QIA Excellence Gateway

The functional skills support programme is a workforce development initiative to prepare practitioners to be fully competent and confident to teach functional English, functional mathematics and functional ICT in those centres participating in the QCA pilot which started in 2007. Support is free of charge and is available to all centres participating in the three-year pilot, including:

• Schools
• Colleges
• Work-based learning providers
• Foundation Learning Tier pilot centres
• Secure estate contexts
• Adult and community learning settings

The programme has been designed and is delivered in partnership with National Strategies, secondary (NS) and comprises the following elements:

• Development and publication of support materials
• Customised training and network support
• Training materials
• National functional skills team

Development and publication of support materials

Resources have been produced to support the pilot of functional skills and are available for download using the links below. These updated guides are essential handbooks for managers and practitioners, providing practical help and advice to enable the reader to move forward with teaching and learning strategies or the management of functional skills.

• Teaching and learning functional English, updated 2008 (PDF document, 554kb)
• Teaching and learning functional mathematics, updated 2008 (PDF document, 1.2MB)
• Teaching and learning functional ICT, updated 2008 (PDF document, 1.3MB)
• Managing delivery, updated 2008

Earlier versions of the teaching and learning materials are still available to access here:

• Teaching and learning functional English (PDF document, 754kb)
• Teaching and learning functional mathematics (PDF document, 1.8MB)
• Teaching and learning functional ICT (PDF document, 1.3MB)
• Managing delivery of functional skills (PDF document, 674kb)

NEW: A suite of publications to help practitioners to deliver functional skills within Diplomas will be available for the first five lines of learning early in 2009.

Customised training and network support

The support programme offers a comprehensive package for continuing professional development (CPD) at regional and local level. This consists of:

• Face-to-face regional network meetings
• Local consultancy
• In-house, customised training modules.

Nine in-house training modules are available, free of charge to centres, to support practitioners delivering functional skills to learners:

• Module 1 - Functional skills in Diplomas for Managers
• Module 2 - Teaching functional English
• Module 3 - Teaching functional mathematics
• Module 4 - Teaching functional ICT
• Module 5 - Delivering functional skills in FLT
• Module 6 - Delivering functional skills in Diplomas
• Module 7 - Delivering functional skills in Apprenticeships
• Module 8 - Moving up a level: progressing from Entry 3 to Level 1 in functional skills
• Module 9 - Teaching mastery through problem solving approaches in functional skills

To book any of these modules please contact your regional functional skills coordinator (see link below for contact details) or book online via the Learning and Skills Network's Functional Skills website.

Training materials

Training materials from the Introduction to Functional Skills events are available for you to download and use with colleagues in your organisation/consortium.

National functional skills team

A national functional skills team, including regional coordinators and - specifically for schools - NS regional advisers for English, mathematics and ICT are available to guide you through the full range of support available to you and help you to coordinate your training to best meet your centre's needs.

Further information may be found at:

• QIA Programmes and Services
• 14-19 page on the Qualfications and Curriculum Authority website
• 14-19 page on the Department for Children, Schools and Families website

Latest

For QCA guidance on understanding the functional skills standards go to:

• Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
• Second and third round of LSIS regional networks (Word document, 42kb)
• Introduction to functional skills events (PDF document, 40kb)
• Preparing functional skills practitioners: in-house training (Word document, 28kb)