Contributed by regular guest blogger Lorna Tyrtania – Senior Product Manager at ThirdForce
I’ve been watching with great interest as the Functional Skills debate has unfolded, and with each twist and turn it seems to move further and further away from the original aims and intentions of the qualification. Initially heralded as a panacea for all, from school leavers, apprentices, adult learners to work based learners; one and all.
I’ve attended as many Functional Skills update events as possible to stay as close to the pilot as we can. At each event we’ve hoped for updates and locked down information to improve at each session and I’d have to say the picture actually continues to get murkier and less certain.
The original intention of the Functional Skills qualifications were:
- To act as a hurdle at GCSE to achieving Grade C or above.
- Replace Key Skills and Skills for Life qualifications
- Generic Learning Compulsory Element of the New Diplomas
Yesterday the Schools Minister Jim Knight announced a major u-turn on the first of those aspirations. In 2005 a Government Education White Paper stipulated that “in order to get a grade A to C GCSE, students would have to pass a complementary “functional skills” paper focused on basic reading, writing and arithmetic.”
Research carried out by Ofqual the exams regulator now concluded that “Ofqual cannot support an option which denies candidates the recognition of the level of attainment they have reached in a given qualification.” Leading Jim Knight to have to concede that “for now we accept that we should not make a link between the functional skills assessments and the GCSE.”
So the situation now is that:
- Functional Skills won’t exist as a barrier to passing a GCSE at grade C or above
- Functional Skills will still replace Key Skills
- Functional Skills may replace Skills for Life – depending on the outcomes of the new Adult Strand Pilot. Or they might just update the Skills for Life Qualifications.
- Functional Skills is still a mandatory element of the Generic Learning for the New Diplomas.
The outcome is that the Functional Skills qualification has less clarity and arguably is missing a golden opportunity to really simplify the landscape of the nation’s basic skills qualifications.
I dread to think what Functional Skills aspiration will be back tracked on next!
Written by Jonathan Wells of Guroo.
It’s really interesting to see how things have developed in the last 6 months. If anything, the determination to make functional skills even more important in the curriculum and to schools has, in my view, become even more apparent. Things like the school report card, the likelihood of changes in vocational qualifications which will mean many BTEC, OCR, GNVQ either disappearing or becoming part of Diplomas and the introduction of the foundation learning will all raise the importance of functional skills.
Add to this the very bullish and forthright statements from DCSF and I think no-one in the education community now will underestimate how important functional skills are going to be.
And I do declare an interest here as Guroo has 10 people employed in developing resources for functional skills so we do have a clear interest in seeing Functional Skills succeed – and I think we are pretty safe at the moment.
Thanks for your comment Jonathan… things have certainly developed over the last 6 months and I think the next 6 are going to be as interesting. We are very keen for Functional Skills to succeed at ThirdForce as well.
Thanks for your comment Jonathan… things have certainly developed over the last 6 months and I think the next 6 are going to be as interesting. We are very keen for Functional Skills to succeed at ThirdForce as well.