matter expert facilitator
When to complete the training
Your employer should inform you:
- when you need to complete and how to access the elearning
- whether you should complete Tier 1 or Tier 2 and when
- how to book on to the following part of your training.
It is important to follow your employer’s instructions to make sure your training is properly recorded.
If you do this elearning now and you need it to count towards your mandatory training, you will need to ensure it is recorded in line with your employer’s processes.
Important Information
- Tier 1 training covers all the Tier 1 capabilities of the Core Capabilities Frameworks.
- Tier 2 training covers only a selected number of Tier 2 capability learning outcomes from of the Core Capabilities Frameworks.
- Tier 2 training includes Tier 1 material, so individuals only need to do one training package, either Tier 1 or Tier 2, whichever is most relevant to their role.
- Employers need to continue to review the training needs of their staff and provide relevant training for each role.
- The online interactive session and face to face training that you attend needs to be the standardised Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism package.
- The elearning is now live. The online interactive sessions and face to face training are planned to commence in 2025 (date to be confirmed). Updates can be found on the Health Education England webpage.
e-Learning Content
The content of the elearning session is mapped to the Tier 1 learning outcomes of the Core Capabilities Framework for Supporting Autistic People and the Core Capabilities Framework for Supporting People with a Learning Disability. It should take you one hour and 30 minutes to complete.
This elearning session covers:
- Section 1 – Introduction
- Section 2 – Understanding learning disability
- Section 3 – Understanding autism
- Section 4 – Communication
- Section 5 – Reasonable adjustments
- Section 6 – Summary
