Functional Skills Newsletter March 22nd

March 22nd - in this issue

Just two weeks after Professor Wolf reported that classroom teachers of Functional Skills “were worried about not having resources” and one week after QCDA said "As far as the majority of practitioners are concerned, Functional Skills improve learners’ skills, independent learning, the ability to recognise and articulate the skills they are using, and motivation.”

Guroo has responded. So even though we rarely write about ourselves, this week’s newsletter focuses on what we’re doing to address this key issue. Well, I don’t think we can ever be accused on not listening here at Guroo!

Functional Skills Resources in an Age of Austerity

Here in the Guroo bunker, we realise “money’s too tight to mention”, so we’re working hard to reduce our costs, and change our sales and delivery mechanisms so we can do two things for you in these difficult times:

• Reduce prices
• Increase flexibility (which usually also results in reduced prices!)

What does that mean in practical terms?

Inflation? What Inflation?

Annual subscriptions to Guroo now cost LESS than they did in December, with 2 year subscriptions purchased this month a whopping £800 cheaper. Plus we’re adding extra time (up to 6 months) FREE to all full subscriptions this month – so it’s not too late to secure the fantastic resources that you need for ALL the funded lines of learning in 14-19 education this academic year.

Click here for full details

A little local difficulty?

If you need to address a challenge in one subject area, Guroo 2.0 means you can now subscribe to resources for a single subject. We’ve launched this in March with special offers

Also … we haven’t publicised it yet, but if you only want Foundation Learning resources, or only want resources for GCSE prep, or even if you want a funny mix of something like Level 1 English and Level 2 Maths for an Apprenticeship programme – we can do that too.

Lots of options, we’re working on a price matrix, let us know what you need and jump on board in March – you won’t be disappointed.

We’re listening

The summative report on the Functional Skills pilot included a key point: teachers were worried about not having the resources they need to teach Functional Skills.

The Wolf report also referenced the challenge for teachers in covering a wide range of scenarios with their learners.

So – even if you are looking for resources ONLY for teacher use in class, on whiteboards, on paper etc; with no personalised learner logins, no reporting etc – we can do that too. It’s the lowest ever possible entry point to Guroo’s resources. We haven’t publicised this yet – so let us know if that sounds useful to you.

New ways of contacting Guroo

If you have a sales enquiry about anything to do with Functional Skills, Lynn or Tracy on 0191 305 5045 or sales@guroo.co.uk will be more than happy to help, they will also happily talk about Take That at Sunderland and sort you out with an on-line demo - all you need is a computer and some internet!

Simon and Andy are your support experts on 0191 305 5053 or support@guroo.co.uk so they will deal with anything to do with web-sites, data, Guroo 2.0 and questions about My Functional Skills TM.

If your question is about the Functional Skills qualification, you need a brilliant speaker for your Functional Skills events, you want to know what the AOs are doing, or even as one enquirer on the forum asked "Is it true that the date for abandoning Key Skills in Apprenticeships is being brought forward a year?" then Jonathan and Stewart on 0191 305 5051 are your first port of call - jwells@guroo.co.uk or shutton@guroo.co.uk always work!