Functional Skills in ICT

 ‘In the 21st century, our natural resource is our people – and their potential is both untapped and vast. Skills will unlock that potential. The prize for our country will be enormous – higher productivity, the creation of wealth and social justice.’ The ‘Leitch Report’ (2006)

School standards have improved over the past decade, with more young people than ever achieving five good GCSEs. And yet, more than one in six young people leave school unable to read, write and add up properly.’
The development of Functional Skills in schools and colleges has been designed to make significant improvements in these areas.

Functional Skills learners

The term ‘functional’ should be considered in the broad sense of providing learners with the skills and abilities they need to take an active and responsible role in their communities, in their everyday lives, workplaces and educational settings. Functional ICT requires learners to be able to use ICT in ways that make them effective and involved as citizens, able to operate confidently in life and to work in a wide range of contexts.
The ICT programme of study for key stage 4 embeds the level 2 functional skills standards. The key concepts reflect the ICT functional skills standards:

  • ICT capability, where learners use a range of ICT tools in a purposeful way to tackle questions, solve problems and create ideas and solutions of value in a range of contexts, and in other areas of learning, work and life
  • communication and collaboration, where learners share and exchange information safely, effectively and responsibly
  • exploring ideas and manipulating information, and becoming aware of the impact of technology, including issues of risk and safety surrounding the use of ICT
  • critical evaluation of information and of the use of ICT.

The curriculum opportunities section requires that students learn to make appropriate choices about when and where to use technology, including managing themselves, their work and their learning. Students should also have opportunities to exhibit their functional skills by applying their learning to real-world situations within a range of contexts and in other subjects and areas of learning.
This qualification is equivalent to half a GCSE and is mandatory for all students following a Diploma programme AT BOTH Higher level  (GCSE A*-C) or Advanced Level (A level)