Functional Skills
Emphasis on
the Functional
Much has been written about what Functional Skills are, but have we truly had a detailed analysis of what
Functional Skills mean – particularly the “functional” bit? Jonathan Wells discusses
N THIS article, let me try and put Dispelling the myths cricket by watching Freddy Flintoff , you have
I
forward some thoughts and suggestions, T_h ey are harder to pass – much harder to pass! to do it, play it, practise it, train, get it wrong,
deal with a few of the myths, and T_h e pass rate of students who are entered with and try again.
generally try to get “under the skin” of minimal preparation is very low, even among
the functional part of Functional Skills. students expected to perform well at GCSE. Mastery
Let me say before I start that everything Although they replace ALAN (Adult Literacy T_h e zen-like state of understanding what
in this article is a personal opinion. As far and Numeracy) tests and the underlying skills skills to use in any novel situation has been
as I can tell, little is set in stone other than are quite similar, assessment is very diff erent; given the term “mastery” in Functional Skills.
the fact that the whole of the employer and so diff erent that strategies used to help It does not necessarily mean that you get it
higher academic communities recognise that students through ALAN simply don’t apply. right every time. It does mean that in any new
Functional Skills are a good thing and need to You cannot revise – at least not in the situation you are faced with, you know what
happen. Let’s start with why! traditional sense. It does not matter how to do without being guided. And the way to
many books have been read, or how many develop mastery is through practice.
Schools are just too good tests have previously been taken, what really T_h is also brings in another issue,
Since performance tables measuring fi ve- makes the diff erence is practice – and then particularly in schools. Practice means starting
plus A* to C GCSE passes were introduced, some more practice – in a wide variety of at the beginning, getting the basics right, then
schools have got better and better at meeting diff erent contexts. progressing; it does not mean starting at Level
the objective. T_h ey are not vocational or subject-specifi c. 2 because that is the only qualifi cation that
Let’s not be frightened of saying that a While it might be good to learn ICT as used counts.
combination of highly eff ective teaching to in engineering if that is your line of learning,
the test, exam-targeted revision resources, the average length of time that a 20-year-old Assessment
intervention classes with borderline students, spends in a job these days is two years. Being Potentially the biggest change of all, and
and a calculated choice of qualifi cations, have able to apply the skills in any context or certainly the one where there is most
all contributed to many students leaving situation really defi nes functional. disagreement and contention.
school or college with good qualifi cations, T_h ink of Functional Skills as your favourite No-one has completely “got” this yet
yet struggling to impress in the real world. sport or leisure activity. You do not get better and there is clearly a lot of confl ict between
So how does Functional Skills address these at playing the guitar by listening to Eric
issues? Clapton, you do not improve your bowling in Continued on page 20
Delivering Diplomas • Volume 2 No 1 Spring 2010 19
18-19 functional skills.indd 3 5/3/10 11:37:02
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