Functional Skills Newsletter Sept 27th

September 27th - the Functional Skills newsletter

In this issue, we have policy news about Functional Skills coming from BIS and DfE, an update on the national picture for initial assessment and diagnostic services, a summary of events that readers of the newsletter may be interested in and snippets of news and comment.

The future for Functional Skills looks very bright Three weeks into the new term and we're starting to hear snippets of news coming out of BIS and DfE about Functional Skills. Four things that caught our eye: A combination of a mauling in the Wolf report and the last set of national tests for Key Skills being released to Awarding Organisations confirms the fact that Key Skills finally end in September 2012 and there is no prospect of a reprieve unless the Government sets up a new quango to develop more national tests - we think that unlikely! The Government (through DfE) remains committed to GCSE English and Maths as the "Gold Standard" qualification and we understand would prefer all 16-18 year olds to continue studying for GCSE but accepts that Functional Skills is a qualification with progression towards GCSE. The Government (through BIS) has no appetite for introducing any new Literacy/Numeracy qualifications although it is listening to suggestions about how quickly assessments can be turned round to support those on Apprenticeship programmes. Watch this space for an announcement about the Adult Skills qualifications shortly. Practitioners (through the annual Functional Skills survey) have expressed very high confidence levels in Functional Skills, supporting the generally held view that with good delivery preparation, they are a valuable and valued qualification that are liked by students, tutors and employers alike.

Initial Assessment and Diagnostic for Functional Skills

This really is the story of the moment in Functional Skills with lots of activity and developments going on, so we thought it would be useful to report on the alternatives available in the market.

BBC Skillswise is in the process of being relaunched, but disappointingly, quizzes (even at levels 1/2) are simple multiple choice and not at all Fuunctional!

Guroo customers get the first version of their initial assessment and diagnostic tool this week. If your site already subscribes to Guroo, you don't have to do anything - other than let Guroo know if you'd like to be involved in the beta testing. Guroo are especially interested to hear from sites who have other initial assesment processes in place and who would like to compare the results. The Guroo version will not only provide an initial indication of the learner's level, but will include diagnostics that indicate strengths and weaknesses in terms of the official Functional Skills criteria ... and of course link direct to the Guroo resources that are designed to further develop those specific skills.

A free version of the levelling part of the Guroo tool will be made freely available at www.myfunctionalskills.co.uk once initial assessment has rolled out as a standard feature for Guroo subscribers. Go to www.myfunctionalskills.co.uk to register your interest.

Pearson have a beta version of the initial assessment tool for Functional English and Maths and welcome feedback. Access it here.

SkillsWorkshop has a range of free resources submitted to the site. Very helpfully, Maggie (who runs the site) has catorgorised resources into assessment, so they are fairly easy to find. Click here for a summary.

BKSB has a soon to be available interactive initial assessment tool. More details here.

ForSkills have SkillsAssess for Basic and Functional Skills. More details here.

Events coming up

With the expansion of the Apprenticeship programme very much in the news at the moment, Neil Stewart Associates are organising "The Future of Apprenticeships" in London on November 24th. Click here for a link to the full programme. This is an event that Guroo will be attending as exhibitors.

Another event that Guroo will be at is the Education Investor Awards 2011. And that's because Guroo have been shortlisted for the "best use of educational technology" alongside Pearson, Espresso, Promethean and others. Great company to be in!

Press reports and press releases related to Functional Skills

The BBC ran an interview with Chris Kirk (CEO of GEMS Education Solutions) about a Price Waterhouse Coopers report that suggested IT skills are most valued by employers who also report that 60% of employees need to improve skills in literacy and numeracy. It's still available on-line here.

City & Guilds have joined with BKSB to mutually endorse each others offer for Functional and Key Skills and to create a seamless set of support tools. Click here for more.

Nelson Thornes have signed an exclusive partnership agreement as resellers for ForSkills. More details here.

The new look TES ran a story about how £9bn of investment in adults basic skills had "fallen short" suggesting that too few enrolments on lower-level courses and too many people who lacked a certificate being accredited for higher level courses whose literacy and numeracy was acceptable.