Functional A Level in Biology

A big row has exploded about the A level in Biology. Students and teachers are complaining they haven't been taught what was on the exam. It looks like the truth is actually that ofqual have changed the exam type but the curriculum is the same.

Basically the questions set were based on functional questions to test the skills of the students. the students were expecting to get questions similar to the ones they had been practising and when faced with a different question type, they haven't been able to answer the question!

Teaching to the test has not worked and ofqual are reminding everyone that's the way it's going to be in the future.

Brilliant news - another example of how functional skills are relevant and realistic.

15 seconds of fame

Another 15 seconds of fame as Jonathan Wells, MD of Guroo, appears on the bdaily TV programme today. Ok, so it's north east based, it isn't about functional skills or 14-19 education, it's not about eductaion but it was nice to get interviewed nevertheless.

At this rate, I'll be able to add up all my 15 seconds to make 15 minutes, although it might take 15 years (or more)!

How exciting

Every now and again, something happens that you didn't expect nor plan for. And today, it happened to me.

Barrels must have been well and truly empty and the cans scraped clean when I got a call from the RDA asking if I'd like to come along and "meet the minister" at the launch of a new European Funded Venture capital scheme for the North East.

Why - well, about 18 months ago, i managed to access VC through the scheme's forerunner and I've put it to good use so today Guroo employs 10 people, it makes money (occasionally) and we've pretty much done what we said we would do. in short it's a bit of a good news story that wouldn't have happened without the funding.

Anyway, bottom line is that I really enjoyed it - lots.

Jonathan Wells of Guroo Functional Skills

Press Summary Jan 22nd

Jonathan Wells of Guroo Functional Skills writes

Another week goes by where the Functional Skills and Diploma agendas are marking time - maybe that's the way it's going to be for the rest of curriculum year?

Nothing specific in the TES.

There's a couple of new videos on Teachers TV but perhaps someone should tell them that Functional Skills isn't vocational specific! Check them out here.
http://www.teachers.tv/video/41162

Nothing specific on the BBC Education site, Education Guardian nor the Indy either!

__________________
Jonathan Wells
Managing Director, Guroo Ltd

jwells@guroo.co.uk
0191 305 5051 direct
07753 822393 mobile
0191 305 5045 office

Guroo Functional Skills Newsletter 19/01/10

Our bi-weekly look at the world of functional skills.

Functional Skills resources at BETT, QCDA bringing out case studies, news about Apprenticeships, and links to request the BETT presentation delivered by Jonathan Wells.

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Functional Skills BETT. Here's a summary of what we saw at BETT with a quick opinion of how it fits into the Functional Skills standards, and we did look very hard indeed but apologies if we missed something out, we did lots of on-line searching but there are 600 stands!

Guroo presented Functional Skills resources covering all subjects and all levels mapped back to the Functional Skills standards and available on-line, off line and in pre-packaged SCORM wrappers for LP/VLE use

Royal Albert Hall launched high quality content based around the jobs of workers at the Royal Albert Hall available free on download and with links to Functional Skills level 1 and level 2

Vision2Learn announced their on-line functional skills courses will be available at Easter

BKSB advertised the publication of booklets containing Functional Skills scenarios at Level 1 and Level 2

Stock Market Challenge have included links to Functional Skills at Level 1 and Level 2

Most of the exam boards are supporting their assessments with tutor and student workbooks with some whiteboard materials

North West Learning Grid have the ICT materials launched last year but haven't developed the Maths resources previously announced by them

QCDA special supplement on Functional Skills. QCDA are publishing new written and filmed case studies on the challenges of functional skills for learners and practitioners in different settings in February 2010 to coincide with a special functional skills supplement in SecEd magazine. Let us know quickly to jwells@guroo.co.uk if you have a good story to tell about using Functional Skills, particularly as part of the GCSE curriculum. This also links clearly to the Delivering Diploma conference in March.

SASE. With thanks to Guroo's friend John Pallister for sending us the link It is quite turgid stuff about Level 2 Apprenticeships and it says that depending on the course, Functional Skills will be required at either level 1 or level 2!

BETT Presentation. Lots of people who saw Jonathan Wells speak at BETT have asked for his presentation. Just email jwells@guroo.co.uk if you'd like a copy of the presentation he used to deliver "The Bluffers Guide to Functional Skills" last week.

Jonathan's Functional Skills blog - 170 entries and counting.......

Click here for the new website for functional skills support from National Strategies and LSIS

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BETT Day 4

Very slightly late this post, apologies, had to drive 300 miles home then sleep for several hours if not days before getting back into the swing of things. Just to tidy up the last BETT posting. Saturday appeared pretty good to us. Certainly better than many previous Saturdays with a steady stream of good quality visitors all through the day. The quantity actually approached Wednesday which may be a sign that the bad weather on Wednesday meant that many teachers,especially local to London, delayed their visit until Saturday. The latest on Functional Skills and Diplomas from the show. I saw the latest Diploma resources from our friends at u-xplore. As always with u-xplore, the presentation of the resources is very lively and they cover all 10 existing quals with the next four under development. This product does focus on diplomas, has references to PLTS but no direct references to Functional Skills standards. Also met with the guys at Vision2Learn. They had announced through BETT PR the availability of Functional Skills courses from Easter but nothing to show at BETT. Our friends at Espresso also let us know that contrary to what I said on Day 3; "Channel 4 Clipbank includes a Personal, learning and thinking skills framework comprising six groups that complement the Functional skills of English, Mathematics and ICT. Clipbank includes a range of clips and resources that provide opportunities to develop these skills: Independent enquirers Creative thinkers Reflective learners Team workers Self managers Effective participators Functional skills" Happy to clarify this on their behalf and good to know the blogs get read!:) That's about for this year and just one final thought. We rented a van to bring all our stuff down, a LWB transit type thing. It cost more to park it in London for 4 days than it cost to rent for 7 days - unbelievable! Comments and queries always welcomed. Jonathan Wells of Guroo clear market leaders in providing pedagogically sound learning resources for functional skills in the 14-19 curriculum.

BETT Day 3

Morning everyone, such a busy day. I think that all the people who were put off on Wednesday by the weather, decided that Friday was the day they would come! Personally the voice has pretty much gone, the shoes feel as thin as carbon copy paper but we all have to rememebr that for our visitors, it's their first day so a warm welcome always awaits on the guroo stands.

In terms of "busy-ness" the Guroo functional skills stands were overwhelmed at time, despite the fact that we had 9 people manning them, although with just 5 machines to demo, there was queues so if you were one who was waiting, sorry. Lots of interest in what we do from people looking to populate VLEs.

I found another couple of stands with links to functional skills. the stock market game and the small business game, both close to each other in location and spirit, have mapped to the standards and to the Business and IT Diplomas.

None of the exam boards are approved yet of course so resources from them remain as rare as a quick commute in the snow, but Pearsons have made some of their resources whiteboard friendly as well as student and teacher books.

Even the very big resource banks such as Channel 4 Clipbank are still subject dependent and not referenced to functional skills.

On the Diploma side, the SSAT have some interactive resources for a couple of the Diplomas, quite similar to the u-xplore concept of providing students with experience of the practical aspects of the Diploma.

Had a few words with BKSB but quite naturally, they are not that willing to tell me about what they are planning so I can't really comment on their move from Key Skills to Functional Skills.
The NWGFL had announced last year they were doing Maths Functional Skills but they don't have it this year so maybe their plans have changed.

So nothing brand brand new so to speak but developments all round.

Posted by Jonathan Wells of guroo functional skills, the very best company in 14-19 resources for UK education.

BETT Day 2

A very much busier day today, better weather and more people through the doors.

From our point of view at Guroo Functional Skills it was more productive as we had more potential customers and far fewer international visitors. I won't say how many as I know other companies would be interested but we had a good day and a nice night afterwards at the exhibitors aprty then a super persian meal with lots of lamb!

On the Functional Skills side, I did see a new product from Royal Albert hall which has been done to support their profile and charitable status and is a free download. Very well done, high production values and good support materials for both teachers and students.

It is different to our approach to functional skills in that it's a single subject that's very intensively covered and it isn't specific to a particular level, instead it covers level 1 and level 2 without being specific.A very worthwhile resource though and anyone involved in functional skills should take a look.

Onto day 3 now and I'm wanting to get to see the big SSAT/LSIS/TDA stands to see what they are doing in functional skills.

Jonathan Wells of Guroo

BETT Day 1

Well, here we are, my 21st BETT.
In one respect, it's an old friend with the same big stands populated by many of the same people but in another respect it feels more modern, more edgy and more realistic.
Certainly, it's clear that many companies are making every penny count, good stand utilisation, good designs but still, some companies have bought space with no idea of what they wanted to do with it - I guess those are the pople who won't be here next year.

Visotor numbers felt a little down yesterday and there's no doubt the snow stopped some poeple coming. Neverthless guroo had an excellent day, better than last year by a considerable margin. There are some new major companies here - Gaia technologies have spent more on their indoor garden than we have on our entire two stands and I've never heard of them!

In functional skills terms, guroo remains by far the busiest stand and indeed a destination stand for many which is both pleasing and justifies our focus on functional skills.

There are no "new" companies doing resources that I spotted but I haven't been around everywhere yet.

So a good first day, looking forward to a good second day.

Jonathan Wells of Guroo Functional Skills - www.guroo.info

Surplus funds

Jonathan Wells, writer and managing director of Guroo Functional Skills, the leading provider of 14-19 resources for UK education writes.

Apparently, there is 1.8bn in bank accounts that, according to DCSF, should be spent on pupils now.

If I was one of the 25% schools with a high surplus, I'd be worried becuase with the state of Government finances, they could face a double hit.

Hit 1 is loose the surplus money

Hit 2 is a reduced budget because they've shown they can manage with less!

It means that come March, there could be a lot of 14-19 resource spending - let's hope that functional skills is high enough up the agenda by then to benefit Guroo!

Knock on effect of schools closures

I will be controversial for someone who makes a living from education but I really don't agree with these school closures, especially primary schools.

Surely it's much safer for kids to be at school rather than running the roads because the school is closed. Same with secondary, close a school and the first thing that teenagers do is get the sledges out - can't be good a week before exams and I speak from personal experience here of watching a 16 year old have two days off a week before the exams.

Plus if you close a school, you force parents to be at home which puts pressure on them as not everyone gets paid when they aren't at work.

Personal view of course.

Vocational Schools - old or new thinking pt 2

Leading Article: Baker's dozen

From the Independent

It would be wrong to dismiss Lord Baker's campaign to introduce decent technical education for 14 to 18-year-olds as the dream of an ageing Conservative peer. His plans for 12 new technical schools on the model of the German Realschule system has much to commend it. In Britain, we have never been able to do vocational education properly. It has always been seen as second-class and low status.

I agree!

Guroo Functional Skills Newsletter 05/01/10

Our bi-weekly look at the world of functional skills.

Functional Skills seminars at BETT, a new diagram highlighting progression routes through 14-19, events organised by Diploma Magazine and FSSP, and links to videos from QCDA and FE News.

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Functional Skills seminars at BETT. We spotted the following seminars scheduled at the BETT show next week. The Guroo guys will all be there on stands N48, SW24 and W38. Mention you read this newsletter and we'll give you a free Guroo goody pack featuring mug, pens and brand new buttermint flavour Guroo rock sweets!

Functional Skills made easy - EDI

Making 14-19 partnerships successful - Kingswood Partnership

Diploma aggregation service in action - QCDA

Developing functional skills - QCDA

Delivering Functional Skills in the classroom - Royal Albert Hall

The bluffers guide to functional skills - Guroo

Delivering Diplomas Conference and FSSP regional events in March. The next Delivering Diploma conference will feature Iain Wright, Secretary of State for 14-19 Reform and Apprenticeships along with Teresa Bergin, Head of Diploma at QCDA. Click here for a special offer saving of 20% for "Guroo friends" on the delegate fee. Please be aware it's a big file to download - we can email or post you a copy if you'd prefer just let me know at jwells@guroo.co.uk Regional FSSP events have also been announced. Click here for the dates.

New 14-19 progression routes diagram. With thanks to Guroo's friend Gill Coker for sending us the link, a really good diagram on progression routes.

The official line. The December edition of the DCSF 14-19 newsletter has been published.

It's amazing what you find on YouTube! Guroo's good friend John Pallister told us about a couple of videos on YouTube. "Informative" is perhaps the kindest way of describing them. Links below.

Gareth Phillips of EDI speaking about Functional Skills in an fenews.co.uk video

Sir Alan Jones of Toyota speaking on a QCDA published video

Jonathan's Functional Skills blog - 165 entries and counting.......

Click here for the new website for functional skills support from National Strategies and LSIS

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