Friday 21 March 2014

Very good article about Functional Skills

Reprinted in full from the TES - well thought out, well written.
Jonathan Wells of Guroo Assessment and Skills 

Kate Bohdanowicz, an English teacher in East London, writes:
When I ask my adult students why they have chosen to sacrifice their evenings to attend my classes in English functional skills, almost every single one says it’s to improve their chances of finding a job.
And if they have a job, it’s to find a better one.
They want to write strong applications and feel confident about performing well in interviews. One also told me he was studying so he could find the right words to use in his complaint letters. I thought that was an excellent reason to enrol: not being able to complain is incredibly disempowering.
So I was disappointed to learn that from 2017, functional skills will no longer be the accompanying qualification for apprenticeships, having been dropped in favour of the ‘gold standard’ of GCSE.
The Department of Education says replacing functional skills with GCSE would “raise the overall quality of literacy and numeracy skills of those entering the workforce.”
I disagree. I also teach English GCSE and even though it is deemed equivalent in standard to Level 2 functional skills, they are very different.
In my once-a-week GCSE class we explore and analyse poetry, novels and Shakespeare and speaking and listening skills no longer contribute to the final grade. We complete the entire course in eight months so we rattle through it with learners sitting their five (five!) controlled assessments on Saturdays so it doesn’t encroach on valuable lesson time. Then we prepare for the exam on media texts and persuasive, informative and descriptive writing.
Functional skills meanwhile prepares students for the world of work. They learn techniques they will go on to use in everyday life, such as how to follow instructions, write emails, structure letters, demonstrate positive body language, hold conversations and skim read to locate information.
We also spend every lesson working on basics such as capital letters, punctuation, common spellings (yesterday it was ‘professional’; a word that crops up in almost all CVs and application letters but is often misspelled).
Progress is startling. One of my students used to put her capital letters at the start of each line rather than each sentence. Now she doesn’t do that. Can you imagine getting to your late 30s and realising you’d been doing that all your life? How many of your letters would have been taken seriously?
Another point to consider is that not everyone will cope with GCSE. These are apprentices and young adults who, for a variety of reasons, failed to obtain those coveted Cs at school and are now back in the classroom.
Forget the idea that post-16 students ‘choose’ to be there. Apprentices are there at the behest of their employers and most would rather be earning than learning.
On my GCSE course, we spend just six lessons reading and studying the novelTo Kill A Mockingbird and a further six on Shakespeare. We don’t have time to read these in class so I rely on my students working independently.
Asking an apprentice with little or no interest in literature to spend their precious spare time away from work poring over Romeo and Juliet is a tall order.
It’s easy to fall behind, feel lost and convince themselves they’re “thick”. Then we’re back to square one. Is this really raising quality or simply erecting another barrier for young people desperate to start work?
In yesterday’s GCSE class we explored poetry and discussed similes and sibilance. All great stuff but of little use to the motor mechanic trying to write a customer invoice.
I can’t help but get the feeling the decision to replace functional skills with GCSE was made by someone who knows little about the subjects, the people who sit them and the results they produce.
Take it from me, functional skills does what it says on the tin. It equips people with the tools needed to apply for jobs, impress in interviews and conduct daily tasks such as writing emails, reading reports, communicating with colleagues and complaining when services aren’t up to scratch.
It would be a travesty not to take it seriously.

Monday 17 March 2014

Guroo announce full support for GCSE too.

Guroo announce full support for GCSE
Whilst there is some uncertainty about Government Policy, there is no uncertainty about the support you can expect from the UK's best provider of solutions for maths and English.
Guroo has already developed and launched KISS Assess for GCSE - a full assessment for GCSE Maths (Number) that automatically produces a diagnostic based on GCSE skills that highlights areas of strength and weakness with links to video based skills tutorials and resources.

This is the first of a series of developments from Guroo that will result in full GCSE support being available to all customers at no additional cost offering tutors and learners the choice of following GCSE or Functional Skills or a mix of both. 

GCSE vs Functional Skills

GCSE vs Functional Skills
This argument seems to be getting much more serious.  After the recent DfE announcement that all EYE courses would require passes in GCSE maths and English before an application can even be made, a report by FE Week is causing yet more concern in the sector.

First, let's be clear and re-emphasise that Functional Skills is and will remain a fully funded essential part of all Apprenticeships and Traineeships until at least 2017 (the time when the new 2015 specification GCSE will be first examined).  In between now and then there are lots and lots of ifs that can happen, but it is becoming more clear about the direction of Government thinking.   

In a written parliamentary response, Matthew Hancock (Skills Minister) was quoted as saying that Functional Skills should be "stepping stone" qualifications to GCSE. 

He said: “Students [aged 16 or over] whose initial assessment shows they are not ready to re-take GCSEs may take one of the interim qualifications as a stepping stone to GCSE, which can include Functional Skills and free-standing mathematics qualifications recognised by the funding condition.”


There has been lots of reaction to this with much support for Functional Skills from NIACE, AELP and AoC.  Read the FE Week story here.

The value and rigour of Functional Skills

The value and rigour of Functional Skills
The 2013 Functional Skills Annual Survey was completed by more than 400 respondents in the sector.  The results reveal very substantial (and growing) support for Functional Skills.  In the light of the GCSE vs FS discussion above, we thought it would be worthwhile repeating the results of the survey. 

 Very
Confident
 Somewhat
Confident
Not very
Confident 
 Not at all
Confident
Functional Skills is a rigorous qualification
 36%
 54%
 9%
 1%
Functional Skills is a valuable qualification 
 44%
 43%
 10%
 2%
I'm fully prepared and trained to deliver FS
 50%
 38%
 9%
 3%
Learners enjoy taking Functional Skills
 17%
 48%
 26%
 9%
Tutors enjoy teaching Functional Skills
 22%
 48%
 23%
 8%


The overwhelming evidence is that Functional Skills is rigorous (90% agree), valuable (87%) enjoyable (68%) with 88% of respondents feeling fully prepared and trained in delivery.