Agored Cymru

Basic Skills

Incorporating literacy, numeracy and family programmes

Basic Skills and Essential Skills Wales
In September 2010, the Basic Skills and Key Skills qualifications in Wales will be merging to form a new suite of qualifications, Essential skills Wales (ESW). These will sit within the national Qualification Framework (NQF) alongside ‘A’ levels GCSEs and the Welsh Baccalaureate.

Units available through Agored Cymru will sit within the Quality Assured Lifelong Learning (QALL) pillars of the Credit and Qualifications Framework Wales (CQFW).

Agored Cymru units will enable students on short or contextualised courses to attain credit for their learning. They will also provide an accreditation route for those learners who need longer to develop the skills required to achieve the ESW qualifications. In order to support teachers in their planning, all of the literacy and numeracy units are currently being mapped to the ESW standards.

Our aim is to ensure that all learners have appropriate opportunities to improve their skills and receive recognition for their achievements.

We support providers and learners by:

Providing units of accreditation in a variety of sizes and levels
The national standards for literacy and numeracy are divided up into three levels: Entry, level 1 and level 2. Entry level is divided further into three levels entry 1, entry 2 and entry 3. Agored Cymru provides units at each level which allows centres to tailor make a framework to suit the needs of their learners.
Many adults at entry level may be reluctant to return to education and will only initially sign up for short courses. The facility to be able to choose from a range of one, two and three credit units will allow centres to design and accredit short programmes
Recognising that there are specific skills that learners may need to work towards
The skills within each curriculum level are broad in range and learners can differ in the length of time it takes them to reach the Essential Skills standards. By providing units covering a small range of skills, it enables the teacher to focus specifically on the learning required.
Providing an opportunity to address skills needs through a variety of contexts
Many of the assessments are context free allowing the providers to design courses around the interests of the learners. However there are a number of units which are specifically linked to key topics that may support learners who are addressing their skills needs through specific contexts. See links below
With contextualised basic skills teaching, literacy, numeracy and language form the primary learning goals. Embedded basic skills teaching can offer learners the opportunity to develop literacy, numeracy and language skills as a natural part of a different primary goal – a vocational or academic award, an adult education course or as part of personal learning goals delivered in the community. Either way, the contextualised basic skills units that Agored Cymru offers will allow learners to gain accreditation for their learning. Further contextualised units, including some linked to ESDGC are under development.
Involving basic skills practitioners in strategic development
Agored Cymru meets regularly with practitioners through standardisation events and has also set up Basic skills steering groups in north and south Wales. These meetings have been particularly useful in identifying and responding to gaps in the curriculum. If you would like more information on the steering groups, contact Judith.archer@agored.org.uk.
Working with Basic Skills Cymru to accredit areas such as family programmes and financial literacy

Agored Cymru has strong links with Basic Skills Cymru and has developed a suite of units to support their financial literacy and family learning initiatives. Many of these units have materials to support them which can be accessed by clicking on the paperclip on the unit descriptor.

Packages of units are available in:

Contextualised basic skills units:

Available Units
To find a complete list of the basic skills units, visit the unit group sections on the home page – link. Alternatively, visit the unit search page, enter the following codes into the national code box and select the level required.

Subject Area	Code
Numeracy	HD4
Communication/literacy	HD2 and HD3

New

Ryder Cup

The Ryder Cup coming to Wales in October 2010 will provide a great opportunity to contextualise literacy and numeracy within a major topical sporting event. Newport City Council have produced a number of resources that can be used for this purpose. This work can provide evidence for a whole range of our units and also enable our learners to find out a little more about Wales. Follow the links below to access these resources.

General resources in English and Welsh:

http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/eng/therydercup2010newport.htm

Numeracy resources:

http://agored.org.uk/getfile.aspx?fileid=749

Literacy resources:

http://agored.org.uk/getfile.aspx?fileid=750

Useful Websites

http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/sflcurriculum
Go to this site to access copies of the numeracy and literacy core curriculum for adults and the pre-entry curriculum framework.

http://rwp.excellencegateway.org.uk/readwriteplus/Learning_Materials_Main
A set of teaching resources ranging from entry level 1 to level 2 for ESOL, literacy and numeracy-

http://www.skillsworkshop.org/index.htm
Skills for life resources all mapped to the Literacy, numeracy and ESOL core curriculum

http://www.niace.org.uk/publications
A good source of materials on all aspects of adult learning

http://rwp.excellencegateway.org.uk/readwriteplus/DiagnosticMaterialsnumeracy
Diagnostic tools for use in assessing the specific numeracy skills needs of a learner once initial assessment has given an approximate level.

http://rwp.excellencegateway.org.uk/readwriteplus/DiagnosticMaterialsliteracy
Diagnostic tools for use in assessing the specific literacy skills needs of a learner once initial assessment has given an approximate level.

http://wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/learningproviders/essentialskillswales/?lang=en
For more information on Essential Skills Wales

http://rwp.qia.oxi.net/embeddedlearning/search.cfm
This link takes you to a range of teaching resources for embedding basic skills into contexts ranging from hairdressing to horticulture.

http://www.ngflcymru.org.uk/
Excellent source of interactive resources at all levels

http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/lluinteractive/index.php
Produced by London South Bank University, this site allows you to customise interactive literacy resources to suit the needs of your own learners.

http://www.talent.ac.uk
A support site for teachers of ESOL, numeracy and literacy, providing resources and links to other useful sites

http://www.rkl.org.uk/llu/index.asp
Produced by London South Bank University this site enables you to produce your own interactive numeracy resources.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/oft_at_work/partnership_working/consumer-alliance/resources/toolkitfront/
Using everyday consumer situations, such as choosing a mobile phone, as contexts for learning numeracy and literacy

http://www.lluk.org/documents/Numeracy_English.pdf
LLUK application of standards for teachers of numeracy

http://www.lluk.org/documents/Literacy_English.pdf
LLUK application of standards for teachers of literacy

http://www.move-on.org.uk/index.asp
This is useful site for resources, session plans and practice exam papers.

http://www.mmlsoft.com/
This site provides a range of templates for interactive materials and other resources which support teaching.

http://www.tes.co.uk/
This site provides support for all aspects of teaching including free resources.

http://wales.gov.uk/topics/educationandskills/learningproviders/basicskillscymru/publications/teacherstvinwales/?lang=en
Teachers TV offers programmes for primary and secondary teachers, heads, managers, governors, teaching assistants and support staff. By visiting this website you can access a number of programmes that have been produced by Teachers TV. Whilst primarily aimed at primary and secondary learners, there are many good ideas that can be adapted to use with adults.