Assessment+of+functional+skills

Summative assessment of functional skills
The role of the functional skills pilot is for those involved to work with QCA and the 12 designated awarding bodies to help shape what the final assessment for functional skills will look like.

There are 12 awarding bodies involved in the pilot, each one working to an agreed set of assessment principles. There will be some differences between the approach the awarding bodies take but it is not expected that these differences will be radical.

The 12 Awarding bodies offering functional skills pilot qualifications are as follows:-
 * Assessment and Qualifications Alliance [|AQA]
 * Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network [|ASDAN]
 * City and Guilds
 * EMTA Awards Limited (EAL)
 * Education Development International [|EDI]
 * [|Edexcel]
 * National Open College Network (NOCN)
 * Northern council for Further Education (NCFE)
 * Open College North West (OCNW)
 * [|OCR]
 * Vocational Training Charitable Trust (VTCT)
 * [|WJEC]

QCA have confirmed the points allocated to the achievement and attainment tables (AATs) for Functional Skills qualifications. They are shown in the table below.
 * Functional skills performance points**


 * **Functional Skill Level** || **Points Equivalent** || **GCSE Equivalent** ||
 * Level 2 || 23 || 0.5 of a GCSE at Grades A*-C ||
 * Level 1 || 12.5 || 0.5 of a GCSE at Grades D-G ||
 * Entry Level 3 || 7 ||  ||
 * Entry Level 2 || 6 ||  ||
 * Entry Level 1 || 5 ||  ||

During the first year of the pilot awarding bodies have been asked by QCA to provide at least two assessment opportunities. The first opportunity in January 2008**.** Click here to find out more about summative assessment in English. Click here to find out more about summative assessment in Maths. Click here to find out more about summative assessment in ICT.
 * Assessment opportunities**


 * Additional information**
 * Achievement of functional skills is to be assessed by a freestanding qualification.
 * It is the intention that a pass in the functional skills Level 2 will be a requirement for the awarding of the GCSE (English, mathematics and ICT) at grade C and above, when the revised GCSE qualifications are introduced in September 2010.
 * The relationship between the functional skills and the GCSE will be evaluated throughout the pilot phase.
 * During the 3 year pilot, learners undertaking GCSE assessments in English, Maths or ICT //will not// be required to have achieved a functional skill in that subject.
 * There will be no proxy qualifications.
 * Centres piloting functional skills with Year 9 learners should note that if these learners achieve their functional skills and then begin a Diploma in 2008, these qualifications will stand and they will not need to retake them.