Major reform of Functional Skills Qualifications should result from Curriculum and Assessment Review, say inspection nominees

The Fellowship of Inspection Nominees (FIN) has called for the attainment of Functional Skills Qualifications (FSQs) to remain part of a successful apprenticeship but wants FSQs to become much more relevant to suit the needs of employers and apprentices.

There needs to be:

• a radical overhaul of content
• a change in the style of questioning in tests and
• a review of assessment.

FIN has today published a submission to the DfE (FSQ reforms – FIN submission August 2024 (1)(Review) – Adobe cloud storage) advocating that reform of FSQs should be part of the government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review. This can be achieved without dumbing down the qualification.   

With substantial input by FSQ practitioners, FIN members have said that dissatisfied learners feel the emphasis on maths and English overshadows the importance of the technical elements of an apprenticeship. An apprentice commented: “I have enjoyed my apprenticeship training, but the maths has been awful. I have not enjoyed this and fear exams”.

Also drawing on research conducted by partner organisation, Adult Learning Improvement Network, FIN has made recommendations which mostly focus on maths, including:

1. Review the syllabus to be more appropriate for employers and different industries. This will have a significant impact on the delivery and will be more achievable for apprentices.

• Introduce a core and employer-led module approach appropriate to each sector. This could be project-based, asking the apprentice to produce work that is relevant to their industry. These workings could then be utilised in the business, benefitting the apprentices and their workplace.

• Make FSQ test questions clearer to make them more accessible to learners and more ‘functional’. The focus will be on the mathematical calculation, not the comprehension currently disadvantaging too many apprentices.

• Explore options for standardising assessments for learners with learning differences. This ensures all apprentices have an equitable chance of achieving an FSQ.

• Review the funding arrangements for FSQ test retakes so that providers are not out of funding.

FIN CEO Kerry Boffey said,

“Making these changes would put national FSQ attainment rates up by a significant percentage. We would also be looking at overall apprenticeship completion rates increasing by 20% or more without removing FSQs as a programme exit requirement.

“Thanks to FIN members, we’ve offered the government examples of where the current system is too academic and proposed practical solutions.

“The situation is now so bad that many employers would be happy to see FSQs removed from apprenticeships, but surely it would be better to make FSQs truly functional instead. FIN urges the Curriculum and Assessment Review panel to make this a key part of its look at post-16 pathways.”