Part 6 - Functional skills
Elective Home Education Pack
Functional skills are another way of gaining accreditation for Maths and English and can be a good option for some children who may have struggled with GCSE study or who have learning difficulties and would benefit more from a Skills for Life syllabus or everyday skills. Functional skills syllabuses cover everyday Maths and English skills and tend to work well with a vocational area e.g. bike mechanics, catering, hair and beauty because often the Maths and English activities relate to the area of work and embed Maths and English work skills so learning becomes more meaningful. Study centres like NOVA training and colleges tend to deliver functional skills Maths and English course for free as an alternative to GCSE. Resources on these sites will be organised into levels starting at M7 and moving through to Level 1 to 2 and even GCSE levels. M7 and M8 refers to English as Second Language learners so are pre - entry learners. Entry Level 1 = 5 - 7 years old, Entry Level 2 = 7 - 9 years old, Entry Level 3 = 9 - 11 years old, Level 1 is the equivalent to GCSE - grades 3, 2, 1 or grades D, E, F, G, Grade and Level 2 is GCSE - grades 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 or grades A*, A, B, C The sites they will use are the ones below:
BBC Skillswise
Don’t be put off by the fact that this states its Functional Maths, English and Skills for Life for adults, this is the main resource for learning work-based Maths and English even for 14 - 16 settings. It is interactive and free to use with factsheets, worksheets, games and quizzes so you can track learning and assess level you are working at as well as link it to job skills too. It allows you to print off the activities or do them on line and as it is used by providers you can be assured that if you are using this site when child starts college or setting that offers functional skills the activities will be delivered in a similar way. Resources tend to be Entry Level 1 - Level 1.
BBC Skillsworkshop
This site is linked to the above site and is a site that has over 2000 free resources for Maths, English, ESOL and ICT and Skills for Life, which again though it refers to adults is ideal for child learners too as it links to work and vocational areas. The resources take the form of games, activities, quizzes, assessments, worksheets, long and short - term planning etc. The resources are designed to download and print off so are not interactive. Resources are from M7 – GCSE Level 1-5