MAPPING TO FUNCTIONAL SKILLS Excellence in skills development
Good practice guide The following suggestions will help you with setting up and planning a strategic approach to using bksb to improve English and mathematics in your school. There are several ways that the bksb learning resources can be used to support students, but the two that are detailed below seem to be the most popular approaches used in schools.
1.
Preparation for the ALAN tests
For schools, these suggestions may or may not fit with the timetable, but would be an ideal way of organising your students for the ALAN tests - which will be in place until at least the end of 2010. •
Arrange for year 11 students to take the bksb Initial Assessments in September or as early on in the first term as possible. These assessments take around 20 minutes so if time and IT access is an issue then both the English and mathematics assessments can easily be done in one hour long lesson.
•
The results of these assessments will then give you an idea of which students are working at Level 1 or 2. There are then several options available for you.
i) Students achieving good Level 2 results in both areas could access a free practice ALAN test online. If they pass this then they are probably ready to be entered for the real thing straight away. This means that your top level students will have the ALAN tests completed and the points banked before the autumn half term break. ii) Students who are working between Level 1 and 2 need to undertake a diagnostic assessment to highlight their skill gaps. Set these students a target of being ready for a practice level 2 ALAN test towards the end of the term. iii) Students who are working mostly at Level 1 will need to take the diagnostic assessments to highlight areas of development that are needed. The students will then need to be assigned the appropriate bksb learning resources to help them improve in the areas that have been identified. Competence in these topics could then be verified using the bksb Skill Check. A practice ALAN test could be scheduled for Christmas time to gauge whether it is appropriate to enter the student for a Level 2 test.
2.
Supporting students throughout KS4 with Functional Skills
For schools, with the Functional Skills in English and maths being integral to the success of students in Key Stage 4, it is essential that you have a clear indication of your students’ ability in relationship to the Functional Skills standards. One way of doing this is to follow the guidance provided by the bksb process overleaf. ©West Nottinghamshire College
15