Adult and Community
Learning Service
Hot Topics for Tutors 9
Embedding and Assessing Functional Skills
Functional skills = English (reading, writing, speaking, listening), maths and IT
Functional Skills replaces ‘Skills For Life’ and ‘Key Skills’
 Wherever appropriate, help learners improve their functional skills
whilst they are in your class
 The aim is to give learners the literacy, numeracy, language and IT
skills they need to succeed in the main subject, as well as honing
these skills for use in everyday life
 Embedding functional skills within your main subject will help
develop these skills as the opportunity and need arises
 For example, it may be essential for learners to learn any specific
language or specialist terms used in your subject. Also, in most
classes, speaking and listening are integral activities in learner and
tutor interaction
 Functional skills should not hinder the primary subject but
underpin it
 Functional skills can form learning outcomes in their own right, or
contribute to the main subject course outcomes
 For example, in this poetry class some of the learners have stated
that, in coming to this course, they wish to improve their
confidence and discuss poetry with other people interested in the
subject. All wish to send their poems to a local poetry competition,
where good presentation will be important. These are the tutor’s
learning outcomes:
o learners will present their poems to the class using appropriate
communication skills and language
o learners will offer peer feedback and assessment on colleagues’
poetry
o the learner will word process their poem using accurate
formatting, spelling, punctuation and grammar
Hot Topics for Tutors-Embedding and assessing Functional Skills
May 2012
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 Even in a keep fit class, where functional skills are not integral to
the subject, some functional skills outcomes could be included. In
this class, learners have stated personal goals to meet and talk with
others and to see health gains :
o learners will explain to the group some of the health benefits
they have experienced since they began the class
(This is a speaking and listening outcome but can also double as
learning reflection)
 Some subjects lend themselves well to certain functional skills,
such as in these maths examples:
o (Baking class) Learners will accurately weigh ingredients for the
cake
o (Origami class) Learners will explain why paper can only be
folded a fixed number of times using the principles of fractions,
proportion and scale
 Initial, formative and summary assessment of functional skills are
no different to assessment of any other learning outcomes – we
assess learners to make sure we teach them something new, whilst
not teaching them content which is too difficult. We gauge where
the learner is when they start the class, design outcomes that
reflect what they can achieve whilst they are in the class, monitor
these along the way, revise if necessary and plot what the learner
has achieved at the end of the course
 It is crucial to help the learner with any functional skills they will
need to successfully participate in, and succeed on, the course. For
example, many subjects have specialist terms the learners need to
know to participate fully. ‘Focal point’ and ‘rhythm’ are examples of
such terms in flower arranging. (Incidentally, ‘rhythm’ is one of the
most misspelled words in the English language.) ‘Scale’ is also
important in flower arranging and, along with ratio and proportion,
it is a component of maths
 How these skills are assessed is up to you. Assessment does not
have to be over-complicated and often the simplest ideas are best
 For example, Indian cookery: A non-threatening, enjoyable quiz on
Indian spices can assess learners in speaking, listening, reading,
writing, spelling and knowledge of Indian cookery all at once. It can
be introduced at the beginning of the course to find out what
learners know when they first come to class. It can assess learning
after a lesson to check learning, or assess a learner at the end of
the course to find out what has been retained (or all of those)
Hot Topics for Tutors-Embedding and assessing Functional Skills
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 Assessing learners’ functional skills at the start of a course can
identify learning difficulties such as dyslexia, or help a learner if
they have low functional skills, both of which would trigger learning
support. As with any assessment activity, it enables the tutor to
differentiate and alter teaching approaches according to the
different learner levels in a group
 It is interesting to take a look at the national Functional Skills
Curriculum. An internet search using the words ‘Functional Skills
Criteria’ will bring up lots of web sites. Two of the most useful are:
www.ofqual.gov.uk
http://www.functionalskillstrainingconsultancy.co.uk
 Both web sites include documents with nicely set out functional
skills criteria for English, maths and IT. Though they are used for
accredited courses, they can give tutors who teach non-accredited
courses ideas for:
o designing learning outcomes
o mapping our own learning outcomes to the functional skills
criteria
o differentiation and different levels of complexity
eg: The example mentioned previously:
“Learners will offer peer feedback and assessment on colleagues’ poetry”
This outcome fits into the following criteria from functional skills
English Level 1:
“Take full part in formal and informal discussions and exchanges that
include unfamiliar subjects”
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Make relevant and extended contributions to discussions, allowing for and
responding to others’ input
Prepare for and contribute to the formal discussion of ideas and opinions
Make different kinds of contributions to discussions
Present information/points of view clearly and in appropriate language”
Please note that the functional skills information is given as a
resource only. ACLS does not require learning outcomes be
mapped next to Functional Skills criteria, though some partners do
ask for this
Need more support with this issue? Help to design learning
outcomes? A chat about this Hot Topic? Are there still unanswered
Hot Topics for Tutors-Embedding and assessing Functional Skills
May 2012
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questions you would like to ask? Anything at all, please feel free to
contact Julie on 0115 9773082 or email:
julie.dye@nottscc.gov.uk
ACLS are here to help
Hot Topics for Tutors-Embedding and assessing Functional Skills
May 2012
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