Chris Briggs: [Reformed Functional Skills Overview] Hello, my name is Chris Briggs,
and I am the sector manager for post-16 English and maths, at Pearson. [What is Pearson's
reformed Functional Skills offer?] Functional Skills maths and English have been going through
a period of reform. This is an opportunity, now, for us to look at what changes have been
made and how this will be beneficial for you and your learners. [What does Pearson's support
package for the reformed Functional Skills include?] Pearson has put together a package
of assessment and support to help you and your learners achieve.
Jonathan Couper: I'm Jonathan Couper, I'm the delivery manager in the Functional Skills
assessment team at Pearson. [How has the quality assurance model changed with the reformed
qualifications?] For Level 1 and 2 speaking and listening, there are some changes to the
quality assurance model, whereby we will be carrying out annual monitoring activities
as opposed to once every three years, which we do with the current specification. This
is to meet increased Ofqual requirements whereby we need to do this activity annually. The
monitoring will either be through a face-to-face centre visit or some remote sampling activities.
[What assessment materials will be made available?] We'll be producing sample-assessment materials
which we have to produce in order to get our specification accredited by Ofqual. In addition,
there will be more practice papers, both paper-based and onscreen, for centres to use with their
learners before they take live assessments. [What sample assessment materials will be
available for each level?] We are producing one set of sample-assessment materials for
each level, so from Entry Level 1 through to Level 2. In addition, there will be a practice
assessment as well, so, in effect, there will be two assessments that centres can use to
practice with their learners before putting them in for a live assessment. At Level 1
and 2, there will also be the same number of assessments to practice with, both onscreen,
and for paper-based assessments. [How will Pearson's reformed Functional Skills be offered?]
We will be offering all of our assessments on demand. For Entry Level, the tests will
be available via the secure area of the Pearson website. Centres can then download the assessments
when they are ready to take them with their learners. For Level 1 and 2, assessments will
be available on demand for both paper-based tests, and onscreen. Again, we think this
gives centres flexibility in when they put their learners in for assessment and, also,
enables them to test learners as and when they're ready, in whatever volume they require.
[Will the access of assessments change for the reformed qualifications?] Access arrangements
for the new qualifications will remain as they are for the existing qualifications,
and Pearson will provide additional guidance on our website. [How will the assessments
be accessed for the reformed qualifications?] Pearson assessments will be available on demand,
as they are now for the current qualification. At Entry Level, centres will download the
assessments from the secure area of the Pearson website. At Level 1 and 2, assessments will
be available both paper-based and onscreen, again, on demand at all times. This means
that centres have the flexibility to enter their candidates as and when they are ready
to take the assessments, whatever volume of learners they require, at any time, they can
put them in as and when they are ready to do so. Functional Skills assessments have
to have a context. [How can we be sure that the contexts of the assessments are appropriate
for learners?] In order to ensure that the contexts are as good as they can be for our
learners, we spent a lot of time talking to our centres to understand what context their
learners need. We spoke to over 100 centres, initially. Then, we had a focus group with
a smaller number of centres looking at what contexts worked for their learners. All of
this work has fed through into the assessments that we are now producing, so we anticipate
these being a far better experience for your learners.
Chris Briggs: [What events will Pearson be running in the lead up to reformed Functional
Skills first teach?] Pearson are putting a lot into our support and training offer for the
reform of Functional Skills. We will also be getting ready to teach events starting
in the summer 2019, which are free, full-day teaching and learning events aimed at practitioners.
These will be separated off into English and maths, and into levels. There will be one
at Entry Level and there will be one at Level 1 and Level 2 for each subject, as well. These
getting ready to teach events will continue into the winter of 2019, so that we can continue
to support tutors through the transition on to the reformed Functional Skills. In addition,
we're also running webinars on the reform of Functional Skills, and looking at topics
from Functional Skills English, to Functional Skills maths, to frequently asked questions.
We will be, shortly, running sessions for quality nominees and exams officers on the
logistical changes to the reform, as well. [What support materials will be available
to aid teaching the reformed Functional Skills?] In terms of support, Pearson is providing
up-to-date specifications and sample assessments. We are, also, looking at updating our offer
on ExamWizard, so that our new sample assessments will be incorporated into that resource. We're
also looking at mapping over 300 questions for maths and English across, so that there
is still the flexibility of content in there for centres to be able to create bespoke resources
that they need for their learners. [What does Pearson's support package for the reformed
Functional Skills include?] We also have exemplar resources for both maths and English at all
levels, which will give centres and tutors the opportunity to see what a learner who
passes looks like, as well as a learner who doesn't pass. We will, also, be creating speaking
and listening videos across all five levels for English. In addition, we will also have
an interactive scheme of work which offers the flexibility of an online platform, allowing
tutors to create a scheme of work for maths, and for English, that is suited to the needs
of those learners. This scheme of work will, also, then incorporate lesson plans, sample
materials, and common misconceptions, which are things that learners tend to get wrong
on the Functional Skills assessments.
Virginia Carter: My name's Virginia Carter, I'm a senior product manager at Pearson. I'm
leading on the development of the teaching and learning materials to support the new
Functional Skills qualifications. [What paid for resources will Pearson be producing?]
The approach we're taking to our teaching and learning resources is to make sure that
they're more targeted and more flexible than they've ever been before. This means that
we are looking at areas that we know, in the past, may have caused learners to have difficulties.
We are pinpointing the areas where they may struggle the most. We are providing targeted
resources that will really help to break down those barriers and help more learners to succeed.
[How will Pearson's paid resources help you prepare for the changes in content?] We've
used evidence from examiner reports to identify the things that have lost learners marks,
most often in the past. We've also looked at what new content there is in the reformed
qualifications. We've made sure that we're including support for that. For example, in
maths, they're going to need to do non-calculator questions. We're going to be preparing them
with plenty of practice for mental arithmetic. [What has been included in the newly created
paid resources?] Our ready-made lessons include step-by-step guidance for tutors and assessors,
as well as presentations and videos that can be used for whole-group teaching, whether
you have a single level, or whether you have mixed-level groups; they're suitable for these.
In addition, there are differentiated worksheets that will allow you to enable learners to
work at their own pace and their own level. [What else is new in the paid resources?]
Another new feature is our personalised learning, whereby you'll be able to track the progress
of individual learners by setting them formative assessments that will allow you, clearly,
to see the gaps, the strengths, the weaknesses, after your teaching, so that you can identify
these and work closely with individual learners. There will be additional resources in the
form of booster worksheets that you can give to those learners to support those knowledge
gaps. We know that motivation and engagement can, sometimes, be an issue with learners.
[How have the paid resources been developed to support the reformed qualifications?] We've
made sure that we've underpinned our resources with an assessment-for-learning approach,
which will encourage learners to take ownership of their own learning and really understand
what their own strengths and weaknesses are, and how they can develop their skills to build
on those weaknesses. [What are the main benefits of the paid resources?] The benefits of using
our teaching and learning materials are that we've done all the planning for you. We've
made sure that we've identified the main barriers, the things that can hold learners back. We've
provided a wealth of materials that will help you to support the learners and bridge some
of those gaps. They're also really flexible. All of the resources can be accessed online,
and most of them can be downloaded and printed off, so you can decide how you give them to
your learners. You can intervene at the time that's right for those learners, and you can
make sure that all of your learners' progress at their own pace. [Pearson Edexcel]