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Family Learning Festival 2019 will take place from19 October to 3 November

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Family Learning Festival 2019 will take place from19 October to 3 November

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Functional Skills Qualifications (FSQs) in English and maths are being reformed. Here we explain what's changing and why. You can also find up-to-date information on the progress reformed qualifications have made through our technical evaluation process.
Reform of functional skills qualifications in English and maths
What's changing and why

The government has introduced this reform programme to improve the rigour and relevance of Functional Skills, and to ensure that these qualifications better meet employer needs in terms of the knowledge and skills that learners achieve. Ofqual will regulate the new FSQs.

Many aspects of current FSQs are being retained. So, for example, the qualifications will remain graded on a pass/fail basis, questions will often continue to be based on everyday contexts and scenarios, teaching and assessments can still be delivered flexibly, and teachers will still be able to mark assessments for Entry Levels and the speaking, listening and communicating component of English.

But there are some important changes. In particular, there is much more specific common content. This should help to increase comparability between awarding organisations' qualifications. The content also reflects the Department for Education's curriculum intention that reformed FSQs should include assessment of underpinning skills.

For English, this means a focus on spelling, punctuation and grammar without dictionaries or computer aids; and at Entry Levels there are now detailed reading and spelling expectations based on the structured teaching of phonics.

For maths, this means more of an emphasis on the underpinning knowledge and skills required to solve mathematical problems. This includes using times tables and working with and without a calculator.

In light of the reforms and changes to content, the Department for Education has decided that the Guided Learning Hours for FSQs will increase from 45 to 55 hours.

Podcast on the work we're doing

Progress so far

The Department for Education confirmed the FSQ subject content for English and maths in February 2018. In July 2018, we published the rules against which we will regulate the reformed qualifications. Awarding organisations have been developing their qualifications since then.

All new FSQs will go through our technical evaluation process before being made available, to ensure they are high quality and support consistent assessment and awarding. Using a combination of subject experts and Ofqual assessment experts, we review the materials submitted by each awarding organisation against our rules. These materials include the specification and the sample assessments. We consider issues such as their level of demand, coverage of the Department for Education subject content, and the quality of the questions and the associated mark schemes. We also review the awarding organisation's assessment strategy, the key document in which they explain the approach they are proposing to the design and delivery of their qualification.

The window for technical evaluation opened in September 2018. We are committed to ensuring that the new qualifications are high quality, and that schools and colleges have adequate time to prepare for first teaching in September 2019. The last date for new starters on the current qualifications is 31 August 2019.

The status (as at 1 April 2019) of each of the qualifications currently being developed is as follows:

Key:

1. Awarding organisation is yet to submit materials to Ofqual for technical evaluation

2. Currently undergoing technical evaluation by Ofqual

3. Has been through technical evaluation by Ofqual and is back with awarding organisation

4. Resubmitted to Ofqual and undergoing technical evaluation

5. Has completed Ofqual process of technical evaluation

We will update this table on a weekly basis, so that centres have a clearer idea about when they can expect to receive final versions of materials from awarding organisations.

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Functional Skills Qualifications (FSQs) in English and maths are being reformed. Here we explain what's changing and why. You can also find up-to-date information on the progress reformed qualifications have made through our technical evaluation process.

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Disadvantaged families to benefit from free early learning apps

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Disadvantaged families to benefit from free early learning apps

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Parents will benefit from interactive learning tools and text message tips to support children's early language and literacy at home, as part of a society-wide push to make sure children start school ready to learn.

Families from disadvantaged backgrounds will be given free access to some of the best children's educational apps for smart phones and tablets, the Education Secretary Damian Hinds has announced today (20 February), encouraging parents to think about how to use children's screen time constructively, rather than as an easy distraction.

On average, disadvantaged children are 4 months behind in their overall development at age 5. It grows by an additional 6 months by the age of 11 and by the time they take their GCSEs they are, on average, 19 months behind their peers in overall attainment.

There are hundreds of educational apps for phones or tablets on the market that parents can choose from to support their child's early learning, but there is little reliable information about which are the best or most effective. So the Department for Education will buy subscriptions to high-quality early learning apps and provide access to some of these free of charge to disadvantaged families with children aged two to four, in up to 12 pilot areas across the country.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds said:

No parent has all of the answers. Being a parent is like learning to drive: wonderful, full of new discovery, but at times challenging, with plenty of obstacles to swerve. Our children are growing up in a constantly changing world and it is hard to keep up.

And when it comes to children and technology - that's where a manual can be helpful. Not all screen time is created equal: on one side there are the pressures that come with social media and the time spent looking at a screen, which is a key worry for parents - but on the other, the power of technology and the internet can open up a whole new world when embraced properly.

But it's also difficult to navigate, and often expensive, so I want to support parents of all backgrounds to feel able to embrace its benefits and use it in a measured, sensible way that helps improve children's early development at home.

Screens can be an easy distraction for children, but harnessing the power of technology to support early communication and development means that we have another tool in our arsenal to help young kids develop those skills.

Mr Hinds also confirmed today that nearly 6,000 families in the north of England will also take part in four new programmes that provide practical tools and advice, such as parenting group sessions, educational toys and books or text message tips sent directly to their mobile phones.

Up to 375 schools and nurseries will be recruited for the projects, run by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and Leeds-based education charity SHINE - building on the Education Secretary's 10-year ambition to halve the proportion of children leaving Reception without the communication skills needed to thrive.

The trials will include:

Making-it-REAL: 960 families in 120 schools in Greater Manchester and Yorkshire will trial a successful National Children's Bureau programme that trains early years professionals to visit families at home, getting parents more involved in drawing, singing songs and counting with their children, as well as encouraging them to use everyday activities to boost learning;

Group Triple P (Positive Parenting Program): Trained experts will show parents how to improve their children's language, and social and emotional development through role play, homework exercises and video clips of positive parenting techniques. 1,800 families in the north west will benefit across 150 schools and nurseries;

Parent Child Home Programme: Trained experts will visit families in Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield and Barnsley at home twice a week for 15 months, demonstrating different reading, conversation and play activities, and providing books and educational toys to enrich the home learning environment. The programme will be run by Family Lives and 320 families with two-year-olds will benefit;

Tips by Text: Parents of four and five-year-olds will be sent three texts each week to encourage activities that help develop literacy, numeracy and socio-emotional skills, such as counting the number of plates on the table. More than 2,700 families from 105 schools in the north east will trial an eight-month study run by the Behavioural Insights Team, who have run other successful text message 'nudge' trials like this.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds continued:

There is more support for childcare and early learning than ever before, with more than 700,000 two-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds having benefited from 15 hours of free childcare a week since 2013. But the vast majority of a child's time is spent at home and what happens here is critical to their development.

The Home Learning Environment can have a huge impact on a child's ability to succeed in life, so I want to support families with hints and tips to propel their child's learning so they are not behind on their first day of school and they can go on to reach their full potential, whatever their background.

The plans set out today build on the Government's work, announced last month, to appoint a new advisory panel to assess existing apps and produce tips and guidance for all parents to help them make informed decisions about which apps to choose for their children.

The expert panel, chaired by Professor Jackie Marsh of the University of Sheffield, will draw up a set of criteria for assessing an app's quality, which will also help decide which apps the Department will provide to families free of charge.

Local areas will be chosen based on factors including the proportion of children achieving below the expected level of development in communication, language and literacy at age five, as well as a focus on some of the most deprived communities.

Sir Kevan Collins, Chief Executive of the EEF, said:

Parents want the best for their children, whatever their background or wherever they come from. But it can sometimes be difficult to get parents involved in their child's learning in practical ways which make a difference and we know little about how to do this well.

By testing different ways of improving the home learning environment - from texts to parents to home visits - these new trials will give us much needed information about how we can give mums and dads the tools they need to give their child the very best start in life.

I'm delighted that we're able to partner with SHINE on this project. They have excellent networks in the north of England and will help us to make sure we reach those schools, nurseries and families most in need of support.

Fiona Spellman, Chief Executive of SHINE, said:

We're delighted to be partnering with the EEF to deliver the Home Learning Environment Fund. Research consistently shows that communication and language difficulties in the early years can hold back children for the rest of their time in education.

These programmes are a great way of seeing how we can make a real difference at an early stage and support all children to achieve their potential.

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Disadvantaged families to benefit from free early learning apps

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Parents will benefit from interactive learning tools and text message tips to support children's early language and literacy at home, as part of a society-wide push to make sure children start school ready to learn.

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Family learning | Raising standards in Maths

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These teaching and learning materials were developed and trialled as part of pilot national Family Literacy, Language and Numeracy projects.

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Further Education in England: transforming lives and communities

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As a long time user of Twitter in both my personal and professional life, when I became a trainee teacher I automatically looked for ways that Twitter could support my practice and well-being. Initially, I thought about Twitter as a tool I could use directly with my students and, indeed, my very first micro-teach was focused around this. However, I soon realised that Twitter could be useful in many different ways more focused on teacher well-being and community.

When I started taking part in a regular weekly Twitter chat - #UKFEChat - I found such support and encouragement that it got me through many a challenging week. I found hundreds of people to connect with and amassed many links to resources, articles and posts I might never have seen otherwise. Shortly after my micro-teach, I (nervously) re-ran the session for a group of second year trainees, coinciding with University Campus Barnsley's own first Twitter chat. Since then, I have helped to coordinate a monthly Twitter chat with student teachers and education staff from both University Campus Barnsley and Northern College, encouraging people to share their thoughts and ideas. For some, this is a chance to try a smaller chat before taking part in bigger chats such as #UKFEChat or #UKEdChat. For others, it is another way to connect with like-minded peers and further build their personal learning network. For all of us, it has become a community with familiar and supportive faces - or rather avatars!

Since the first #EdNCUCB chats, there have been regular monthly chats in term time covering topics such as functional skills, motivation, digital literacy and even the reading that has inspired us. My micro-teach has been adapted more than once as I realised the different opportunities Twitter offered. I've delivered it to several different Cert Ed/PGCE groups now at University Campus Barnsley and most recently was invited to present it as a workshop at Ashton Sixth Form College. Next week, I will visit Northern College to present it once again. Every time it is different because every time my learners are different but people are always open-minded and enthusiastic.

Nowadays, I talk about the amazing power of community and how that can support us as both students and educators. I talk about things like the #Teacher5ADay hashtag (originally introduced by Martyn Reah), which encourages wellbeing and self-care and supporting one another in keeping those things in mind. This has proved so inspiring that there is now a #Teacher5ADay journal and a retreat! I discuss how hashtags can create openings to meaningful discussion topics in the classroom, like the class I held with one group about #OscarsSoWhite - are they and why did my group think that mattered? Or how Twitter gives us an opportunity to have a powerful voice, reaching well beyond our own social groups. Or how we can now read words straight from the mouths of authors, filmmakers, artists and even leaders, often with no filter whatsoever.

In sharing my love of Twitter, I appreciate more than ever the power of community, not just on Twitter but amongst people who love learning and knowledge in general. I never get tired of delivering this particular class because it builds on something I love. Whatever I do - in education or otherwise going forward - that passion and enthusiasm that I feel at the front of the classroom discussing 140 characters, encapsulates everything that drew me to teaching in the first place. Twitter, for me, pushes boundaries, crosses boundaries, and offers up possibilities. Just like FE.

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Twitter for Educators - All About Community

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As a long time user of Twitter in both my personal and professional life, when I became a trainee teacher I automatically looked for ways that Twitter could support my practice and well-being.

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Google doc to note resources and who they are aimed at

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Google doc to note resources and who they are aimed at

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Double click on the box below and it will take you to the document.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Prevent - British Values

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Further information and details of how to register and book these courses can be found on our T Level Professional Development web page.

Generic courses:

Employer Partnerships and Industry Insights

Governors Providing T Levels

New Teacher Programme: How am I Going to Teach?

New Teacher Programme: What is Learning?

New Teacher Programme: Who are my Learners?

Operational Middle Leaders and Managers: Leadership and Professional Practice for

Operational Middle Leaders and Managers: Leading and Managing Curriculum Change for T Levels

Strategic Leaders Providing T Levels

Supporting T Level Learners with Embedded English - 1

Supporting T Level Learners with Embedded English - A

Supporting T Level Learners with Embedded Maths - 1

Supporting T Level Learners with Embedded Maths - A

Supporting T Level Learners with Embedded Digital - 1

Supporting T Level Learners with Embedded Digital - A

Teaching T Levels: Enhancing Pedagogy

Teaching T Levels: Vocational and Professional Upskilling

T Level Leadership Mentoring

T Level Planning and Implementation

Understanding T Levels for Business Support Staff

Understanding T Levels for Frontline Staff

Understanding T Levels for Leaders and Governors

Subject specialist courses:

Education and Early Years:

T Levels: Introducing the Education and Early Years Route

Teaching and Learning on the Education and Early Years T Level

Construction:

T Levels: Introducing the Construction and the Built Environment Route

Teaching and Learning on the Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction and the Built Environment T Level

Teaching and Learning on the Onsite Construction T Level

Teaching and Learning on the Building Services Engineering for Construction and the Built Environment T Level

Digital:

T Levels: Introducing the Digital Route

Teaching and Learning on the Digital Production, Design and Development T Level

Teaching and Learning on the Digital Support Services T Level

Teaching and Learning on the Digital Business Services T Level

Heath and Science:

Teaching and Learning on the Health T Level

Teaching and Learning on the Healthcare Science T Level

T Levels: Introducing the Health and Science Route

Teaching and Learning on the Science T Level

Business and Administration:

Introducing the Business and Administration T Levels

Teaching and Learning on the Management and Administration T Level

Legal, finance and Accounting:

Introducing the Legal, Finance and Accounting T Levels

Teaching and Learning on the Accounting T Level

Teaching and Learning on the Finance T Level

Engineering and Manufacturing:

Introducing the Engineering and Manufacturing T Levels

Teaching and Learning on the Engineering, Manufacturing, Processing and Control T Level

Teaching and Learning on the Maintenance, Installation and Repair for Engineering and Manufacturing T Level

Teaching and Learning on the Design and Development for Engineering and Manufacturing T Level

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ETF courses moved to a new platform - The Education and Training Foundation

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The ETF's Foundation Online Learning platform is no longer available. Active courses have been moved to a new platform.

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Subject area - Family learning | Excellence Gateway

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Register now for a new account on the Excellence Gateway and start building shareable personalised collections of resources.

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Family learning | Raising standards in Maths

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These teaching and learning materials were developed and trialled as part of pilot national Family Literacy, Language and Numeracy projects.

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Loneliness
Isolation

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Ideas from GLs notes - please add to this list

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Ideas from GLs notes - please add to this list

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-Piggy backing on other provision.
-Accessing useful data (this may be easier or more difficult depending on the structure of the organisation).
-Understanding the funding well.
- Importance to Head Teachers (particularly new ones) of the new Ofsted inspection framework.
- Don't rely on just one person as a contact in an organisation.
- Supporting by paying for cover.

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Lots of discussion and some key issues were raised:
- Marketing to schools and to parents.  For parents it is partly 'overcoming the fear'.  For head teachers it is getting  in and helping them understand the value of FL.  Members shared their ideas of how to do this.
- Helen kindly shared her updated version of the Suffolk Family Learning materials

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Helen kindly shared the FL questionnaire

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Helen kindly shared the FL questionnaire

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April 2018 so relatively recent.

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North Lincolnshire Council Adult Community Learning. Family Learning Festival 2018.  

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North Lincolnshire Council Adult Community Learning. Family Learning Festival 2018.  

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Contact Ashby Link
01724 862217
email nlacl.enquiries@northlincs.gov.uk
Click here for course info

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North Lincs Family Learning Festival 2018

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Family Learning Impact and Progression video.

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Family Learning Impact and Progression video.

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A video we have created at North Lincolnshire Council Adult Community Learning.

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Or, never having to follow another link in an email :-)

Please let Lou know if you'd like her to share this Padlet with you to another email address.

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Setting up and efficiently using a Padlet account

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This is a process for developing digital resilience which we will use each time we support you with something digital.

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Some years ago, I was part of a team running digital CPD for educators. We were consistently struck by the same thing - for every person enthusiastically getting their phone out at the front of the class, there was another sitting at the back with their arms folded (sometimes glaring at us). Later, one of us asked if we'd managed to get through to the 'Folded Arms Brigade'. The name stuck and FAB was born.

We wanted to understand what was underlying some educators' resistance to bringing digital into their practice. With support from the ETF's practitioner research programme we ran a series of action research projects between 2014-17. We used Thinking Environment interviews to dig deep into what limited people's engagement with digital and tested a series of interventions to try and get educators over the hump.

Our findings led us to the FAB (Folded Arms Brigade) Model of Digital Resilience:

We have used the FAB Model consistently since, in one-to-one 'digital nursing' (see below) and in group training sessions. It is not an artificial construct. It fell out of what people told us about how digital made them feel and react. The point of FAB is digital agency: getting people to the point where not only do they feel fluent in a single platform, app or device, but they have faith that that they can carry some of that fluency over to the next programme, app or device.

For any given digital challenge, each of the four FAB elements needs to be addressed in turn; of course an individual may be working on a number of digital challenges at once.
1.First Principles
Interviewing digitally resistant educators was a humbling experience. We had not realised how powerfully jargon blocked individuals from pushing on. One educator told us they couldn't make sense of the word 'icon': "that's something you worship in church." Another said they had painstakingly rewritten an important document because a colleague had "saved it to the cloud. I mean, where is this cloud?"

As human beings, once we feel excluded from something, the defences go up. We learned to invest time in exploring language, before going onto devices.
2. Purpose
Many of the educators we interviewed got stuck at this stage. They did not have, could not figure out, or were not willing to admit a purpose for what they were being asked to do. Resistant feelings often channelled into panic at this stage. We spoke to people who lacked confidence around the simplest digital processes at work, but who said breezily, "I'm on Facebook all the time." Facebook is one sophisticated platform, even for the unwary, so the issue was never about capability. It was about each individual finding in each platform, app or device a purpose which was meaningful to them.

No purpose = no point.
3. Support
Standard digital support did not get a good press in our research. Whether well-meaning colleagues, IT technicians or the grandkids, the majority of educators we interviewed had bad experiences of asking for help. Reflections ranged from, "they went too fast for me" to "they made me feel stupid". Whatever good intentions, it was evident that the 'knowledgeable expert' could be counter-productive.

We tested the concept of the "digital nurse", a different blend of know-how and empathy: a digitally confident individual who doesn't know everything (but knows how to google) and knows they can figure things out if they push on through. Later research really brought home the power of digitally nursing in groups - rather than one-to-one - to avoid creating dependency.
4. Fluency
We defined fluency not as knowing everything, but as knowing how to get by, a bit like getting around on holiday with conversational French. To be digitally fluent means pushing on through, following FAB processes and knowing how to get help.

Once 'FAB' fluency is established in one area, digital confidence can be applied to other programmes, apps and devices. Transferability is not 100%; there are new First Principles to explore and Purposes to establish, but the individual is on their way up in terms of their digital agency overall.

The later projects identified five additional FAB principles:

Simple stuff, but if you say, "it won't let me in," you're maybe giving up, whereas, "I can't get in" gives you the chance to try again.

Fitting with the Thinking Environment approach to interviews, which is all about identifying and overturning untrue limiting assumptions, we encouraged participants - and ourselves! - to identify resistance and take a few moments figure out what might be happening.

As we have seen, digital nursing is about knowing just enough, and about knowing how to bring ease to digital learning. One of the joys of this work is in seeing educators digitally nurse one another - not as experts, but as critical friends.

We learned that one thing nervous educators quickly learned to do was bookmark, which of course means that once a bookmark was lost - because of an upgrade, or switching to a new device - the source was also lost. Going the long way round means using a search engine or typing in the URL until a neural pathway is formed. Combined with good password 'hygiene' (using a phone app such as Keeper), this proved to be a powerful principle for developing digital confidence.

Learning to harness the power of the 'computer in your pocket' - away from organisational firewalls - affords educators with a glimpse into what might be possible - and the chance to explore ways of making the possible safe.

When we stumbled over FAB we had no idea of where it would take us. Education is awash with 'models', many of which turn out to be the Emperor's New Clothes when you try to apply them to real-life. FAB really works. Please do get in touch if you want to explore how it might work for you.
Footnotes

1. These are published in various places, please contact loumycroft@loumycroft.org or @loumycroft if you want to read some more.

2. A set of processes which enable people to do their best thinking. See Nancy Kline, More Time to Think (2009).

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Some years ago, I was part of a team running digital CPD for educators. We were consistently struck by the same thing - for every person enthusiastically getting their phone out at the front of the class, there was another sitting at the back with their arms folded (sometimes glaring at us).

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Lou Mycroft (Digital Lead and Group Lead Coach)

loumycroft@loumycroft.org

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Lou introduces the First Principles and Purpose of Padlet, and offers some Support to help you achieve Fluency.

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Information on community learning through skills for life qualifications by participation and achievements.

Community learning includes a range of community based and outreach learning opportunities, primarily managed and delivered by local authorities and general further education colleges designed to bring together adults (often of different ages and backgrounds).

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 25.3KB

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 167KB

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 380KB

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 106KB

Published 5 March 2014
Last updated 1 August 2018 + show all updates

1. Added 'Community learning by type: participation and achievement 2010 to 2011 to 2017 to 2018 (August to January)'.

2. New file entitled Community Learning by type, region and equality and diversity: participation 2005/06 to 2014/15 uploaded on 4 May 2016.

3. New file entitled Community Learning by Gender, Age, Disability and Sector Subject Area: participation 2008/09 to 2013/14 uploaded on 21 May 2015.

4. First published.

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FE News - Video and event information. Columns from FE Experts, conference speeches, video interviews and more. News content across all of the Further Education sector, Apprenticeship, College, Vocational Skills Training Providers, Awarding Bodies, UK Skills, Sector Skills Councils, Government Departments, AELP, AoC, FAB, and more

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Includes a link to the EEF toolkit

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Project ideas from Family Learning Network 1

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Project ideas from Family Learning Network 1

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Tracking Progress (destination data, video, impact); Sharing resources and how useful they are in different settings; Recruitment of learners (head teacher forums, governors etc); measuring impact (what works, timescales etc); British Values (how can it fit in)