A very informative newsletter this week.

This week we have published a new series of skills based videos on YouTube including a one about upgrading from Guroo to SkillsBuilder.

We've also released the new Paper Based Initial Assessment booklets which look superb and are almost certainly cheaper and much more efficient than printing or copying something you found on the internet - they really are that good!

Plus links to a couple of really good videos from NAS and NCFE about Apprenticeships and a links to relevant articles you might have missed.

And finally this month - we've included Android and Apple links to the ForSkills Go app - see below.

Maths and English policy for post-16

Courtesy of Steve Besley (Pearson), Ian Pursglove (Ofqual), Sue Southwood (ETF) and Helen Groves (Ofsted), all speakers at the EMSkills conference.

Government policy in post-16 education is being driven by three key factors:

• Dash for apprenticeship growth
• Transition from Government grants to loans and levies.
• Emergence of a different FE sector coming out of the Area Reviews with more focus and larger bodies.

Central to the commitment is maths and English which the Government see as a backbone for learning and a key mechanism for social improvement.

Ofqual re-iterated the purpose of Functional Skills. "There are some skills that are fundamental: to be successful in life and at work, people must be able to read and write and to use numbers with confidence."

• Functional Skills qualifications were/are not broken
• Functional Skills are not stepping stone qualifications – Ministers no longer refer to this
• There is room for improvement though - hence the reform programme

The purpose of the reform programme is to make sure that the regulation of maths and English Functional Skills qualifications allows the development and award of valid qualifications and reflects any policy changes to the qualifications.”

The overall objective is that employers report improved maths and English skills. the reform programme will look at

“English and maths in an IT rich environment” as the basis of the new set of standards replacing those set 15 years ago.

In particular there will be new content and skills for Functional Skills and increasing breadth so they have parity with GCSE and support those 48% of learners leaving school with poor levels of maths and English

The outcomes for August 2016 are for both Ministers Gibb and Boles. They are:

• Revised set of standards of National Adult Literacy and Numeracy Standards

A report with policy recommendations to include breadth of knowledge needed to succeed in work and life and the number of guided learning hours needed for learners to achieve the new qualifications.