Last updated: 26 Sep 2007

Trialling and piloting functional skills

A small-scale trial of the draft functional skills standards and approaches to their assessment took place with 14 awarding bodies between September 2006 - March 2007. This six-month research and evaluation phase provided valuable evidence to inform recommendations for the functional skills pilot programme. The three reports produced during the trials period can be downloaded from the right-hand side of this page.
The functional skills pilot programme, involving twelve awarding bodies and over 1,000 centres, commenced in September 2007. The pilot programme will run for three years until September 2010.

National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) have been appointed to evaluate the pilot. The appointment of an independent body to conduct the evaluation will be crucial to developing effective, manageable and innovative qualifications and assessment to support skills-based learning.

Awarding bodies offering functional skills pilot qualifications

• AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance)
• ASDAN
• City and Guilds
• EAL
• EDI (Education Development International)
• Edexcel
• National Open College Network (NOCN)
• NCFE
• OCNW
• OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations)
• VTCT (Vocational Training Charitable Trust)
• WJEC

Centres have been either nominated by their Diploma Gateway Consortium or by an awarding body, if they are not involved with the Diploma, to take part in the FS pilot. The FS pilot will include Diploma Gateway Consortia and other centres, totalling about 1000 centres in all.

Functional skills and Diplomas

Diplomas require learners to gain functional skills in English, mathematics and ICT:

• at level 1 for the level 1 Diploma
• at level 2 for Diplomas at levels 2 and 3.

Learners will have opportunities to develop and apply functional skills across the Diploma curriculum. Awarding bodies will provide guidance on the full range of opportunities for developing and applying functional skills. This will help centres to integrate functional skills to their curricula and help learners to plan and review their achievements.

Functional skills will form part of GCSEs in English, mathematics and ICT, Diplomas and apprenticeships. They will also be available as stand-alone qualifications. The standards and assessment for functional skills are currently undergoing a trials and evaluation process.

For further information on Diplomas, please follow the Diploma link to the right of this page.

Functional skills and GCSEs

During the pilot, functional skills will be a free-standing qualification taken alongside the relevant, existing GCSE(s). The intention is that a pass in the functional skills at level 2 will be a requirement for the awarding of the GCSE (English, mathematics and ICT) at grade C or above, when the revised GCSE qualifications are introduced in September 2010.
The functional skills standards are also being incorporated into the revised GCSE specifications for English, mathematics and ICT and the revised programmes of study at KS3 and KS4. The relationship between the GCSE and functional skills (FS) will be evaluated throughout the FS qualifications pilot programme.
Functional skills achievements will not affect GCSE candidates' results during the pilot phase.

For more information about GCSEs please follow the GCSE: Overview and history link on the right of this page.