Morning everyone, such a busy day. I think that all the people who were put off on Wednesday by the weather, decided that Friday was the day they would come! Personally the voice has pretty much gone, the shoes feel as thin as carbon copy paper but we all have to rememebr that for our visitors, it's their first day so a warm welcome always awaits on the guroo stands.
In terms of "busy-ness" the Guroo functional skills stands were overwhelmed at time, despite the fact that we had 9 people manning them, although with just 5 machines to demo, there was queues so if you were one who was waiting, sorry. Lots of interest in what we do from people looking to populate VLEs.
I found another couple of stands with links to functional skills. the stock market game and the small business game, both close to each other in location and spirit, have mapped to the standards and to the Business and IT Diplomas.
None of the exam boards are approved yet of course so resources from them remain as rare as a quick commute in the snow, but Pearsons have made some of their resources whiteboard friendly as well as student and teacher books.
Even the very big resource banks such as Channel 4 Clipbank are still subject dependent and not referenced to functional skills.
On the Diploma side, the SSAT have some interactive resources for a couple of the Diplomas, quite similar to the u-xplore concept of providing students with experience of the practical aspects of the Diploma.
Had a few words with BKSB but quite naturally, they are not that willing to tell me about what they are planning so I can't really comment on their move from Key Skills to Functional Skills.
The NWGFL had announced last year they were doing Maths Functional Skills but they don't have it this year so maybe their plans have changed.
So nothing brand brand new so to speak but developments all round.
Posted by Jonathan Wells of guroo functional skills, the very best company in 14-19 resources for UK education.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Friday, 15 January 2010
BETT Day 2
A very much busier day today, better weather and more people through the doors.
From our point of view at Guroo Functional Skills it was more productive as we had more potential customers and far fewer international visitors. I won't say how many as I know other companies would be interested but we had a good day and a nice night afterwards at the exhibitors aprty then a super persian meal with lots of lamb!
On the Functional Skills side, I did see a new product from Royal Albert hall which has been done to support their profile and charitable status and is a free download. Very well done, high production values and good support materials for both teachers and students.
It is different to our approach to functional skills in that it's a single subject that's very intensively covered and it isn't specific to a particular level, instead it covers level 1 and level 2 without being specific.A very worthwhile resource though and anyone involved in functional skills should take a look.
Onto day 3 now and I'm wanting to get to see the big SSAT/LSIS/TDA stands to see what they are doing in functional skills.
Jonathan Wells of Guroo
From our point of view at Guroo Functional Skills it was more productive as we had more potential customers and far fewer international visitors. I won't say how many as I know other companies would be interested but we had a good day and a nice night afterwards at the exhibitors aprty then a super persian meal with lots of lamb!
On the Functional Skills side, I did see a new product from Royal Albert hall which has been done to support their profile and charitable status and is a free download. Very well done, high production values and good support materials for both teachers and students.
It is different to our approach to functional skills in that it's a single subject that's very intensively covered and it isn't specific to a particular level, instead it covers level 1 and level 2 without being specific.A very worthwhile resource though and anyone involved in functional skills should take a look.
Onto day 3 now and I'm wanting to get to see the big SSAT/LSIS/TDA stands to see what they are doing in functional skills.
Jonathan Wells of Guroo
Thursday, 14 January 2010
BETT Day 1
Well, here we are, my 21st BETT.
In one respect, it's an old friend with the same big stands populated by many of the same people but in another respect it feels more modern, more edgy and more realistic.
Certainly, it's clear that many companies are making every penny count, good stand utilisation, good designs but still, some companies have bought space with no idea of what they wanted to do with it - I guess those are the pople who won't be here next year.
Visotor numbers felt a little down yesterday and there's no doubt the snow stopped some poeple coming. Neverthless guroo had an excellent day, better than last year by a considerable margin. There are some new major companies here - Gaia technologies have spent more on their indoor garden than we have on our entire two stands and I've never heard of them!
In functional skills terms, guroo remains by far the busiest stand and indeed a destination stand for many which is both pleasing and justifies our focus on functional skills.
There are no "new" companies doing resources that I spotted but I haven't been around everywhere yet.
So a good first day, looking forward to a good second day.
Jonathan Wells of Guroo Functional Skills - www.guroo.info
In one respect, it's an old friend with the same big stands populated by many of the same people but in another respect it feels more modern, more edgy and more realistic.
Certainly, it's clear that many companies are making every penny count, good stand utilisation, good designs but still, some companies have bought space with no idea of what they wanted to do with it - I guess those are the pople who won't be here next year.
Visotor numbers felt a little down yesterday and there's no doubt the snow stopped some poeple coming. Neverthless guroo had an excellent day, better than last year by a considerable margin. There are some new major companies here - Gaia technologies have spent more on their indoor garden than we have on our entire two stands and I've never heard of them!
In functional skills terms, guroo remains by far the busiest stand and indeed a destination stand for many which is both pleasing and justifies our focus on functional skills.
There are no "new" companies doing resources that I spotted but I haven't been around everywhere yet.
So a good first day, looking forward to a good second day.
Jonathan Wells of Guroo Functional Skills - www.guroo.info
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Surplus funds
Jonathan Wells, writer and managing director of Guroo Functional Skills, the leading provider of 14-19 resources for UK education writes.
Apparently, there is 1.8bn in bank accounts that, according to DCSF, should be spent on pupils now.
If I was one of the 25% schools with a high surplus, I'd be worried becuase with the state of Government finances, they could face a double hit.
Hit 1 is loose the surplus money
Hit 2 is a reduced budget because they've shown they can manage with less!
It means that come March, there could be a lot of 14-19 resource spending - let's hope that functional skills is high enough up the agenda by then to benefit Guroo!
Knock on effect of schools closures
I will be controversial for someone who makes a living from education but I really don't agree with these school closures, especially primary schools.
Surely it's much safer for kids to be at school rather than running the roads because the school is closed. Same with secondary, close a school and the first thing that teenagers do is get the sledges out - can't be good a week before exams and I speak from personal experience here of watching a 16 year old have two days off a week before the exams.
Plus if you close a school, you force parents to be at home which puts pressure on them as not everyone gets paid when they aren't at work.
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Vocational Schools - old or new thinking pt 2
Leading Article: Baker's dozen
It would be wrong to dismiss Lord Baker's campaign to introduce decent technical education for 14 to 18-year-olds as the dream of an ageing Conservative peer. His plans for 12 new technical schools on the model of the German Realschule system has much to commend it. In Britain, we have never been able to do vocational education properly. It has always been seen as second-class and low status.
Guroo Functional Skills Newsletter 05/01/10
Our bi-weekly look at the world of functional skills.
Functional Skills seminars at BETT, a new diagram highlighting progression routes through 14-19, events organised by Diploma Magazine and FSSP, and links to videos from QCDA and FE News.
Functional Skills seminars at BETT. We spotted the following seminars scheduled at the BETT show next week. The Guroo guys will all be there on stands N48, SW24 and W38. Mention you read this newsletter and we'll give you a free Guroo goody pack featuring mug, pens and brand new buttermint flavour Guroo rock sweets!
Functional Skills made easy - EDI
Making 14-19 partnerships successful - Kingswood Partnership
Diploma aggregation service in action - QCDA
Developing functional skills - QCDA
Delivering Functional Skills in the classroom - Royal Albert Hall
Delivering Diplomas Conference and FSSP regional events in March. The next Delivering Diploma conference will feature Iain Wright, Secretary of State for 14-19 Reform and Apprenticeships along with Teresa Bergin, Head of Diploma at QCDA. Click here for a special offer saving of 20% for "Guroo friends" on the delegate fee. Please be aware it's a big file to download - we can email or post you a copy if you'd prefer just let me know at jwells@guroo.co.uk Regional FSSP events have also been announced. Click here for the dates.
New 14-19 progression routes diagram. With thanks to Guroo's friend Gill Coker for sending us the link, a really good diagram on progression routes.
The official line. The December edition of the DCSF 14-19 newsletter has been published.
It's amazing what you find on YouTube! Guroo's good friend John Pallister told us about a couple of videos on YouTube. "Informative" is perhaps the kindest way of describing them. Links below.
Gareth Phillips of EDI speaking about Functional Skills in an fenews.co.uk video
Jonathan's Functional Skills blog - 165 entries and counting....... 
Click here for the new website for functional skills support from National Strategies and LSIS
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