Functional Skills newsletter Sept 24th

September 24th - the Functional Skills newsletter

What a busy Autumn!  The focus on English and maths has really taken hold and confidence in Functional Skills is at an all-time high (more on this based on the survey in the next newsletter).  And the evidence is much more than anecdotal, Guroo are recording website usage levels more than five times higher than this time last year with more than 5000 initial assessments being completed each week.

So a packed newsletter this week with features about politics, 16-19 accountability measures, events and as always, links to the ever popular webinar series.

As always, we aim to send this newsletter out every two weeks, your comments and thoughts are always appreciated - let us know what you'd like us to cover in the newsletter by emailing the editor - jwells@guroo.co.uk

16-19 Accountability Consultation

The Government published a 10 week consultation on how new 16-19 accountability measures will be applied to FE and Sixth form colleges.  

The consultation indicates there will be 5 key measures in new 16 to 19 performance tables covering attainment, destinations, completion, progress, and combined attainment and completion.

A key driver in developing the tables is a new measure to show how well post-16 providers do in helping young people get a C or better in English and maths. As of this academic year, all young people who go into post-16 education without a grade C in those subjects must continue to study them until they get at least Level 2 in Maths and English, typically following the Functional Skills route.

Pearson publish a very useful summary of the current position. Pearson Policy Watch

And the Government Press release from 13 September is here.  Government Consultation

Apprenticeship recruitment, traineeships and politics

There has been a lot of political comment about Apprenticeships and Traineeships recently.  The excellent linkedin group run by Lindsay McCurdey and available at tracks many of the political developments, some of which are summarised below.  

Some FE Colleges are requiring applicants to already have a grade C GCSE in maths and English before accepting an application.  Original comment by Jonathan Wells based on a FE Week investigation. 

At the Labour Party conference, a new policy was proposed where employers who recruit a “tier 2” employee from outside of the EC would then have to create an Apprenticeship opportunity in the same area of work.  

On the negative side of Traineeships, reports of employer abuse over working hours and no pay from FE Week.

On the positive side of Traineeships, OCR celebrates the first 25 successful trainees. This video gives the learners perspective of the pilot.

World of Learning Conference

The conference and exhibition season starts shortly with the first major event of the year being held at Birmingham NEC on 1/2 October.  Guroo will be exhibiting on stand J100 featuring their all new Exam Practice solution, the unique Pay As You Go pricing option and all visitors will be able to collect the brand new Learner Journey Poster. 

Apprenticeships4England have announced 4/5 March as their conference date and again, Guroo is one of the sponsors of this event.

We're expecting a January date for the next All Things Functional Event organised by EMSKills and don't forget Learning Technologies/Learning and Skills in January. 

Wednesday Webinar at 4.00pm

"The Learner Journey" is Wednesday's webinar with Jonathan Wells, on Wednesday 25th September at 4pm.  Join us and get your free poster!

A look at the complete Learner Journey.  And as a special "treat", everyone who joins us live on Wednesday will be sent a brand new, full colour, A0, pre-production Learner Journey poster.  But even with this enticement, we know that many more people enjoy coming back for the recording afterwards, so if you want to join or just want to watch the recording, just drop an email to info@guroo.co.uk

Join us on Wednesday 25th September 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.

Exam Practice

Ofsted and Functional Skills

Guroo 3.0 in 20 minutes - a brief guide

Guroo reports and admin updates 

Teaching Functional Maths

Functional Skills Policy Update

The Functional Skills Learner Journey

Getting the best from your Guroo free trial

The differences between Key Skills/SfL and Functional Skills

What you really have to know about Functional Skills for Senior Managers

Functional Skills in the Revised Common Inspection Framework

Guroo group and user admin 

Colleges introducing a Catch 22 for Maths and English?

A report in FE Week this morning suggests that a significant number of Level 2 Apprenticeships being advertised, require the applicant to have already passed GCSE A*-C in Maths and English.

Is this so the providers (Colleges in the main) can avoid having to teach English and maths, specifically Functional Skills?  Forgive me, but surely, this is the purpose of 16+ Learning Providers?

If providers are allowed to sidestep this requirement and cherry pick the students they want to teach presumeably because it takes less time, pass rates are better and therefore they get more money for doing less, then we'll be faced with an even bigger and ever growing problem of NEETS.

Carrying this policy forward, it will mean that far from RPA being raised to 17 then 18 as an inclusive measure and ALL 17 and 18 years olds continuing to study Maths and English, it will go the other way - ONLY those with GCSE A*-C at age 16 will be able to take part in further education because those without this will be rejected at the application stage.

So come on BIS, SFA and other interested parties, get this sorted quickly.

Functional Skills or GCSE now compulsory for 16/17 year olds

"250,000 school leavers each year suffer a huge impairment to life and work"

The Government confirmed on Monday that 16 year old school leavers who hadn't passed GCSE maths and English at grade C or above would be expected to continue studying the subjects.  Skills minister Matthew Hancock said the requirement to keep studying English and maths was not about re-sitting exams but about continuing to develop these essential skills.

"For those who fail to get a C at GCSE, it's a huge impairment to their future life, their ability to participate not just in work but also as a citizen," he said.  BBC report and video interview with Matthew Hancock.

Whilst the major news stories focussed on GCSE re-sits, the Government announcement re-enforces the importance and value of Functional Skills in the learner journey.

"Those who have not achieved a C or better in GCSE maths or English will ideally study GCSEs. However, they may take other qualifications – including functional skills and free-standing mathematics qualifications accredited by Ofqual - as a stepping stone to GCSE study.

Functional Skills Exam Practice from Guroo

Contact Guroo on info@guroo.co.uk or 0191 305 5045 for more information.

Guroo 3.1 is now live featuring "Exam Practice".  Guroo customers on the "All Inclusive" price plan automatically received free access, everyone else can add the system independently and cost-effectively, including those who use alternative products such as BKSB.  

"Exam Practice" is unique, all questions have been developed by Functional Skills examiners, they feature full mark schemes for tutors, feedback options and even secure file upload and review for ICT questions.  Best of all, it is offered as a completely standalone option so even non-Guroo customers can simply add "Exam Practice" to their existing portfolio of resources. 

At the heart of the EP system is a bank of 72 exam style questions.  Key features of the questions include:

• ·         12 questions at two levels (Level 1 and Level 2) and in each subject (Maths, English and ICT) – note that 4 questions in each level/subject are available at launch
• ·         A number of scenarios are offered at both levels to give the learner (and tutors) an understanding of the differences in expectations between levels
• ·         Each question is designed to have 15 marks and take 20 minutes
• ·         On screen tools include a clock, calculator, drawing tools and secure file upload system for data-files and applications
• ·         Scenario always includes mark allocation guidelines to support learners.

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