| Word Count |
2000 words, (+/- 10%) |
| Academic Year |
June 2025 |
3CO03 Core Behaviours for People Professionals
This unit introduces the core behaviours for people professionals, focusing on ethical practice, professional values and professional development. It considers how certain ways of thinking and acting should be universally consistent, even in new and challenging situations, to promote a sense of well-being and inclusivity in the organisation.
CIPD’s insight
We provide you with this information from our website to connect you with our research and insights on the topic, so you can explore our latest thinking. It is not intended to replace the learning and formative assessment provided by your Study Centre.
HR and standards (January 2025)
This factsheet explains what British and International standards in HR are and why they matter. It introduces the British and International HR standards already published or under development and outlines the CIPD's involvement in their development. Whether or not organisations have a dedicated HR team, they will at some point need guidance on ethical and effective human resource management practice in areas such as workforce planning, recruitment, equality, diversity and inclusion, learning and development, and human capital reporting. British and International standards provide such guidance. International experts develop them in collaboration with key stakeholders. These standards advocate responsible people management practices and support the organisations that adopt them to improve their organisational resilience and sustainability.
Ethical practice and the role of people professionals (November 2024)
Scandals involving workplace harassment and poor treatment of workers have highlighted what can happen when ethics aren’t integral to the way an organisation operates. Having unique access to staff and opportunities to influence an organisation’s strategy and the way it manages its workforce, people professionals are uniquely placed within an organisation. They can support the embedding of principled decision-making into daily practice. Ethics are at the heart of professionalism. To create cultures of transparency and trust, practitioners should demonstrate strong standards of integrity when advising business leaders.
This factsheet explores what ethical practice means and why it matters in an organisational context. It outlines the trade-offs involved in upholding ethical values and the challenges faced by people professionals. Finally, it looks at the profession’s role in creating ethical organisational cultures.
Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the workplace (August 2024)
Promoting and delivering EDI in the workplace is an essential aspect of good people management. It’s about creating working environments and cultures where every individual can feel safe, experience a sense of belonging, and is empowered to achieve their full potential. Whilst legal frameworks vary across different countries, in the UK the Equality Act 2010 provides legal protection for nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
However, an effective EDI strategy should go beyond legal compliance and take an intersectional (that a person's different intersecting identities can advantage or disadvantage them) approach to EDI, which will add value to an organisation, contribute to the well-being and equality of outcomes and impact on all employees. Things to consider include: accent, age, caring responsibilities, colour, culture, visible and invisible disability, gender identity and expression, mental health, neurodiversity, physical appearance, political opinion, pregnancy and maternity/paternity and family status and socio-economic circumstances, amongst other personal characteristics and experiences. This factsheet explores what workplace equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) means, and how an effective strategy is essential to an organisation’s business objectives. It looks at the rationale for action and outlines steps organisations can take to implement and manage a successful EDI strategy, from recruitment, selection, retention, communication, performance management and training, to addressing workplace behaviour and evaluating progress.
Explore our viewpoints on age diversity, disability, gender equality, race inclusion, religion and belief, and sexual orientation, gender identity and reassignment.
Ethics at work: An employer’s guide (February 2024)
Ethical values provide the moral compass by which we live our lives and make decisions. They also highlight why organisations should focus on creating a shared ethical culture where employees feel empowered to do the right thing rather than simply following a set of rules. The way we make decisions is important for organisations because wrong or badly implemented decisions can significantly impact people’s lives and the reputation of organisations. But when we make decisions based on good principles and live by good values, we can improve the lives of others and their experiences at work. In setting out standards for the people profession, the CIPD’s Profession Map includes ethics under ‘Core behaviours’, describing ethical practice as:
"Building trust by role-modelling ethical behaviour and applying principles and values consistently in decision-making."
Therefore, it’s vital that people professionals can define ethical behaviour, identify unethical behaviour, and take steps to create a shared ethical culture accordingly.
In this guide, we discuss the red flags to watch out for, along with practical tips and resources to safeguard your organisation and people against ethical breaches and misconduct. The guide draws on – and complements – CIPD research, and features nine areas of action employers can prioritise to ensure they behave ethically. Please note, individual red flags may not be in
In themselves indicate unethical behaviour, but several may be a sign of a wider issue.
About CPD
Continuing professional development (CPD) is defined as learning experiences that help you develop and improve your professional practice. This can include building on your strengths, as well as developing yourself where you have capability gaps. That’s why it’s so important for you, and why we’re committed to providing you with as many opportunities, tools and resources to embed CPD into the flow of your work and life.
Preparation for the Tasks:
- Make sure you understand your Study Centre's instructions on how to complete and submit your assessment.
- watch the supporting video for this unit: Link to follow.
- Read the CIPD’s word count policy, which your Study Centre will provide for you. Remember that your work will be referred if you go over the unit word count.
Task
Answer the five questions below, referring to the case study.
Case Study – Job Application
You have seen the following job advertisement and have decided to apply.
Nuvascare Ltd provides a range of home-based care to people who need us for many different reasons. We now have over 200 qualified and experienced care professionals working across the country, supporting our lovely, loyal and valued customers.
As a result of our continued expansion, we are seeking an HR/L&D Assistant to work within our People Practice Team. The role will involve you in all aspects of people practice initially, but with a view to you taking a more specialist role with either our HR or L&D teams after the first year.
This is a great opportunity, and we are looking for a special person to fill it. Whilst you may not have worked in a people practice role yet, we would expect you to have a good understanding of what is involved in people practice and to be working towards a relevant (CIPD) qualification.
Nuvascare is not just about providing care; we are about providing care in a way that benefits our customers, our staff, our wider communities, and our planet. Our values are ‘honesty, kindness and openness’ and the right person for us will be someone who also has sound ethical and professional values and who applies these to their work (and life). We work in teams, and so we are looking for a good team player – someone who is open, adaptable and enjoys working with others. Above all, the right person will love learning and building their skills and be motivated to take up all the opportunities Nuvascare can offer.
If you feel the above describes you, then get in touch using the attached questionnaire to tell us a little bit more about you.
Nuvascare Ltd – HR/L&D Assistant Application – Initial Questionnaire
The aim of this questionnaire is for us to get to know more about you. We would like you to respond to five questions, in each case with detailed examples from your previous work experience. (This can be any work experience and does not have to be people practice related. If your work experience so far is limited, you can also consider your experience of studying.
Q1. Ethical working is very important to Nuvascare. Tell us what you understand by the terms ‘ethical principles’ and ‘professional values’, and give us an example of how one of your values has informed your behaviour at work. Make sure you give us the full context of your example (what type of work, what value, how it informed your behaviour). (AC 1.1)
Q2. As a provider of care, we are rigorous about complying with relevant regulations and laws. Tell us about two ways you have previously complied with relevant regulations and laws in your work or studies within the context of ethics and professional practice. (AC 1.2)
Q3. Our people practice team are a happy and inclusive group of people, who respect each other and work well together. The team values are that everyone is willing to:
a) contribute their views and opinions
b) clarify problems or issues
c) work effectively as part of the team.
For this question, we would like you to provide three examples (one for each of a, b, and c), summarising how you demonstrated the behaviour. (AC 2.1)
Q4. Professional development is key to the effectiveness of our people practice team, and we would like to know how you approach your professional development. Please tell us about your two favourite methods for keeping up-to-date with issues and developments in the people profession, and how you make use of the information you gain from these two methods. (AC 2.2)
Q5. Finally, show us that you actively undertake, record and reflect on your development by providing your CPD record. This should include at least two examples (from within the last two years) of development activities you have undertaken with accompanying reflections on how they impacted you. (AC 2.3)
Your evidence must consist of:
- A written response to questions 1–4.
(Approximately 2000 words, (+/- 10%), refer to CIPD word count policy.)
- Your CPD Record. This can be presented in the form of a formal/structured CPD Record or as pages from the CIPD ‘My CPD Reflections’ tool or another appropriate format, as agreed with your centre. (Not included in word count.)
Answer Checklist
You may find the following checklist helpful to make sure that you have answered all the questions. You don’t have to use it if you don’t want to.
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Task – Written answers
Questions
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Ethical working is very important to Nuvascare. Tell us what you understand by the terms ‘ethical principles’ and ‘professional values’ and give us an example of how one of your values has informed your behaviour at work. Make sure you give us the full context of your example (what type of work, what value, how it informed your behaviour). (AC 1.1)
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As a provider of care, we are rigorous about complying with relevant regulations and laws. Tell us about two ways you have previously complied with relevant regulations and laws in your work or studies within the context of ethics and professional practice. (AC 1.2)
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Our people practice team are a happy and inclusive group of people, who respect each other and work well together. The team values are that everyone is willing to:
a) contribute their views and opinions
b) clarify problems or issues
c) work effectively as part of the team.
For this question, we would like you to provide three examples (one for each of a, b, and c), summarising how you demonstrated the behaviour. (AC 2.1)
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Professional development is key to the effectiveness of our people practice team, and we would like to know how you approach your professional development. Please tell us about your two favourite ways for keeping up-to-date with issues and developments in the people profession and how you make use of the information you gain from these two methods. (AC 2.2)
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Finally, show us that you actively undertake, record and reflect on your development by providing your CPD record. This should include at least two examples (from within the last two years) of development activities you have undertaken with accompanying reflections on how they impacted you. (AC 2.3)
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Marking Guidance for Assessors.
You should mark in line with the marking descriptors set out on page 11 of this brief.
You must provide a mark from one to four for each question set. You must provide constructive, developmental feedback against each question where you award a mark of one, so refer/fail and rich summary feedback at the end of the feedback form, following the instructions provided there.
To pass the unit assessment, learners must achieve a mark of two (Low Pass) or above for each of the questions. You must refer/fail them if you award a mark of one for any of the questions.
Please ensure that you use the correct terminology. Learners have three attempts at the assessment. They only ‘fail’ the assessment if they do not achieve a mark of two for any of the questions on their third attempt. Until then, they are ‘referred’.
When you have marked each question, you should total the marks awarded and determine the unit outcome. The table below shows the marking bands for each outcome for this unit.
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Overall mark
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Unit result
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0 to 9
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Refer/ Fail
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10 to 12
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Low Pass
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13 to 16
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Pass
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17 to 20
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High Pass
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Please note that the unit outcome is provided:
- to help learners understand where they are performing well and where they may need to develop
- to help inform your teaching practice
- for moderation purposes
The qualification is not graded, and unit outcomes do not appear on learners’ certificates.
Marking Descriptors
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Mark
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Range
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Descriptor
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1
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Refer/ Fail
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The response DOES NOT
· demonstrate the knowledge, understanding or skill required to meet the AC.
· include any or appropriate examples where these are required to support the answer.
· refer to the case study or scenario where these are provided in the assessment brief.
· respond clearly to the question/task and is not well expressed.
· have an appropriate format or structure which meets the requirements set out in the brief.
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2
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Low Pass
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The response DOES
· demonstrate the minimum level of knowledge, understanding or skill required to meet the AC.
· include an appropriate example where this is required to support the answer.
· refer to the case study or scenario where these are provided in the assessment brief.
· respond to the question or task although it could be clearer and/or better expressed.
· have an appropriate format or structure which meets the requirements set out in the brief.
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3
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Pass
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The response
· demonstrates a good level of knowledge, understanding or skill required to meet the AC.
· includes use of a good example or examples where these are required to support the answer.
· makes good reference to the case study or scenario where these are provided in the assessment brief
· directly addresses the question/task and is well expressed.
· has a good format or structure which meets the requirements set out in the brief.
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4
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High Pass
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The response
· demonstrates an excellent level of knowledge, understanding or skill required to meet the AC.
· includes use of an excellent example or examples where these are required to support the answer.
· includes evidence of wider reading to help inform the answer*
· makes excellent reference to the case study or scenario where these are provided in the assessment brief
· responds very clearly to the question/task and is particularly well expressed.
· has an excellent format or structure which meets the requirements set out in the brief.
*Whilst reference to wider reading may contribute a mark of four, it is not essential for a mark of four to be awarded. A response which is strong in other ways, for example, by providing strong examples or being particularly well expressed may be sufficient to merit a four without evidence of wider reading.
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Marking grid and feedback for learner
Note to Assessor – Please enter a mark for each AC. You need only provide feedback where you have awarded a mark of 1. This feedback should be developmental.
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TASK
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Question Number
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Question
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Mark
1-4
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Q1.
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Ethical working is very important to Nuvascare. Tell us what you understand by the terms ‘ethical principles’ and ‘professional values’ and give us an example of how one of your values has informed your behaviour at work. Make sure you give us the full context of your example (what type of work, what value, how it informed your behaviour). (AC 1.1)
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Assessor feedback first submission (if applicable)
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Assessor feedback resubmission 1 (if applicable)
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Assessor feedback resubmission 2 (if applicable)
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Q2.
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As a provider of care, we are rigorous about complying with relevant regulation and law. Tell us about two ways you have previously complied with relevant regulation and law in your work or studies within the context of ethics and professional practice. (AC 1.2)
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Assessor feedback first submission (if applicable)
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Assessor feedback resubmission 1 (if applicable)
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Assessor feedback resubmission 2 (if applicable)
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Q3.
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Our people practice team are a happy and inclusive group of people, who respect each other and work well together. The team values are that everyone is willing to:
a) contribute their views and opinions
b) clarify problems or issues
c) work effectively as part of the team.
For this question we would like you to provide three examples (one for each of a, b, c), summarising how you demonstrated the behaviour. (AC 2.1)
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Assessor feedback first submission (if applicable)
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Assessor feedback resubmission 1 (if applicable)
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Assessor feedback resubmission 2 (if applicable)
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Q4.
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Professional development is key to the effectiveness of our people practice team and we would like to know how you approach your professional development. Please tell us about your two favourite ways for keeping-up-to-date with issues and developments in the people profession and how you make use of the information you gain from these two methods. (AC 2.2)
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Assessor feedback first submission (if applicable)
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Assessor feedback resubmission 1 (if applicable)
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Assessor feedback resubmission 2 (if applicable)
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Q5.
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Finally, show us that you actively undertake, record and reflect on your development, by providing your CPD record. This should include at least two examples (from within the last two years) of development activities you have undertaken with accompanying reflections on how they impacted you. (AC 2.3)
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Assessor feedback first submission (if applicable)
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Assessor feedback resubmission 1 (if applicable)
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Assessor feedback resubmission 2 (if applicable)
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Total marks for Task:
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Total marks for Task (resubmission 1 if applicable):
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Total marks for Task (resubmission 2 if applicable):
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Total marks for UNIT:
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Grade:
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Total marks for UNIT (resubmission 1 if applicable):
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Grade (resubmission 1 if applicable):
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Total marks for UNIT (resubmission 2 if applicable):
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Grade (resubmission 2 if applicable):
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Assessor Feedback Summary:
Please use this box to summarise your feedback on the assessment overall. This should highlight strengths and any areas for improvement, either referring to specific ACs or commenting more generally across the assessment. (Note: developmental feedback on any ACs awarded a mark of 1 should have already been provided in the relevant box of the assessment form above.
Please use a different font colour for any resubmission comments.)
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Assessor name:
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Submission
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Resubmission 1
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Resubmission 2
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Assessor signature*:
I confirm that I am satisfied that to the best of my knowledge, the work produced is solely that of the learner.
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Date:
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