League table qualifications

I have it on very good authority that Functional Skills is what's termed "collateral damage" in the Government's efforts to remove the vocational qualifications from the league tables they don't want to be there.

It brings an interesting question forward:

The Government accept that Functional Skills is rigorous, does have and does lead to progression, and is a valuable qualification, but because it doesn't have a grading system and is treat as a half course, they currently do not meet the requirements for inclusion in the league tables from January 2015.

I predict that will change. Just as some of the key diplomas (Engineering in particular) will be upgraded to reflect their complexity and value, Functional Skills will find their way into the tables. They will do so because they will treat English and maths as a single and you will have to pass both to count plus we will see some development of the qualification to introduce grades.

So you read it here first - Feb 2012 Jonathan Wells of Guroo Functional Skills