Developing Functional Skills. Learning from the adult pilots

Transcription

1 Developing Functional Skills Learning from the adult pilots

2 2012 National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (England and Wales) 21 De Montfort Street Leicester LE1 7GE Company registration no Charity registration no NIACE has a broad remit to promote lifelong learning opportunities for adults. NIACE works to develop increased participation in education and training, particularly for those who do not have easy access because of class, gender, age, race, language and culture, learning difficulties or disabilities, or insufficient financial resources. For a full catalogue of all NIACEs publications visit All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without the written permission of the publishers, save in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Acts 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

3 Contents Acknowledgements Introduction What are Functional Skills? Current context Strengths of Functional Skills Developing a successful approach Challenges of assessment Staff development Functional Skills case studies Useful resources and sources of help Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots 3

4 Acknowledgements Written by Sue Southwood, Linda Dixon and Tat Ruck. We would like to thank all the organisations who provided case studies for this publication: Barnsley Borough Council, Blackburn and Darwen Blackburn BC Neighbourhoods and Learning Service, The British Army, Cambridgeshire County Council Adult and Community Learning, Central Sussex College, Hereford Literacy Project (HELP), Leicester College, Suffolk County Council Learning and Enterprise Action Point (Leap), and YOI/HMP Swinfen Hall. 4 Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots

5 1 Introduction On behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, NIACE gathered feedback and case studies from colleges, offender institutions, work-based learning providers, the voluntary and community sector and local authorities involved in Functional Skills pilots for adults. Overall, feedback from the pilots is positive about Functional Skills and recognises their benefits for adult learners. However, there are still challenges for providers and tutors making the transition to Functional Skills. This booklet will be of interest to those involved in funding, planning, managing and delivering literacy, language and numeracy provision for adults. We recognise that Functional Skills provide learners with the ability to think and act independently at home and in the workplace. The application of literacy and numeracy skills to support problem solving and decision making is widely supported by the Armys policy and training staff, and by Basic Skills and Key Skills tutors. Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots 5

6 2 What are Functional Skills? Functional Skills in English and maths are vital for young people and adults to participate in life, learning and work. Functional Skills training focuses on problem solving, and gives learners practical strategies for applying and transferring skills in everyday situations. Functional Skills provide a single route to achievement from Entry Level to Level 2 for all learners in all sectors. They were piloted between and rolled out from September Functional Skills are standalone qualifications at Entry Level, Level 1 and Level 2, and replace Key Skills in Communication, Application of Number and ICT. (Key Skills for Apprenticeships are extended to September 2012.) The Adult Basic Skills Literacy and Numeracy qualifications at Level 1 and Level 2 are due to expire and will not take new enrolments after 31 August SfL Entry Level qualifications will continue to be available and fundable during 2012/13. A list of accredited qualifications can be found at Further details on the adult English and maths qualifications can be found at: English_and_Maths_Qualifications_for_Adults.pdf 6 Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots

7 Modifying tasks for Functional Skills The standards for Functional Skills are slightly different to the Skills for Life standards, although the skills remain the same. Progression through the functional skills criteria in English, maths and ICT is defined by increasing levels of demand in: complexity; technical demand; familiarity; and independence. In English, a typical example is writing a letter of complaint. The table on this page shows how this task changes when preparing learners for Functional Skills assessment. Developing learners technical skills in letter writing is part of the picture, but equally important are familiarity with the task, writing letters of increasing complexity and knowing when to apply these skills, and being able to do this independently in different situations. Also, the skills of speaking, listening and communication are equally valued alongside reading and writing. Example of a Skills for Life literacy task Plan, draft and write a letter of complaint. Example of a Functional Skills English task Look at a list of complaints and consider the various ways to make and respond to each, including letter writing, or a telephone call. Choose a complaint and put together a response. Compare with other people in the group and decide which are most effective and why. Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots 7

8 In maths, Functional Skills require learners to analyse the mathematical problem, identify the maths skills needed to find the solution and be able to communicate this. A maths example is dividing up a bill. The table on this page shows how this task changes when preparing learners for Functional Skills assessment. Developing learners technical skills in division is part of the picture, but equally important are familiarity with the task, dividing bills of increasing complexity and knowing when to apply these skills, and being able to do this independently in different situations. Skills for Life numeracy task Dividing up bills between people. Example of a Functional Skills maths task Discuss examples of when you might use division in everyday life. Discuss methods to split a restaurant bill between several people or how to split payments for a large item over several months. Use open questioning to discuss the maths language in division; e.g. splitting, approximating, estimating, rounding, leftovers and remainders. 8 Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots

9 3 Current context The Wolf Review of Vocational Education (2011) was critical of Key Skills qualifications due to their lack of rigour, including the external test element which has limited coverage of English and maths skills, and highlights some of the challenges providers face in the transition to Functional Skills. The Wolf report indicates that Functional Skills so far have lower pass rates than Key Skills. Some schools and colleges were reported to be entering learners at a level lower than they would have done for Key Skills. Feedback from the pilots suggests this is also true for Skills for Life. The team recognise that skills levels for Skills for Life national tests are lower than for Functional Skills assessment. We have found that many learners who have passed Level 2 Skills for Life national tests are still not confident in some skills, particularly writing. It expresses reservations about embedding Functional Skills in vocational courses, raising the issue of vocational teachers not being qualified to teach English or maths, and specialist literacy or numeracy teachers needing to grapple with multiple contexts to teach in real-life situations. Feedback from the pilots suggests that even where the initial development of skills has been in an embedded programme, teachers and learners still found it challenging to use those skills outside that context. The challenge for the teachers was to think about how to get learners to use their skills once learnt and apply them in different contexts. Learners needed to have more autonomy and do a lot more investigative work. Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots 9

10 4 Strengths of Functional Skills Functional Skills can support adults to tackle the skills demands of everyday life. Pilot providers recognise the benefits for learners in and beyond the classroom. Functional Skills can be embedded into vocational courses and the value of transferable skills is emphasised. It gives learners a toolbox of skills where the learner learns to match and use the tool for the situation. Pilots have reported that it can be easier to differentiate in a mixed level class as all learners can be involved in one project, with differentiated tasks. This has made learners at lower levels feel on an equal footing to the other learners as they are all contributing to the same goal. 10 Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots Functional Skills recognise that English, maths and ICT are the basis of learning, and need to be taught in context. This has highlighted the need for a wholeorganisational approach where subject specialists, advice and guidance staff, and those teaching on apprenticeships or vocational courses work collaboratively to develop programmes. This is because subjects are more entwined than previously; there is a need to consider the learner holistically rather than advising them to progress up the levels in one subject. There is evidence that Functional Skills leads to better and more creative teaching that links learning to everyday life. Teachers have always used these methods, but the standards and assessment for Functional Skills actively promote this approach to learning.

11 The team embed the teaching and learning in real-life situations for their learners; for example, a group of learners with learning difficulties walked to the local library to fill in joining forms and took out books that interested them to read in class. Some pilots also noticed an improvement in speaking and listening as one of the key outcomes. The group of learners with learning difficulties had gelled quickly through discussion and sharing, and levels of confidence had grown rapidly, and the learners had been able to go out of the centre and use their communication skills elsewhere; for example, the local library. Ofsted 1 recently recommended that national agencies responsible for quality improvement in post- 16 provision should focus on improving tutors skills in developing learners understanding of mathematical concepts and helping them relate their numeracy learning to everyday and work contexts. Functional Skills supports this approach. In numeracy, as well as covering the curriculum, it is necessary to teach how to apply skills and to link topics together, for example, decimals, fractions and percentages. Learners need a better understanding of how topics relate to each other and link to everyday contexts. 1. Ofsted (2011) Tackling the challenge of low numeracy skills in young people and adults. Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots 11

12 5 Developing a successful approach Functionality is the ability to deal with real-life situations and choose the appropriate skills to tackle them, rather than practising one skill as a discrete activity in the classroom. This is more demanding for teachers and learners but, ultimately, provides the skills they need in life and at work. Although activities such as giving a presentation have challenged them, the outcome of growth in confidence has made it worthwhile. They have learnt useful employability skills as two of the main food retailers locally include a presentation and role play as part of their interview process Teachers who cover the standards for literacy and numeracy in their courses, use active teaching methods and encourage discussion and the application of skills will find it easiest to adopt Functional Skills. However, courses that are testfocused to brush up skills in order to pass tests will need a change in approach. To develop a successful approach, providers need to: 1 Promote a positive agenda for functional skills. Identify barriers and create a plan to overcome them. 2 Develop an effective communication strategy. Implement an effective curriculum model. Embed Functional Skills into existing curricula as much as possible. 12 Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots

13 3 In one pilot, Functional Skills were embedded into family life activities, such as writing letters to the school, filling out crèche forms, or calculating family budgets. For gardening, parents and children identify plants, using a directory of plants and the adults design an information sheet, checking with the children that they can understand what is written. For the Royal Wedding the children were included in planning and budgeting for the street party and helping to make decisions. Establish clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Appoint a key person to co-ordinate functional skills across the organisation. Identify key staff for development and delivery of Functional Skills Coordinate activity across the institution/consortium. Create a Functional Skills development plan. Establish a Functional Skills forum to share information across the organisation. Deliver effective teaching and learning. Develop explicit teaching of some areas of the curriculum that have been given little attention on Skills for Life and Key Skills courses, for example, writing and problemsolving. Establish clear assessment procedures, both internal and external. Talk to other providers about their experiences. Look at the online and paper-based test are they right for your learners? How flexible are they can they provide assessments regularly enough for you? Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots 13

14 7 8 Use resources efficiently and effectively. Develop and trial Functional Skills resources. Share resources, and create a central database for all staff to access. Embed quality assurance Integrate quality assurance into existing systems. Share information between departments Deliver appropriate staff development (See section 7). Identify staff needs. What will tutors need? Teaching assistants? Information and guidance staff? Review and plan ahead. Gather feedback and review progress regularly to inform planning. 14 Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots

15 6 Challenges of assessment Initial and diagnostic assessment The pilot sites had difficulties finding a suitable assessment tool that works well for initial and diagnostic assessment, especially for literacy. At Cambridgeshire County Council Adult and Community Learning, we devised our own initial assessment, including question and answer and free writing. We struggled to find a good diagnostic assessment tool, instead relying on the teachers expertise, using discussion, and observation of participation in activities. For formative assessment, we have used Sure Skills, an online literacy and numeracy teaching tool with mini skills tests. Speaking and listening has proved difficult to assess for a group of learners working at different skills levels. To manage this, the team have split assessment over two sessions. Learners take one hour of reading and the first task of speaking and listening in the first session and in the second session, one hour of writing and the second speaking and listening task. Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots 15

16 Summative assessment Most challenges reported were about summative assessment. The higher demands of Functional Skills assessments compared to previous qualifications means that most learners will need longer to be ready for assessment. In maths, learners struggled with the openended format of the questions in the assessment and, whilst learners were confident enough to work through the first two stages of a scenario, they were not confident enough to carry the scenario through to reach a conclusion, needing much more support along the way. Although assessments attempt to reflect real-life activities, not all the assessment scenarios are appropriate for all learners. Some awarding bodies allow tutors to produce their own scenarios in assessment papers in order to make them relevant to their learners lives. 16 Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots The breadth of topic areas has been helpful for young people who are still developing and maturing. Those young people are quite likely to live in deprived areas where activities such as working out mobile phone tariffs and balancing holiday money are not relevant to their life experience. Some pilots were concerned that only monthly assessment windows were offered by awarding bodies and suggested a more flexible offer with online assessment. Many awarding bodies have responded to this. There are variations across awarding bodies and differences between subjects but, for example, Functional Skills Mathematics, ICT and English Reading and Writing assessments can be taken at any time, and are available both on-screen as well as on paper. Compared with current national tests for adults which take one hour to complete, Functional Skills reading and writing assessments take 50 minutes each and speaking, listening and communication is 20 minutes.

17 However, one pilot felt Functional Skills assessments are easier to mark than Key Skills. There are no grey areas or multiple options as with Key Skills, the marking scheme is very clear. Concerns about the higher demands of Functional Skills assessment sometimes caused pilots sites to be reluctant to include learners at lower levels. We were worried about setting the lads up to fail again. Some pilot sites felt that Functional Skills did not cater for learners who needed smaller steps to recognise their achievements, and a few still entered learners for Skills for Life tests in order to boost their confidence. Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots 17

18 7 Staff development Pilots accessed training related to Functional Skills in various ways. Functional Skills Support Programme (FSSP) Most of the pilots had training in Functional Skills delivery through the FSSP, funded by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS). This was good preparation, and enabled a joined-up approach between the vocational, SfL and ICT staff team. Tutors will need more professional development to be able to take Functional Skills forward. Training from accrediting bodies Some teams attended Open College Network (OCN) and Edexcel training days on how to implement effective assessment, then cascaded information through their tutor networks. Sharing practice through regional networks One pilot drew support from the Improvement Advisor Service (IAS) funded by LSIS. During 2010/11, the emphasis was on developing sector-led initiatives. The pilot brought together three Functional Skills network meetings from different counties to discuss aspects of Functional Skills delivery. 18 Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots

19 Sharing practice across curriculum areas Other pilots developed Functional Skills pedagogy through sharing practice and as part of their existing Contining Professional Development (CPD) activities for Skills for Life staff. Where staff working on different curricula took part in joint CPD, this promoted the recognition that Functional Skills delivery required staff to work together much more effectively. Overall, the pilots were keen to access further training in Functional Skills, particularly in pedagogy and fitting the teaching and assessment requirements to their type of delivery. All pilots thought that Functional Skills provided better outcomes for learners than Skills for Life and were keen to move forward supported by appropriate Functional Skills training. Lessons learned It was evident from the pilots that FE colleges delivering a Key Skills portfolio, Skills for Life and GCSEs, who had been proactive in a wholeorganisation approach to English and maths, were more confident in delivering Functional Skills. Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots 19

20 8 Functional Skills case studies Functional Skills case studies Pilot centre Approaches to delivery Approaches to assessment Audley Neighbourhood Learning Centre, Blackburn Borough Council Neighbourhoods and Learning Service The British Army Functionality is included in Individual Learning Plans by adding context to individual skills when writing learner outcomes. Tutors set tasks relevant to the learners and in similar contexts to the final assessment papers. The use of Army contexts in literacy and numeracy programmes for soldiers has been shown to improve learners interest, motivation and performance. Re-enforcing literacy and numeracy skills learnt within a discrete Functional Skills programme through practice in Skills for Life initial and diagnostic assessment tools used. Initial assessment carried out at NextStep. GetOn diagnostic tools and Entry 3 NOCN Functional Skills practice papers used for formative assessment. Assessments are more demanding for learners and tutors. Transferring skills from one scenario to another may well require additional support and practice in developing these skills and in coming to terms with the format and style of the national assessment. 20 Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots

21 Pilot centre Approaches to delivery Approaches to assessment military/vocational training is the most appropriate form of embedding that can be achieved. Marking of assessments takes longer. Central Sussex College Learners receive additional support from teaching assistants who have the right skills and experience to engage with this more challenging group of learners, including learners who are aged and in care, offenders and learners who have a learning difference. Vocational tutors without Functional Skills expertise have tried to contextualise skills to their own vocational area but find it difficult. Free writing used for diagnostic assessment. Formative assessment is easier than with Skills for Life because the grading criteria are available. Learners encouraged to evaluate their own progress and to mark others work as well and give feedback. Eldon Centre, Barnsley Borough Council Learners needed to have more autonomy and do a lot more investigative work. For example skimming and scanning was embedded in research skills for project work. Tutors designed own resources and shared online. Formative assessment carried out through feedback and peer assessment. Learners reflect at the end of each session and write about what they have learned. Traffic light assessment tool for coding learning achievement used. Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots 21

22 Pilot centre Approaches to delivery Approaches to assessment Hereford Literacy Project (HELP) Level 5 qualified subject specialist teachers work with volunteers who have completed Level 2 Basic Skills Awareness and literacy/numeracy qualifications. Discrete Functional Skills qualifications are combined with a range of OCN units to provide a flexible learner-led Foundation Learning curriculum. ReadWritePlus initial and diagnostic assessment tools for Skills for Life are used, along with professional judgment to give more informed assessment for Functional Skills. HMP Swinfen Hall Leicester College Functional Skills are embedded into vocational teaching. For instance, the literacy and numeracy tutor works with automotive learners for one to two hours per week and contextualises the functional tasks to the vocational area, delivered as 14 or 20 week courses. Tutors found that many learners who passed the Level 2 Skills for Life National Test are not confident in some skills, particularly writing. If diagnostic assessment demonstrates a need to develop writing skills, they can work towards Functional Skills Level 1 as Information, advice and guidance includes an initial assessment for literacy and numeracy. Skills for Life diagnostic assessment used to develop learning plans for Functional Skills Limited assessment windows are problematic in secure settings. Tutors have used IT-based 220Soft, with plans to use Target Skills Gold. 22 Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots

23 Pilot centre Approaches to delivery Approaches to assessment a different qualification. Passing the Functional Skills test has given Teaching Assistants the confidence to achieve their NVQ and qualify as a Teaching Assistant. Suffolk County Council Learning and Enterprise Action Point (Leap) Learning split with a morning of vocational learning and embedded literacy and numeracy, and an afternoon split between maths and ICT. Initial and self-assessment activities carried out as part of a three-hour enrolment day. Learners can gain a Progression Pathways NOCN Award plus qualifications in Functional Maths, English and ICT. Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots 23

24 9 Useful resources and sources of help Adapt or check the resources in the library to ensure that they support the ethos of Functional Skills which enables learners to: demonstrate their skills in English, mathematics and ICT in real-life situations; transfer these skills to different contexts and situations; and use these skills with confidence and independence to solve problems or cope in different situations. Some pilots have found useful resources at: Some pilots have found BKSB to be a useful assessment tool: Sample assessment papers can be found at: The Functional Skills Resource Library links to all the Awarding Bodies sites, with sample assessment papers. Choose tick boxes to filter your choice. Resources can be found at: functional-skills-english 24 Developing Functional Skills: Learning from the adult pilots