Making Sense of Functional Skills Newsletter Jan 10th

January 10th - the Functional Skills newsletter

Welcome to the first Making Sense of Functional Skills Newsletter of 2012. We plan to publish every two weeks during term time on a Tuesday morning.

In this issue we have news of policy announcements concerning participation in Education for 16-24 year olds, comments on 16-19 of funding, what's happening at BETT 2012 this week, plus more about the increasingly popular Wednesday Webinar which this week will be broadcast live from BETT.

Please Plus One us on Google follow us on Twitter @guroofs and like us on Facebook at guroo.functionalskills. The next newsletter is likely to be Tuesday January 24th - if you have anything you'd like us to know about, just get in touch jwells@guroo.co.uk

English and maths take a very high priority in "Building Engagement, Building Futures" This document was published very recently and sets out Government plans on reducing NEETs. The document essentially collects together all the policy announcements about Raising Participation Age, Apprenticeships, the continuing review of vocational education started by Professor Wolf, and associated funding mechanisms to support these plans. So nothing particularly new; but hidden away in paragraph 3.12 we noticed this comment: "We will make it a condition of funding that training providers should seek to support all learners who have not achieved Level 2 in English and maths to reach that standard, with performance data on results being published." That's the first time we've seen the mention of performance tables with private training providers and it re-enforces the view that all 16-19 (and possibly 19-24 year olds) will be expected to continue learning English and maths until they have achieved at least Level 2. The full document is here. Comments in 16-19 Funding Proposals Courtesy of fenews.co.uk we noticed this piece by Jan Hodges, the chief executive of Edge which promotes vocational education. It's a short, concise view of changes in the 16-19 funding picture and we particualrly like Jan's support for Functional Skills. "However, is it right to put so much emphasis on GCSEs? On the one hand, employers are looking for good communication and number skills, not necessarily a grade C GCSE. And on the other, results often go down if young people are forced to keep re-sitting the same old GCSEs, term after term. I would feel much happier if needs could be met by embedding maths and English into other subjects, and by building on existing Functional Skills qualifications." The YPLA funding statement is here. Jan's article is here in full. Join us at BETT 2012 BETT 2012 is at Olympia this week (11-14 January) with some 600 exhibitors and 30,000 visitors expected. The focus is on using technology to empower education, but you don't need to be an ICT specialist to get something from a visit to BETT. There's plenty to keep the technologists happy, but equally, you'll find exhibitors like Guroo who are using technology as a means to an end, with the focus on solutions, delivering teaching and learning, and reducing the cost of delivery. If you're at BETT, please drop in to our main stand (V28) where we will be showing the latest developments, including Initial Assessment and Diagnostics for ICT (English and maths are already released), new user admin and reporting options, and the latest additions to our teaching and learning resources. If you're looking for any type of Functional Skills solution, you'll be able to compare Guroo with the rest of the market plus Guroo have some fantastic new year deals on Functional Skills solutions, and they're not just available for BETT visitors, everyone placing an order in January can expect a great deal! The Functional Skills Wednesday Webinar We've had an amazing response to this programme over the last few weeks of 2011, so we will make it a regular feature this year, with a live webinar running every Wednesday at 4.05, with all sessions recorded for easy access afterwards. Have you got something to say about Functional Skills? We'd love to have you as a guest speaker - get in touch please! Wednesday 11th January the webinar will be broadcast live from BETT featuring a review of all things Functional Skills at the show. Join this webinar at https://onsync.digitalsamba.com/go/guroosh/lands Password = guroo Wednesday 18th January we'll be covering all the latest Guroo 2.1 developments. Join this webinar at https://onsync.digitalsamba.com/go/guroosh/fsnews Password = guroo Wednesday 25th Janaury will feature another live broadcast from the Learning and Skills show in London. Join this webinar at https://onsync.digitalsamba.com/go/guroosh/lands Password = guroo How does it work? It's easy; Follow the links above and log in with your choice of name and the supplied password. All you need is an online computer with speakers or headphones. You can just sit back, watch and listen - or interact and ask questions via online chat. Replay previous webinars at the links below. Simply enter your name and use guroo as the password. Functional Skills Policy Review Initial Assessment and Diagnostic Functional Skills Teaching and Learning Resources