The Functional Skills Newsletter for
October 15th
Lots of news about support for
Functional Skills this week, we've done our best to summarise the key parts but
suffice to say that the Government sees Functional Skills as the key
complimentary qualification in English and maths to GCSE. Sure, there's
work to do to refresh and update Functional Skills, but we think this is a
great opportunity and we fully support it at Guroo.
Have your say in the 2014 Annual Survey
- there is a free text question at the end where you can add your comments and
thoughts and apart from the initial 4 "demographic" questions, there
are none you have to answer, we make a contribution to your choice of charity
and you can personally win a new tablet if you leave us your name and email
address. Click here to
contribute.
As well as Government support and
surveys, there's also a very busy events and conference season, we have details
of all the key events below.
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
Government Support for Functional Skills
The
Government has always maintained it has supported Functional Skills, but
reality, mostly emanating from DfE under Gove, was that GCSE was heavily
promoted by DfE and BIS had to fall in behind - until now. Nick Boles, the new
Minister of State for Skills for both DfE and DBIS has provided clear,
unambiguous support for Functional Skills. FE Week has had some great
coverage recently starting with the first announcement at the Conservative
Party conference.
This
has been followed up a week later with a letter from the
Minister to Ofqual in which he said “Functional Skills will continue to be one
of the types of qualification that learners have available to them as they
progress towards GCSE attainment. For students that are not able to achieve a
GCSE they must provide a reliable test of their literacy and numeracy
skills."
Roger
Francis, well respected commentator on issues about maths and English in the
sector, then put forward his
views in another FE week piece - and very sound views they are too.
And
in the same week, we then had a call from
those involved in the early years qualifications that
Functional Skills should be re-called. It was the announcement by Gove
about this qualification requiring GCSE passes on entry that started
speculation.
Have your say. The annual survey is
also running now and the last question is a free text question where you can
have your your say - simply
click here to take part.
Events, exhibitions and conferences
The autumn is always a busy time of the
year with lots of events on, here are just a few that Guroo are involved in.
Developing skills
to deliver English, maths and ESOL
- organised by EMSkills and located in Derby on October 23rd. Always
popular and informative, with good support from all suppliers and a range of
expert speakers. Jonathan Wells of Guroo is chairing this event.
Meeting new
standards in teaching, learning and assessment - organised by Optimus education, located in Birmingham on
27th November.
Apprenticeships4England, a major event and one not be missed is in London on March
3/4 and open for bookings now. Guroo is a key supporter and sponsor of
this event and the headline speaker is of course Nick Boles, Minister for
Skills.
The AELP Autumn
Conference including a key theme of English and
maths changes in employment and skills programmes - 15th October in Birmingham
and Guroo is on stand 8.
Please
complete the 2014 Functional Skills Annual Survey
It's the fourth year of this important
survey, around 20 questions, about 15 minutes of your time, and apart from the
first few demographic questions, none of them are "must complete". So
you can take your time, skip the ones you don't know about, but get your
opinion in on the ones you do. The results are published widely, we know
they influence policy so have your say now!
The survey is completely confidential, you do not need
to leave your name, but if you do, you could win a new Galaxy Tab 3 and every
participant can nominate one of four charities to receive a donation. Please take a few minutes to contribute.
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