Guroo Functional Skills Newsletter 17/11/09

Our bi-weekly look at the world of functional skills.

Ofqual publish new Functional Skills criteria, a new DCSF publication about Functional Skills in Diplomas, another chance to get your hands on the Guroo posters and intriguing thoughts about GNVQ, BTEC and OCR Nationals.

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Ofqual publish Functional Skills criteria. Last week, Ofqual published the Functional Skills qualifications criteria and the specific criteria for the individual Functional Skills in English, mathematics and ICT. These are the criteria against which all exam bodies will be expected to assess. A link to the download page is here.

Nuts and Bolts from DCSF. A new publication in the "nuts and bolts" series has hit the streets aimed at Functional Skills in Diplomas. 20 pages long, it reprises the main elements of Functional Skills and features case studies from Stoke, Dudley and Wolverhampton college. Click on the pic below to get to the right page in Teachernet.

Functional Skills standards mapping posters from Guroo. We had an astonishing level of requests for the poster as a result of this announcement two weeks ago. All our subscribers should have received copies by now but if you're not a customer, here's a another chance to request a pdf copy. Drop me an email at jwells@guroo.co.uk and I'll send you a pdf copy by return.

And finally, thoughts about unintended consequences. One of our customers asked us whether Functional Skills would be introduced to BTEC qualifications and this led us down a most revealing route which we think has big consequences. It appears that there will only be four funded qualifications routes from September 2010:

• GCSE/A Level

• Diplomas

• Apprenticeships

• Foundation Learning

That means OCR, BTEC, GNVQ qualifications WILL ONLY be funded as part of additional learning in Diplomas IF they are part of the QCF. Click here to read the latest on the QCDA website.

Jonathan's Functional Skills blog - 135 entries and counting.......

Click here for the new website for functional skills support from National Strategies and LSIS

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