April 16th - the Functional Skills
newsletter
Lots to cover this week. Major
news from the leading provider of Functional Skills resources, assessments and
diagnostics is the early release of Guroo 3.0, which features "quick
launch" to provide one-click access to all the common areas of Guroo and
one click access to all the resources and assessments.
We've also drawn together a number of
new BIS publications and comments which make interesting reading about the
direction the Government is moving in skills, Apprenticeships and now
Traineeships.
And news about this weeks webinar which
is all about Guroo 3.0 - key additions and changes.
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
Guroo 3.0 is now live
Well ahead of schedule, the Guroo guys
in the basement of Guroo Towers have made Guroo 3.0 live.
Guroo 3.0 is all about usability with a
brand new "quick launch" facility with all the popular features of
Guroo now available in one click and permanent access to all teaching and
learning resources from the new header bar - again one click access.
Add in a brilliant new ILP facility,
new session usage reports and a range of new and revised support videos and
we're really pleased with how easier it makes using Guroo.
Rigour and responsiveness in skills and
more ...
Following quickly on the heels of the "Future of
Apprenticeships in England"
consultation (still open till May 22nd), we see a really
interesting title for this new publication from BIS available by clicking here. Read them through and you'll
quickly gather that not only is Functional maths and Functional English key,
it's going to get even more important as we move towards requiring
at least Level 2 in all Apprenticeships and Level 1 in
Traineeships.
At the same time, FE Week reported on how the number of qualifications will be
substantially reduced. It all certainly feels and looks like it's all part
of the focus on quality, rigour and the basics in maths and English.
Steve Besley of Pearson has produced a
really great summary of all the initiatives. Click here to get to the Policy Watch on FE Reform. He
summarises the reform areas as:
The
6 identified reform areas
1. Raising standards through a new professionalism, a more robust intervention
regime and more empowered customers
2. Reforming apprenticeships by supporting the model of employer ownership set out
in the response to the Richard Review
3. Introducing Traineeships by creating new programmes set within a defined
framework of skills and learning
4. Reforming qualifications by simplifying the qualification system and focusing
on qualifications that can offer added value and progression potential
5. Simplifying the funding system to support responsiveness, local needs and
quality provision
Better information and data through new market intelligence, a monthly scorecard
and improved course information
But not everyone
thinks it's a good idea ...
Perhaps driven by the celebrity status,
and perhaps aided by some quotes out of context and a little confusion about
level 2 qualifications, we also saw a report questioning the value of GCSE for
catering students.
It was featured in the Daily Mail's site This is Money.
Why include it here - it shows that there is still along way to go to get
over the idea that Functional Skills are lifetime qualifications for all
practical aspects of everyday life.
On a slightly different subject, Roger
Francis (definitely a thought leader in Functional Skills) wrote a piece about
the fall in Apprenticeship numbers - it makes an interesting read.
Wednesday Webinar at 4.00pm
Guroo 3.0 is the subject of this week's
webinar - what's new and what's changed:
"Getting the best from Guroo
3.0" which is aimed at both customers
and those thinking of becoming customers. 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.
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
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