(The Minister of State for
Apprenticeships and Skills): Functional Skills are
qualifications that enable people to develop and demonstrate a
good standard of mathematics and English for success in life and
work. They are an important part of education provision,
particularly for students over the age of 16, apprentices and
adults seeking to retrain and improve their skills later in life.
The Government is reforming these qualifications to make sure
that they give people the best possible preparation for
employment, further study and everyday life. We also want new
Functional Skills qualifications to provide employers with a
reliable measure of students’ skills, knowledge and achievement.
As part of these reforms, today I am publishing revised subject
content for Mathematics and English Functional Skills
qualifications. This follows extensive engagement with employers,
teachers, subject specialists, and a public consultation which
ran from the 12th September to the 7th November
2017.
The new content includes the skills employers tell us they need
in their workforce and sets out the learning aims, requirements
and standards of each Functional Skills qualification, moving
from Entry Level 1-3 up to Levels 1 and 2. Functional Skills
Level 2 is currently accepted as a completion requirement for
Level 3 apprenticeships and higher, as an alternative option to a
GCSE standard pass. Across all levels in both subjects we have
improved how students learn to read, write, communicate, use
numbers, measures, handle mathematical information and solve
problems. In English, by Level 2, students are required to read,
write and communicate using straightforward and complex
instructive, descriptive, explanatory and persuasive texts on a
range of technical and non-technical topics. In mathematics, by
Level 2, students are required to use numbers of any size and
form, including ratios, fractions, decimals and percentages,
construct, interpret and handle a range of statistical
information and data, and use their knowledge and skills to
obtain solutions to complex problems.
The new content will be taught from September 2019. These changes
aim to ensure that people have the opportunity to develop and
demonstrate their mathematics and English skills through
accessible, practical, rigorous and well-respected
qualifications.
The Mathematics and English Functional Skills subject content
documents, the Government’s response to the consultation and the
equality impact assessment are attached to this statement.
