Functional Skills Development Course West Suffolk Consortium

Course Outline
This five session, intensive training course will equip you with the necessary skills, practical knowledge and resources to enable you to tackle the challenge of classroom delivery of functional maths and English. Delivered by two experienced practitioners and teacher educators the course covers generic themes in sessions one and five, with specific input relevant to either Functional Maths or English in sessions two, three and four with resources and teaching approaches modelled by the tutors. After the first generic session participants can choose to follow either the English or Maths specialist route.

Week 1 Introduction

Week 2 English

Week 2 Maths

Week 3 English

Week 3 Maths

Week 4 English

Week 4 Maths

Week 5 Review

Generic Themes
The first workshop introduces some key messages about Functional Skills and related teaching approaches that underpin the delivery of the course. These are then explored in different ways within the two specialist strands of the course the importance of developing Personal Learning and Thinking Skills alongside Functional Skills problem solving strategies active learning approaches integrated approaches to delivery revision strategies use of e-learning tools

Functional English specialist route three sessions covering: a review of the demands of FE assessments active learning approaches to developing reading and writing developing awareness of context, audience and purpose planning a piece of writing and organising ideas exploring grammar: sentence structure, connectives, common errors tips on supporting with spelling use of e learning tools integrating speaking and listening skills

Functional Maths specialist route three sessions covering: a review of the demands of functional maths across all levels group, collaborative tasks problem solving techniques entry level specific issues levels 1 and 2 specific issues active revision & exam technique accelerated learning techniques for maths calculator skill development

Throughout the programme a range of useful websites and free resources will be explored and recommended. The course will be fully supported throughout its length via a blog so that participants can collaborate and communicate between sessions, with on-line moderation from the tutors.