Functional Skills at BETT

Really enjoyed our first day at BETT - we had lots of interest and a lot of people had us "must see" lists - we even had someone turn up at 8.55, 1 hour before the show started!

Other things that I've spotted so far.......

Different Class offering a "My Diploma" software solution that tracks students progress in the Dilpoma.

BKSB are here again with a very big stand that must cost 10's of thousands to buy and build but their brochures haven't changed and Functional Skills is still mentioned after key Skills and Basic Skills.  I wouldn't be a welcome visitor on their stand so I don't know if the Functional Skills materials are new or just re-purposed.

The North West Learning Grid have a seperate stand and are promoting free functional skills resources - I do know the chaps at NWGL so I will find out more and report back here tomorrow.

U Xplore are here with their work related experience software for the Diplomas.  The Creative and Media one is very good reflecting their background in media.

That's it so far - for such an important new qualification, a bit thin but then again, I haven't explored as much as I would like to yet!

Jonathan

BETT start and set-up

Rather unbelievably, this is my 21st consecutive year at BETT - not all with the same company of course.

It still raises the same emotions, still has a high degree of anticipation, I still look forward to it as a highlight of the year, the perfect start to a new year!

We have two stands at BETT, it is the first year for Guroo at the show.  A small stand N50 in the gallery of the main hall where I hope most activity will be based and an even smaller stand in the software village which has just enough space for a couple of machines and a person.  I hope that by having two stands, we see more people - I know that visitors rarely get round the whole show!

It's Wednesday morning now and everything is set-up and raring to go.  

Once I've had a little chance to walk round the show I'll report on which stands and what developments I can see that have something to do with Functional Skills.

Jonathan

Postive and Negative Diploma Press

Good and Bad News today.

Locally, I read a really positive story about Diplomas in the Sunderland Echo.  It was focused on Sunderland LA where all 17 schools and colleges are involved.  Very positive comments all round, especially from the students involved.  A full page article in the Sunderland Echo on January 5th. 

On the next day I was sent a really negative story from CYP Now magazine which said that only 40% of students had even heard about Diplomas, laying the blame for this squarely with the Education Profession for not publicising it and suggesting the "sales job" needs to be focused not on young people but on leaders in schools and local authorities.  

Couldn't agree more - it's something we experience every day in our dealings with schools and DCSF needs to address this.  

I also have a daughter in year 11 and she was sent details of the course options offered by Newcastle College (the largest FE college in the country I think).  Not one mention of a Diploma anywhere although the materials from the Sunderland Colleges all mentioned Diplomas - confirming the story above.  

The next 6 months will be interesting - especially for Diplomas.

 

Vocational qual numbers

Now we know that 11500 students are following diploma quals this year.

Did you know that DCSF have recorded:

255,000 male students  and 322,000 female students on NVQ courses.

So that means just 2% of the vocational student population are doing diplomas!

A bit of an imbalance for a qualification that is intended to become the gold standard in this area.

Support from Independent schools

I'm the first to admit that i didn't expect to see this at all, but I have to say that the comments are extremely welcomed.

I'm referring to the Comment in TES by Seldon and Ford of Wellington School about the Diplomas and their relevance to students (Wellington is the first Independent School to offer the Engineering Diploma).

Great to see support from what would at first appear to be an unexpected source and even nicer to see a sensible argument put forward for the principle of the qualification.

Exams performance isn't the best indicator of success

A tiny piece in the TES this week caught my eye.  The Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors says that 6/10 teachers said exam performance did not reflect success in the workplace.

I've written about this before and I completely agree.  Enthusiasm and Attitude are the values that employers place above all else along with an ability to "get on with it".

How does this relate to functional skills?  Well FS are not "exam focused" and the focus on problem solving is much more closely related to the enthusiasm, attitude and Independence that employers value.

Similarly, the whole Diploma agenda tends to support this view.

Unsolicited customer praise!

This morning we received an unsolicited letter from one of our customers.

It was a really nice letter saying thanks for your help and praising individuals for going the extra mile.  It also made me realise how important it is to do it ourselves as well.  I do it occasionally, but I shall do it more in the future.