I don't know what others feel, but I think that AELP are continuing to demonstrate a really negative attitude and are doing everything they can to stop Functional Skills becoming a reality. Personally, I think it's a disgrace that this attitude is allowed to be broadcast at a conference which was supported by and paid for by LSIS.
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
AELP CEO video address about Functional Skills
This is the video address given at the "Making a Reality of Functional Skills" conference on March 26th.
Monday, 19 March 2012
Making Sense of Functional Skills Newsletter March 20th
March 20th - the Functional Skills newsletter
This week we have a plethora of positive policy announcements and news about Functional Skills, a useful timetable of dates as the switchover to Functional Skills gets ever closer, some useful information about funding, and details of the Wednesday Webinar programme with a link to the incredibly popular recordings.
=============================================
Functional Skills - press and policy
The level of interest in Functional SKills has increased significantly and we expect it will continue to increase as we head towards the summer when Functional Skills replaces Adult Basic Skills and Key Skills (see the timetable story below for full details). This week, we have summarised recent policy and press comment below:
Pupils should learn maths through doing it - BBC News
"One reason why children struggle with maths is that it's taught backwards ...(students) don't see how it is relevant to their lives. It is presented only through abstract concepts, rather than in terms of experiences". Click here for the full story.
Ofsted chief in literacy warning - The Independent
"There can be no more important subject than English. It is at the heart of our culture and literacy skills are crucial to pupils' learning for all subjects. Yet too many pupils fall behind in their literacy early on. In most cases, if they can't read securely at seven they struggle to catch up as they progress through their school careers.
As a result, too many young adults lack the functional skills to make their way in the modern world." Click here for the full story.
The future of youth employment - The training zone
"Education fails so many young people because it measures only examination competence rather than focuses on the vocational skills required for young people to gain employment and the need to work on their own personal development." Click here for more.
House of Commons BIS Committee on Apprenticeships
"The Government took the decision to replace Key Skills in English and maths with Functional Skills, ensuring apprentices were supported to attain more stretching and transferable qualifications in these skills which are so vital for progression."
"From Academic Year 12/13 all Apprenticeship providers will be required to provide opportunities to support Apprentices in progressing towards achievement of Level 2 functional skills"
"NAS to require all Apprenticeship providers to offer Functional skills in English and Maths at level 2 to all intermediate apprentices, and publish their progress towards achieving this."
Click here for the full 92 page report.
AELP Special Interest Group on Functional Skills
"The meeting was the best attended SIG (Special Interest Group) that the AELP had ever run."
"It was therefore a happy surprise to discover that rather than having to stamp down on the prophets of doom, I was surrounded by people who are taking a very positive and realistic approach to the introduction of Functional Skills."
"... there were also plenty of success stories from the growing number of providers who are switching to Functional Skills before the deadline on 31st August. Moreover, the Awarding Bodies indicated that pass rates were continuing to rise and that Private Training Providers were easily outperforming colleges and schools."
===============================================
Functional Skills funding
While the future of Functional Skills is secure, what isn't clear is how the funding will work. We know some things. For example, The Government have already announced that all 16-24 year olds without a level 2 in maths and English will be "fully funded" and that career development loans will be commonplace for those aged 25+. Click here for a link to the SFA statement.
But we don't know what "fully funded" means in £ terms. As we understand it for 2012/13, Functional Skills remains an "unlisted qualification" which means that it doesn't carry a standard level of GLH and therefore funding.
This means that providers negotiate and agree with their funding providers what they actually need to provide Functional Skills teaching and learning. We understand that the average for each subject at level 2 is 50-60 GLH, considerably more than the 35 hours allocated to Key Skills and ABS at a similar level.
Discussions about Functional Skills funding continue - it is mentioned several times in the BIS paper in the article above and it will be a hot topic at this weeks Literacy and Numeracy conference - details below.
=====================================================
A reminder about Key Dates for the change to Functional Skills
Several AO have published earlier dates than those below - please check with your AO.
Functional Skills is already part of all Foundation Learning programmes.
Functional Skills replaces Adult Basic Skills in August 2012. The last date for registration is therefore August 31st 2012 and the last date for certification August 31st 2014 so students have two years to pass.
Functional Skills replaces Key Skills in all Apprenticeships in September 2012. The last date for registration is therefore September 30th 2012 and the last date for certification September 30th 2013 so students have just one year to complete.
From September 2012, all 16-24 apprenticeships programmes will be a minimum of 12 months so it looks as though it will be a very brave Apprentice Provider that seeks to enter students for Key Skills after Easter.
===================================================
The Functional Skills Wednesday Webinar
It's a return to the webinar this week for Andy and Simon from Guroo Technical Support who will be doing a session called:
"Guroo 2.1 Communication tools including messaging, task setting and user feedback systems"
Email info@guroo.co.uk and we'll send you the link on Wednesday.
It's a session that's relevant for all customers and indeed those who are thinking of joining Guroo, so join us at 4.05pm on Wednesday 21st March for another informative technical webinar.
Replay previous webinars at the links below. Simply enter your name and use guroo as the password.
Initial and Diagnostic Assessments
Reporting and tracking tools in Guroo 2.1
Guroo 2.1 User and Group Admin
Functional Skills Policy, Rumour and Opinion
===============================================
Please Plus One us on Google follow us on Twitter @guroofs and like us on Facebook at guroo.functionalskills. The next newsletter is likely to be Tuesday April 4th - if you have anything you'd like us to know about, just get in touch jwells@guroo.co.uk
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Demand for Functional Skills information ...
... is outstripping supply and this has happened all of a sudden.
Before Christmas, I struggled to get my voice heard, had speaking engagements cancelled and certainly felt as though speaking about Functional Skills was about as a niche "job" as you could get!
But now it's all changed. Three speaking engagements this month, demand for events is far outstripping supply by some considerable margin (the LSIS event on 26 March his full with 200 delegates and very big waiting list) and we're getting overrun at Guroo with requests for demos and information about Functional Skills in all it's forms from initial diagnostic and assessment right through to "which AO should I choose".
Exciting times and I expect it will continue to be busy all the way through to the turn of the year now.
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Making Sense of Functional Skills Newsletter March 6th
March 6th - the Functional Skills newsletter
This week we have details of a brilliant special offer from Guroo for organisations in the process of moving to Functional Skills for September, an update on a very busy events season (including a new national conference majoring on Functional Skills), a report and survey from the national numeracy campaign and details of the latest Wednesday webinar recordings and the subject for tomorrow's session - "The Buyer's Guide to Functional Skills Products".
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preparing for Functional Skills in September? - bridge the gap with Guroo
We don't normally lead on a story about Guroo's own Functional Skills products, but this one is relevant to newsletter readers – and some of you would probably kick us later if we didn’t tell you about it now!
We are getting a significant increase in the number enquiries from organisations preparing for a September start on Functional Skills. Many want to hit the ground running then, some only intend to really start in September. So we have constructed a special offer to help bridge the next few months for anyone who is devising a Functional Skills implementation plan for the next 6 months.
We call it “5 to1” – because that is the ratio of free licences you can get if you take part. You can make it work for you in two ways:
1) For every 5 Guroo User Licences* you buy now – but for use in September – we will give you free of charge 1 additional User Licence to use now. That’s an ideal way to get a group of free licences that you can use immediately for internal training, pilot groups, or just for your tutors to get up to speed.
Or, if you want to buy more licences now …
2) For every 5 Guroo User Licences you buy now – for use now – we will give you free of charge 1 additional User Licence to use in September. That means you can buy the quantity of Licences you need now, and at the same time create a stock of free licences to use later.
But you need to let us know quickly if you are interested in this. 20% is a lot to give away, so we are only committed to this offer until Friday 16th March. We haven’t made it public, so at the moment it is only available to newsletter readers and direct enquiries – though you are welcome to forward it to people you think may be interested.
To discuss the offer, simply email sales@guroo.co.uk or call us on 0191 305 5045.
To order, download an order form at here and mention the "5 to 1" offer to get your free licences.
*This offer applies to User (Tutor and Learner) Licences only – new customers will have a small one-off Establishment Licence to pay as well.
=---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major Functional Skills events
It is the season for conferences, and the massive interest in Functional Skills is leading to a shortage of places. The recent event at Staffs University day organised by Tina Richardson led to many being turned away, Managing Functional Skills in Stratford was exceptionally well attended and we know that several AELP events focussed on Functional Skills are already fully booked with additional events being added to satisfy demand. Two more events in March are:
Literacy and Numeracy conference - defining and tackling the challenge. This is a one day conference organised by NTRL and held at Aston University, Birmingham on Wednesday 21st March. It will focus on the current challenges facing teaching in literacy, numeracy, Functional English and Functional Maths and will give providers an opportunity to share ideas and practice in order to respond to the challenges as Functional Skills replace Key Skills and Adult Basic Skills in the next few months. The conference will be chaired by Prof Lorna Unwin with speakers from IOE, Guroo, BIS, LSIS and Ofsted. Please mention this newsletter if you book.
Making a reality of Functional Skills is a new conference just announced by LSIS/AELP who are keen to ensure all members are fully prepared and equipped to take on the delivery of Functional Skills in September 2012. It is free to attend and aimed at all providers of Functional Skills in post-16 education. It takes place on 26 March at the Congress Centre, Great Russell Street, London. It may already be full but the organisers are committed to putting on more events so please register your interest by contacting AELP. As always, please mention this newsletter!
Not an event as such but the Functional Skills Special Interest Group is a newly formed group within AELP with a first meeting in the next week or so (already fully booked). Contact AELP for more information.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Numeracy campaign identifies 17 million adults with poor maths skills
Half the working-age population have numeracy skills which are Entry Level or below and it's getting worse according to a new campaign group.
Adults who struggle with numeracy are twice as likely to be unemployed compared to those with a level 2 maths qualification, but perhaps the most significant finding is that nearly half of the people surveyed by YouGov for the research are quite happy about this!
The full report is here - makes interesting reading.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
| The Functional Skills Wednesday Webinar It's a return to the webinar this week for Jonathan Wells (editor of this newsletter) who will be doing a session called: "The Buyer's Guide to Functional Skills Products". Jonathan will look at the offers available from all the major "solution" suppliers and we've also invited those suppliers to join us on-line to answer your questions during the webinar. Email info@guroo.co.uk and we'll send you the link on Wednesday. So join us at 4.05pm on Wednesday 7th March for a top level overview of paid-for and free tools and resources in the market, hopefully supported by key suppliers' representatives too. Replay previous webinars at the links below. Simply enter your name and use guroo as the password. Initial and Diagnostic Assessments Reporting and tracking tools in Guroo 2.1 Guroo 2.1 User and Group Admin Functional Skills Policy, Rumour and Opinion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please Plus One us on Google follow us on Twitter @guroofs and like us on Facebook at guroo.functionalskills. The next newsletter is likely to be Tuesday March 20th - if you have anything you'd like us to know about, just get in touch jwells@guroo.co.uk |
Friday, 2 March 2012
National Numeracy Week
The press is correct. Too many people are proud of the fact "they can't do maths". It is an attitude developed by years of soft reliance on excuses, calling it numeracy instead of maths (or more correctly arithmetic) and allowing people to get away with it.
I stayed at the Easy Hotel in Earls court last month, bought 2 x TV remotes for £7 each and handed over a £20 note. The receptionist had no idea what to give me back.
She tried with a £5 note and when I looked at her gave me another £3 in £1 coins hoping she was getting close. I now wish I had taken all the money - there is no excuse for this whatsoever. How on earth can that person expect to do any job that involves money - who employed her?
Developing Functional Maths is not difficult, it requires practice and some dedication, that's all, it isn't hard, complex or tricky.
I am proud to say that I'm good at maths - does that make me strange?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
