The FE sector supports the government policy to increase the number of young people who achieve level 2 English and maths by the age 19.
But, say Catherine Sezen and Eddie Playfair, senior policy managers at the Association of Colleges, supporting learners to reach this level this can feel like a thankless task.
Pass rates for GCSE resits at 17 and 18 remain low, and functional skills entries continue to fall as colleges are increasingly entering all students for GCSE.
This, they say, is hardly surprising given that moving from grade 2 GCSE to passing level 1 functional skills currently represents “negative progress”, while moving to a grade 3 GCSE is regarded as “positive progress”.
But good literacy and numeracy skills are essential for life and employment, and all students should be enthused about improving in these areas. So how can we boost post-16 English and maths? Simple, say Sezen and Playfair: implement these five changes:
Money, money, money
At the moment, they say, the funding formula doesn’t actually cover the costs of providing the additional English and maths teaching that many students need.
Flexibility
Sezen and Playfair suggest that colleges should be able to take their lead from the proposed T-level policy, which allows providers to enter students based on “appropriateness”. They also suggest that more “stepping stone” qualifications should be available.
Increase the progress scores...
To maximise on the reform of functional skills, progress points should be increased. Sezen and Playfair suggest an +0.5 increase at level 1 and 2, and +0.6 at entry level. What does this actually mean? It means that a student with a GCSE grade 3 could work towards a level 2 functional skills, and someone with a GCSE grade 2 could achieve the level 1 functional skills.
… and then cap them
The progress score should be capped at a minimum of 0 to ensure that no student would be recorded as “negative progress”.
Celebrate performance
If data about the proportion of each cohort that does achieve a grade 4 was publicised, it would give everyone a chance to celebrate the hard work of the students and providers.
