March 26th - the Functional Skills
newsletter
Our lead story this week is taken from
the Government's response to the Richards Review of Apprenticeships.
Section 4 of the response is all to do with Functional English and maths
and has two consultation questions attached to it. The links are in the
report below.
In other news, EMSkills have announced
a second "All Things Functional" event on June 14th in Birmingham and
Guroo have started development of Guroo 3.0 and are seeking feedback from
customers on what should be included. News of this week's webinar rounds
off this newsletter.
As always, your comments and thoughts
are appreciated - let us know what you'd like us to cover in the newsletter by
emailing the editor - jwells@guroo.co.uk
Government response to Richards Review
“Apprenticeships should attract some of
the best students, including those who have already excelled in maths and English
at school. But, for those who have not yet reached a good level by the time
they start, achieving a good level of maths and English, a more stretching
level than many Apprentices currently attain, should be a pre-requisite for
completion.”
The quote is taken from Section 4 of the Government's response to the Richard Review of
Apprenticeships. Read down a little further and
the timescale is identified as August 2014, less than 18 months away!
"From August 2014, we will go
further by requiring that all Apprentices who begin their Apprenticeship with
only level 1 qualifications in English and/or maths take up the current offer
and work towards level 2 during their Apprenticeship. This will align with a
similar strengthening of requirements for those aged 16 to 19 undertaking study
programmes."
The Government is seeking consultation
on two questions in Functional Skills: Click here for the link to the consultation response.
Question 13: What are the specific
obstacles to all Apprentices achieving level 2 English and maths as part of
their Apprenticeship, and how could these be overcome?
Question 14: How would a requirement to have all Apprentices achieve level 2 in English and maths impact on employers, providers and potential learners? What are the risks and potential solutions?
Question 14: How would a requirement to have all Apprentices achieve level 2 in English and maths impact on employers, providers and potential learners? What are the risks and potential solutions?
All things functional conference June
14th
Following the success of the first
conference in January, EMSkills have organised a second event in Birmingham on
June 14th.
Supported once again by all the leading
providers in Functional Skills, this event features 12 workshops plus expert
speakers from all areas of Functional Skills policy.
Have your say on
what Guroo 3.0 should include!
The Guroo Guys locked in basement of
Guroo Towers are working hard on lots of exciting new Guroo 3.0 developments.
Some of them are already underway, but not all - so if you've used Guroo,
whether that was through a free trial or as a customer, and you'd like to
comment, and/or make suggestions on what we should do in Guroo 3.0, here's your
chance.
Click here for a 6 question survey
that takes less than 5 minutes to complete.
Wednesday Webinar at 4.00pm
A change in the presenter this week.
Daisy will be taking her first webinar:
"A quick guide to Guroo" which is aimed
specifically at those new (or newly coming back to) Guroo highlighting all the
features and benefits in a twenty minute dash around Guroo Functional Skills.
As always we find that many more people enjoy coming back for the recording
afterwards, but if you'd like to be live, just drop an email to info@guroo.co.uk
Join us on Wednesday at 4pm.
All previous webinars are recorded and
available anytime for playback - login as a guest and the password is password.
Simply click on the links below and don’t forget, if you’d like to have your
own 1:1 webinar looking at how Guroo can help you support Functional Skills,
just call us on 0191 305 5045 or email info@guroo.co.uk and we’ll take it from there.
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