Functional skills | About functional skills

What are functional skills?

• Functional skills are practical skills that equip learners with the necessary knowledge and understanding to use and apply English, mathematics and ICT in everyday life, so they can get the most out of work and education.
   
• Functional skills underpin all educational and training choices. They have been designed in response to employers’ perceptions that many young people and adults are not achieving a firm enough grounding in the basics.

• The qualifications across English, mathematics and ICT are being piloted until September 2010, after which they will become mandatory for national assessment.

• Adult Literacy and Adult Numeracy (ALAN) and key skills are to be gradually replaced by functional skills to provide a single ladder of achievement.

• At Edexcel, we are working with the QCA to develop a programme for functional skills that best meets learners’ needs. During this time, we will develop and evaluate a number of assessment models so that the best teaching and learning procedures are in place.

Functional skills build upon the success of learners, benefiting them in a number of different areas: