Wolf report snippets

I have searched for Functional Skills and snipped bits out from the report!

Their replacement, functional skills, so far have much lower pass rates than key skills, and

schools and colleges are reported to be entering learners at a level lower than they would

have been entered for key skills. This is entirely consistent with the commonly held view

that key skills are in no real sense equivalent to the GCSE grades with which they

enjoyed and enjoy formal equivalence.

There seems no reason to bar use of functional skills

Functional skill qualifications may settle into being useful qualifications for some post-16 learners

Apprenticeships differ from other post-16 provision in having an overall ‘framework’

which includes compulsory key skills. They, too, were intended to move to functional

skills this year, but this move has been delayed because of vociferous protests from

training providers. This is because providers are paid partly on results (and completion

requires key skills), and because many have not been teaching, or needed to teach,

English and maths; nor are they equipped to. There is indeed no reason why an

occupational training specialist, whether in hairdressing, construction, or hotel work,

should be expected to teach these subjects. But there is every reason to demand that they

be taught, off the job, to young apprentices who are very likely to change occupations,

and for whom progression routes matter. That is the rule elsewhere, and should be the

rule in England too.