Functional Skills Newsletter March 28th

March 29th - in this issue Another busy week for Functional Skills, led by the debate around vocational education. This week we cover the response to the Wolf report by Lord Baker in the TES, by the Federation of Awarding Bodies and the Big Vocational Debate on Facebook, news about the free Guroo channel for Functional Skills on Promethean Planet, FS Maths resources from NWLG, a reminder about end of financial year offers and the closing date for the fantastic Take That competition is less than two weeks away. FAB (Federation of Awarding Bodies) and Lord Baker respond to Wolf FAB were one of the key organisations that requested the extension of the transition period for Key Skills in Apprenticeships. After the daming comments about Key Skills from Wolf and QCDA, there's discussion now about whether this extension will be withdrawn in time for September 2011 and it's no surprise therefore that FAB have come out in support of Functional SKills. The full report is here but the key support for Functional Skills comes in the second last paragraph "Part of the tale is that many colleges no longer offer GCSE retakes as their experience is that the chances of learners improving their grades are not high and the time devoted to this dispiriting activity is better used towards positive achievement in some other area. Increasingly functional skills are meeting the bill and the fact that the current model has created some problems for work-based learners should not detract from the fact that they are proving suitable for full-time students" Lord Baker on the Wolf Report More support here from Lord Baker writing in the TES Insight section this week for post-16 maths and English progression. "The main thrust of her report is that any course of vocational education must have English and maths embedded in it, at least to GCSE-level. She recommends that all students in post-16 courses should have a programme to achieve that goal." So the future is certainly looking brighter for Functional Skills, or at least a development of it! Vocation debate on Facebook I've been an active member of this on-line discussion group started as a result of the Wolf report, but now taking in the wider aspects of vocational eductaion including Functional Skills (or it wouldn't get a mention)! Free FS resources part 1 - Guroo gets it's own "channel" on Promethean Planet Guroo has recently been appointed as a Learning Response System specialist which basically means that Guroo content is being made Promethean Whiteboard friendly. The first part of this is a the release of Guroo Partner Pages on Promethean Planet, all free to use resources written to take full advantage of Promethean software which is also free to download for any whiteboard system. Click here for Guroo's Partner Pages where versions of English level 2 Home Sweet Home and Maths Level 1 Football Crazy will appear. You may need to register (that's free) and download the Promethean software (also free). Free FS resources part 2 - North West Grid for Learning I've heard that North West Learning Grid have made some Functional Maths resources available free of charge. I can't comment on how these link to the Functional Skills criteria, or indeed at what level they are aimed. Click here to go the relevant page to get access. Flexibility as the financial year ends! 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. Take That final chance Just a couple of weeks remain in the Great Take That competition. 2 Executive Box tickets, hotel, meal, after show party and we've heard from the organisers that you be astonished "you've never seen anything like this before" was their comment. Yes, you'll need to work a little for it, but then great prizes arer always worth the effort. Click here for an entry form and all the details. The next newsletter is scheduled for Tuesday April 5th or earlier if some news breaks - if you have any comments, suggestions or your own news that you'd like to publicise, just let me know.