Last updated: 20 Aug 2008

All of these frequently asked questions can also be found on the functional skills section of the QCA's FAQ database.

General

1. What are functional skills?
2. How are functional skills being designed and developed?
3. Who will take part in the functional skills pilot?
4. What is the timetable for the functional skills pilot delivery?
5. Why introduce functional skills?

Assessment

6. Will the functional skills be graded or assessed as pass / fail?
7. What do functional skills tests actually look like?
8. Will functional skills be assessed internally or externally?
9. Will assessment be available on-demand?
10. Will functional skills be assessed online?
11. Will assessments for functional skills be available on screen?
12. Awarding bodies are offering different assessment approaches, how do I find out about this?
13. When can we expect awarding body specifications and assessment criteria to be published?
14. Most awarding bodies have a range of existing Entry Level qualifications, will they all offer Entry Level functional skills for the pilot?

Functional skills Currency and Recognition

15. Do functional skills have point scores for the Assessment and Attainment Tables?
16. Will functional skills be separately certificated?
17. Will University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) points be available for the functional skills qualifications?

Functional skills and GCSE

18. If the learner fails the functional skills assessment does that mean they cannot get the associated GCSE?
19. How will functional skills be delivered alongside GCSE?
20. Why isn’t the functional skill assessment incorporated in GCSE?
21. Do you expect learners to stop at a functional skills qualification FS and not go on to full GCSE?
22. Will you require learners to get level 1 functional skills before they can be awarded grades D-G?
23. Can some learners take the functional skills assessment before the GCSE?
24. Would FS Level 2 count as one of 5 A*-C for performance tables?
25. Is it be possible to use one awarding body for GCSE and another for functional skills?

Functional skills and The Diploma

26. What is the Gateway process?
27. Do those who are taking Level 3 Diplomas from September 2008 need to take Level 2 functional skills even though they may have A*- C GCSEs in the relevant subjects?
28. If learners achieve their functional skills early in the pilot and take their Diploma qualification at a later stage. Does it still count?
29. Do students have to pass functional skills before they can be awarded the Diploma?
30. Are all Diploma Gateway consortia centres offering functional skills qualifications in the pilot?

Delivery, Training and Staff Development

31. Can a teacher qualified to teach skills for life automatically be able to teach functional skills?
32. How will teachers be trained to teach functional skills?
33. How much time should be dedicated to functional skills delivery? Will guidelines be issued?
34. What is the number of recommended Guided Learning Hours (GLH) for the stand-alone functional skills qualifications?

Relationship to other Qualifications

35. How do functional skills fit with Apprenticeships?
36. How do functional skills fit with Foundation Learning Tier?
37. A great deal of work has been done in developing thinking and learning skills in Key skills. Will this be applicable to functional skills?
38. Where is the functional skills information on the QIA website?
39. Some 14-19 provision (e.g. work-based learning) is being delivered outside of the recent reforms. Is there an expectation that these learners will take functional skills?

Centres

40. How do centres confirm their involvement in the pilot?
41. Will all centres that volunteered to take part in the pilot be able to do so?
42. How can our centre join the pilot?

The Future

43. Are there plans for level 3 and 4 functional skills?
44. Are there plans for functional skills assessment for Key Stage 3?
45. Our centre is in the pilot. Where can we find out more information?
46. How can centres not in the pilot prepare for functional skills?

1. What are functional skills?

Functional skills are those core elements of English, ICT and mathematics that provide an individual with the essential knowledge, skills and understanding that will enable them to operate confidently, effectively and independently in life and at work. Individuals of whatever age who possess these skills will be able to participate and progress in education, training and employment. They will also be able to develop and secure the broader range of aptitudes, attitudes and behaviours that will enable them to make a positive contribution to the communities in which they live and work.

More detail on what functional skills are and the criteria for each subject at each qualification level can be found within this section.

2. How are functional skills being designed and developed?

Design and development work is led by the QCA wide range of interested parties; including employers, teachers, subject associations, and awarding bodies – contributed to the development of a set of standards, which were consulted upon in 2006.

Consultations with employers in each sector were managed by the Sector skills Councils. The CBI gathered the views of its member companies on the literacy and numeracy levels expected of young people entering employment. These consultations showed substantial support for the draft standards and identified areas for refinement before the next stage.

A small-scale trialing of assessment options for functional skills took place from September 2006. This was led by the awarding bodies, working with a limited number of selected centres, and evaluated by the QCA team. The outcomes of these trials informed the design of the qualifications which have been piloted from September 2007.

3. Who will take part in the functional skills pilot?

Over 1,000 centres have been participating in the pilot from September 2007. These include schools, colleges, work based learning, adult community learning and others. Up to 1500 will be joining the pilot in September 2008 for consortia that will begin delivering Diplomas in 2009.

The majority of pilot centres were identified from Diploma consortia, in order to deliver functional skills to their Diploma learners ahead of full roll-out in 2010.

4. What is the timetable for the functional skills pilot delivery?

The functional skills pilot began in September 2007. Key dates for the pilot are:

• June – September 2007 - functional skills Day one and two training delivered
• September 2007 - Pilot starts with 1,000 centres and 12 awarding bodies across range of contexts including schools, colleges, adult centres, work based learning and justice system
• October-November 2007 - Assessment standardisation events involving QCA and awarding bodies and feedback provided. Sample assessments available from awarding bodies.
• November 2007 - Guidance on managing delivery and teaching of functional skills available on the QIA website at http://excellence.qia.org.uk/functionalskills
• November 2007 - functional skills Day three training events delivered
• December-January 2008 - Further guidance available from QCA on standards and assessment
• January-February 2008 - Day four training events delivered including additional sessions on potential curriculum models, effective delivery models, (building on best practice from other programmes) and models for delivery of FS to advanced Diploma learners without prior attainment.
• September 2007-Sept 2009 - Ongoing evaluation of the pilot and further assessment standardisation events to ensure consistent standards across all 12 awarding bodies
• April 2008 - Confirmation of centres joining the pilot following Gateway 2 results
• July 2008 - Training for centres joining the pilot in September 08
• September 2008 - Further centres join the pilot
• Autumn Term 2009 - Specifications for new English, ICT and mathematics GCSEs published, including details of how the requirement to gain level 2 functional skills in the relevant subject will work in practice.

5. Why introduce functional skills?

New functional English, ICT and mathematics qualifications will be introduced nationally across schools, colleges, work-based learning and adult learning providers for teaching from September 2010. The new provision will focus on the skills, knowledge, and understanding that everybody needs in order to progress and succeed in learning, in employment, and in life.

Responding to calls from employers and others for more young people and adults to have these skills, they will:

• ensure that candidates achieving GCSE grades A*- C will have mastered the functional skills at Level 2
• be introduced into Diplomas and Apprenticeships
• replace skills for Life qualifications * (literacy, numeracy, ICT as SfL)
• replace Key skills qualifications * (Communication, Application of Number and ICT)
• be available as a standalone qualification for those who achieve the functional element only; and
• provide a single ladder of progression in these skills, common to all qualifications for young people and adults both the skills for Life and key skills qualifications will be available for new candidates until at least August 2010. (This allows accreditation until August 2012). The exact timetable for replacement will be confirmed on the basis of evidence from the pilot.

6. Will the functional skills be graded or assessed as pass/fail?

They will be assessed pass/fail.

7. What do functional skills tests actually look like?

Pilot qualifications specifications and example assessments have been developed by awarding bodies against the functional skills standards. Pilot centres should have received these from their awarding body, and a number of awarding bodies have made this information available on their websites.

8. Will functional skills be assessed internally or externally?

The twelve awarding bodies participating in the pilot will be looking at different approaches to assessment and the evaluation will report on the success of each. Awarding bodies may offer internal and external verification depending on their own models of assessment.

9. Will assessment be available on-demand?

We are currently scoping out how on-demand availability might work in practice for later on in the pilot.

10. Will functional skills be assessed online?

Online assessments are being developed and tested as part of the pilot by some awarding bodies.

11. Will assessments for functional skills be available on screen?

We are expecting that e-assessment will form part of the assessment in all subjects, where appropriate.

12. Awarding bodies are offering different assessment approaches, how do I find out about this?

The assessment approaches will differ by awarding body. This detail will be in the specifications that they produce. You can see the specifications they produce on their individual websites. View our list of functional skills awarding bodies page.

13. When can we expect awarding body specifications and assessment criteria to be published?

The specifications are available from all the awarding bodies participating in the pilot.

14. Most awarding bodies have a range of existing entry-level qualifications, will they all offer entry-level functional skills for the pilot?

Not all the awarding bodies will offer functional skills at Entry-level so please check with your awarding body. You can view a list of the awarding bodies.

15. Do functional skills have point scores for the Assessment and Attainment Tables?

The confirmed points allocation for functional skills qualifications are listed here:

Level 2 = 23 points
Level 1 = 12.5 points
Entry 1 = 5 points
Entry 2 = 6 points
Entry 3 = 7 points
(N.B. The points for levels 1 and 2 are in addition to points allocated for other qualifications such as GCSEs and adult literacy and adult numeracy)

16. Will functional skills be separately certificated?

Yes.

17. Will University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) points be available for the functional skills qualifications?

No.

18. If the learner fails the functional skills assessment does that mean they cannot get the associated GCSE?

Not during the pilot. The requirement that in order to achieve A*-C at GCSE the learner must achieve Level 2 functional skills will be a requirement from 2012 (i.e. for two year GCSE courses that begin teaching in 2010) Technical details of how functional skills achievement will be implemented alongside GCSE results are being developed along with the new GCSEs and will be available when new GCSE specifications are published in the Autumn term 2009. the arrangements for awarding A*-C to those who subsequently achieve level 2 functional skills.

19. How will functional skills be delivered alongside GCSE?

Although assessment of functional skills will be through a stand-alone test in schools level, that is the tip of a wider set of reforms that see functional skills incorporated into KS3 and KS4 programmes of study and more functional and applied approaches being reflected in the English, ICT and maths. The teaching and learning of functional skills can be through a range of models; these range from discrete lessons to fully embedding into the teaching and learning of the relevant GCSE, Diploma principal learning and other curriculum subjects.

20. Why isn’t the functional skills assessment incorporated in GCSE?

Trialling has showed that it isn't technically possible to award a competence-based qualification with a broad GCSE assessment out of the same exam without losing some of the content that is important to GCSE.

21. Do you expect learners to stop at a functional skills qualification FS and not go on to full GCSE?

We expect the majority of learners to study for both the functional skills and GCSE.

22. Will you require learners to get level 1 functional skills before they can be awarded grades D-G?

No. There are no plans to introduce a level 1 requirement into GCSE.

23. Can some learners take the functional skills assessment before the GCSE?

Learners can take the functional skills assessment either before, alongside or after their GCSE examinations.

24. Would FS Level 2 count as one of 5 A*-C for performance tables?

No as it is not the same size as a GCSE. However it will be a valuable level qualification in its own right and pilot qualifications will attract their own points [equivalent to ½ a GCSE).

25. Is it possible to use one awarding body for GCSE and another for functional skills?

Yes, this is possible.

26. What is the Gateway process?

The ‘Gateway’ is a process that approved consortia to offer the new Diploma qualifications. from September 2008. Functional skills are a mandatory component of the Diploma.

27. Does those who are taking Level 3 Diplomas from September 2008 also need to take Level 2 functional skills even though they may have A*- C GCSEs in the relevant subjects?

Yes they do.

28. If learners achieve their functional skills early and take their Diploma qualification at a later stage, does it still count?

The functional skills qualifications can be taken at any time and do not have an accreditation end date.

29. Do learners have to pass functional skills before they can be awarded the Diploma?

Yes. Students must achieve Level 1 functional skills for a Foundation Diploma and Level 2 functional skills for the Higher (level 2) and Advanced(level 3) Diplomas.

30. Are all Diploma Gateway consortia centres offering functional skills qualifications in the pilot?

All Diploma Gateway Consortia will be included in the piloting, although not all centres will take part as "assessment centres". Gateway consortia leads have selected which centres will assess functional skills. Any centre in this consortium can deliver the qualifications and have their learners assessed at another piloting assessment centre.

31. Can a teacher qualified to teach Key skills and Basic skills automatically be able to teach functional skills?

Yes, for the duration of the pilot.

32. How will teachers be trained to teach functional skills?

Practitioners in centres that are participating in the pilot can access free training and guidance materials provided by Quality Improvement Agency (QIA) and National Strategies (NS). The details for this training can be found by clicking here.

Practitioners not in the pilot are encouraged to access the training materials to start preparing for the introduction of functional skills in 2010.

33. How much time should be dedicated to functional skills delivery? Will guidelines be issued?

See the QIA link above.

34. What is the number of recommended Guided Learning Hours (GLH) for the stand-alone functional skills qualifications?

30–45 Guided Learning Hours per functional Skill is the indicative figure. This may vary by learner type or context.

35. How do functional skills fit with Apprenticeships?

The intention is that functional skills will replace key skills in apprenticeships from 2010 although key skills will still be available for new candidates until at least August 2010 and will be accredited until 2012.

36. How do functional skills fit with Foundation Learning Tier?

The Entry level functional skills qualifications will provide a progression route for learners to the Level 1 and Level 2 qualifications, particularly those learners in schools on the 14-16 Entry level pathway.

37. A great deal of work has been done in developing thinking and learning skills in Key skills. Will this be applicable to functional skills?

Thinking and learning skills have been integrated within the Diploma principal learning model.

38. Where is the functional skills information on the QIA website?

http://excellence.qia.org.uk/functionalskills

39. Some 14-19 provision (e.g. work based learning) is being delivered outside of the recent reforms. Is there an expectation that these learners will take functional skills?

At the moment they can continue without functional skills, but ultimately all learners will be expected to do them.

40. How do centres confirm their involvement in the pilot?

The pilot commenced in September 2007. If you are uncertain about your involvement in the pilot please contact the awarding body or bodies that you currently work with.

41. Will all centres that volunteered to take part in the pilot be able to do so?

No, given that there is a restriction at the moment on numbers, not all centres will be able to take part.

42. How does our centre join the pilot?

See our Information for pilot centres page.

43. Are there plans for level 3 and 4 functional skills?

QCA are currently consulting on the need for functional skills and levels 3 and 4.

44. Are there plans for functional skills assessment for Key Stage 3?

Functional skills assessments are being developed at Entry levels, level 1 and level 2. These will be open to year 9s and above to take assessments at the appropriate level.

45. Our centre is in the pilot. Where can we find out more information?

See our Information for pilot centres page.

46. How can centres not in the pilot prepare for functional skills?

Practitioners not in the pilot are encouraged to access the training materials offered by QIA and NS to start preparing for the introduction of functional skills in 2010.