Mastering functional skills qualifications: Empowering students for real-life success

Understanding functional skills qualifications: essential competencies for practical application

The UK government regulates functional skills qualifications, having launched the Reformed Functional Skills qualifications (FSQs) back in 2019.  

These reforms were designed to ensure that the material taught as part of the qualification continued to meet the needs of employers. 

Definition and scope of the functional skills qualification 

Functional skills are qualifications that improve a person’s employment chances, opening doors to new opportunities such as higher education courses or University. Once learners have completed the Level 1 qualification, they can progress onto the next stage of the course - Level 2.  

The Level 2 Maths and English qualifications are the ideal course for someone who wants to resit their Maths or English GCSE, and achieving a Level 2 equates to a GCSE grade 9-4 (A*-C).  

The English course has been designed to improve reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, while the Maths course is focused on numbers, measurements and the handling of data.  

Upon completion, students should be confident in and have a positive attitude towards the relevant topics.  

The overarching aim of the English qualification is to give learners a sound grasp of basic English knowledge and know how to use English effectively in real world situations.  

Those completing the Maths qualification should have developed key behaviours such as persistence and logical thinking, and feel confident that they can apply mathematical tools and approaches to everyday situations.  

For those considering an apprenticeship, a Level 2 functional skills qualification is required to be accepted onto a course.   

Importance of functional skills in today's world 

The rise of analytics, data, and the automation of many tasks means that the skills required to succeed in the modern workplace have changed significantly over the past few years. Despite technology making many tasks easier, competency in English and Maths is still crucial for succeeding in the workplace and in everyday life.  

English is needed to write emails, text messages, communicate effectively with people via phone or video call, while mathematical skills are key to money management, working out how much items cost when paying at the till or weighing ingredients for a recipe.   

Those who struggled with the GCSE curriculum may choose to undertake a functional skills qualification later on in life, to develop their confidence and pave the way for new opportunities.  

Find out more about how Leeds City College uses our software to support its students here.  

Key functional skills domains and examples 

Our software has been designed to support learners undertaking a functional skills qualification. By breaking the curriculum down into specific topics and focus areas that can be covered in manageable intervals, learners can fit in their learning and revision around existing responsibilities and commitments. 

The specific nature of these videos also helps learners to avoid jumping from subject to subject when revising and enables them to really focus in on specific elements of the curriculum.  

Developing functional skills in reading and writing: building strong communication abilities for the functional skills qualification 

Helping learners to develop strong communication skills is a key focus of the English functional skills qualification. Our software uses comprehension strategies, based on everyday texts, which get progressively more difficult as they move through the course.  

The course is designed to ensure that learners can understand the main points of a text by developing their skimming and scanning strategies. Having read the text, learners can then test themselves with the quiz and we have a total of 400 across both Maths and English.  

To test their knowledge of effective writing, learners using our software are shown texts with errors in or ones that don’t read as well, and asked to identify the best text. They can also provide written answers in the notes section, that tutors can then log-in and review.  

Those studying the Level 2 functional skills qualification are asked more about critical analysis and how they interpret certain information, with questions focused on identifying what’s fact and what’s opinion.  

Numeracy skills: building a foundation for problem solving and decision making 

Unlike the GCSE Maths curriculum which focuses on theoretical knowledge, the Maths functional skills course is designed to help learners with applying maths to their daily lives. Covering topics such as  telling the time, adding up shopping and basic arithmetic, the course uses practical examples that a person might encounter within a job role, such as working out how many sandwiches have been sold from a canteen and projecting how many need to be made, or the area of flooring required for a certain area. Other examples include, working out the ratios of chemicals required by a hairdresser, or how many childcare providers are required within a nursery school.  

Integrating functional skills qualifications in education: strategies for effective teaching and learning 

With the functional skills qualification incorporating real-life scenarios, our software includes collaborative learning and role-play exercises. These tasks involve learners listening to people doing the exercise and highlighting best practices, what went well and what could be improved. 

How can our software help with functional skills qualifications 

We have over 400 functional skills videos, containing content created by experienced tutors and examiners. 

Our software also offers diagnostic assessments, functional skills baseline assessment, and informal quizzing to enable teachers and learners to track progress over time.  

The formative assessment tool provides instant feedback, while the mock exam papers allow those undertaking the course to practise answering exam-style questions throughout the academic year. 

As the majority of those undertaking the functional skills qualifications are adults, our content is specifically designed for that audience, presenting real-life scenarios through concise 3-5 minute videos. 

For those looking to deliver functional skills content in a colleague setting, our resources are user-friendly from a teaching standpoint and are proven to play a vital role in supporting students of all ages throughout their learning journey.  

Here are the four main benefits of our functional skills assessment and content: 

1. Building confidence: With the functional skills teaching resources, learners work through the content in manageable 3-5 minutes bursts. The Check and Challenge [LINK] tool gives valuable insights into their learning, identifying knowledge gaps and building confidence. 

1. Reducing stress: Our functional skills teaching resources help students to stay in control of their learning, either independently or with guidance from their tutor. The content is filtered by the exam board, so learners know exactly what they need to get the grade that they want. 

1. Promoting independence: As students can access the software 24/7 from a computer, laptop, tablet or mobile device, they can learn on-the-go, anytime and from anywhere. 

1. Challenging learners: Our content is proven to engage even the most reluctant of learners, with a number of different tools designed to gamify the learning [LINK TO GAMIFICATION TAYA] process.  

Leeds College of Building 

Leeds College of Building implemented our software when Sarah Heaton, an English lecturer, noticed that students were struggling with their studies. Using GCSEPod’s Resit and Functional Skills content, Sarah sought to implement a new format of teaching.  

The implementation had a hugely positive impact, here’s how… 

Content playlists: With the help of the Access support team, the college created a playlist for each question on the English exam paper. The playlists comprised pod videos, revision tips and questions, and practice tasks to help up-skill learners on all aspects of the exam specification. 

These playlists are always accessible and can be repeated an infinite number of times throughout the academic year. 

Students were positive in their feedback about the playlists, with many using the content as their number one preferred method of revision.  

Personal learning journeys: Students are now able to take ownership of their learning journeys by scanning QR codes that have been displayed on screens around the school. Teachers can also use these QR codes to personalise the content they are delivering to students.  

This is particularly useful following mock exam results, as knowledge gaps can be rectified ahead of final exams.  

Teacher buy-in: Staff have bought into using the platform, realising that it helps reduce paper-based admin and streamlines many of their day-to-day tasks. The platform is also easy to navigate, taking a lot of stress, anxiety and frustration away from them.