‘Skills for Life’ is an initiative, as a result of the Moser Report, to improve Adult literacy and numeracy. As all lessons must incorporate keyskills I feel this has an enormous benefit to both the Teacher and the learner, as this can track skill gaps and track the learner’s progress, within just one subject. Key Skills are a range of essential skills, such as, literacy, numeracy and ICT.
Functional Skills have been defined as, “practical skills in English, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Mathematics, that allow individuals to work confidently, effectively and independently in life”. (http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_6062.aspx)
As stated above I tailor made the course to suit my learners. I carried this out by first of all observing the learners and learning from them. I discovered that using various strategies would help them concentrate better. Some of the Strategies I use within the classroom, as a result of the young people’s disorder, was to make sure I sit the young people with a desk in between each of them, therefore, preventing unnecessary distractions. I tend to focus on the morning for giving each of the young people the most tasks, which require more concentration, generally by lunch time their activity levels are rising, preventing them from focusing and therefore resulting in inappropriate behaviours.
I ensure that I do not talk too much about the lesson and engage the young people with interesting activities, such as, online typing tests, wordsearches, ICT questionnaires etc. Thus being the main reason why my first subject within ICT was to teach Powerpoint, I thought by inserting pictures, creating transitions and using colourful fonts would make the learners interested and found it help engage these young people for longer periods of time. I try to ensure that the young people work for at least 45 minutes and no longer, then they know they are allowed a break. If I tried to push them into working any longer they would cause a riot, dis-engage and do their own thing, usually involving throwing objects around the room.
Barriers to Learning and Entitlement that are Inherent in the Course both to those already on the course and to potential learners
The majority of learners who attend B-skills originate from diverse backgrounds, which causes immediate barriers prior to learning. Barriers, such as, lack of confidence, low entry levels, homelessness, Child Protection issues, substance mis-use etc.
One of the main barriers some of my learner’s come across is ‘Social Exclusion’. This is mainly, as a result of the area the majority of the learner’s come from. They are under pressure from their families to prove how ‘tough’ they are and if a young person does not wear clothes that have a logo on, if they are poor, if they don’t ‘swear’ enough or if they do not fit in the ‘gang’ they are excluded out of the classroom and sadly enough they try to bring this into the classroom. Therefore, causing an immediate barrier to learning within my classroom, this has a huge impact on the learner, prior to even entering the classroom.
The Government has defined Social Exclusions as, “Social exclusion is a shorthand label for what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linking problems, such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown” (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library/documents1/socexcl.htm)
However, as an immediate response to part of the low income barrier The White Paper ‘Learning to Succeed’ proposed a new framework for post 16 learning, this was in conjunction with providing financial support, which is through the Educational Maintenance Allowance. This allowance pays learners from the age of 16+ who wish to carry on with full time education. The allowance can be a weekly payment up to £30, depending on the household income, this is an incentive for young people and helps towards costs in terms of books, travel etc.
I feel that EMA is a beneficial allowance for learners, whose families are on a low income. However, I feel this is very unfair to learners, whose families earn above the £30,000 per year mark. Just because their parents are earning this, does not mean that the young people are any better off, just because of the higher income their parents are bringing into the household. The majority of these young people are not receiving £30 per week of their parents, as their peers are receiving off the Government. This then makes these young people from higher incomes disadvantaged. If only they could be a fairer way. All young people from the ages of 16 – 18 should be in receipt of this incentive, even if this meant lowering the allowance to £20 per week.
Issues Relating to Equal Opportunties in all senses and how the course meets requirements for Equal Opportunities and Support for Diversity
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 states that you are disabled if you have a mental or physical impairment. This must have an undesirable effect on a person’s normal day to day activities in at least one of these areas:
- Mobility
- Manual dexterity
- Physical co-ordination
- Continence
- Speech
- Hearing or eye sight
- Memory or ability to concentrate, learn or understand and the understanding of the risk of physical danger.
The adverse effect is substantial and long term.
My learners come under the final bullet point stated, memory or ability to concentrate. As stated above the learners I teach do not attend mainstream school, my pupils have a statement of Special Educational Needs. This is as a result of learning difficulties they have because of their ADHD. The way the course is tailored to meet the requirements of my learners is described in section Course meeting the needs
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) defines a disabled person as,
“ someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/RightsAndObligations/DisabilityRights/DG_4001069
Considerable efforts are made on my course to ensure that the learning environment is catered for the safety and well being of all learners. Also It is vital that when planning the Scheme of Work that it takes into consideration the learner’s values, cultures, languages, race, religion, gender, disabilities and lifestyles. Every effort is made to recognise the above.
I have a few learners with very low self esteem on my course, due to their disability and their lifestyle outside the classroom. To include these learners I always ensure that they receive the same attention as the other learners in the classroom and they are encouraged to ask and answer questions whenever possible. My learners are also aware that if they need someone to talk to, whether it be regarding education or personal I am always there to point them in the right direction in terms of Professionals e.g. Matrix, Grapevine, Connexions, Social Workers, Education Psychologist, which all provide comprehensive learning and support services.
Another learner on the course was a Muslim. It was taken into consideration that this girl in question was very uncomfortable working in a classroom with males and females, so it was decided that she would be place in an all girl group. It was also critical that, as Tutors we were aware of issues this learner may be facing within the classroom and in her private life. We were aware that this learner was facing considerable pressure from her family to leave England and as a result of this was suffering from headaches. It was decided that if this learner felt the need she could leave the classroom, as and when she felt ill.
How Learner Entitlement might be Enhanced by Structural and/or Teaching Changes on the Course
Another essential factor crucial to equal opportunities in terms of the learning process is the analysis of the learning styles of my learners. To ascertain what preferred styles were to be used within my class, a learning style questionnaire was carried out to all learners within the Initial Assessment. There is a range of learning styles within the class, most learners prefer a mixture of information presented visually and hands on, where as another learner prefers information to be discussed orally. Therefore, visually, auditory and kinaesthetic are my learner’s preferred learning styles.
As Petty (2001, PG 124) states, “It is most essential to undertake the learning styles analysis so we don’t fall into the trap of teaching in the way that we like to learn and thus not meeting the learning needs of our students”.
I also use repetition frequently at the start of each lesson, this is used as a result of my learners having ADHD, I know they forget easily so I find that re-capping the previous lesson to be quite helpful and to finish the lesson I re-cap in the form of a quiz.
As previously mentioned, there are numerous subjects being taught within B-Skills. To enhance learning to take place I would integrate it into all subjects, which at present is not happening. Funding through the National Grid for Learning and training through the New Opportunities Fund ICT Training Programme has emphasised how ICT can enhance the teaching and learning of pupils. It is proven that young people today find incorporating ICT into subjects that they are bored with can help them focus, they say it can develop ideas and motivate learners. Tutors using overhead projectors with colourful diagrams/presentations/interesting graphics can immensely improve learning to take place.
If we could gain extra funding to employ support staff, this would play a major role in the young people’s education. It is said that it is difficult to give adequate attention to learners experiencing difficulties in large classes without the help of support staff. Without support staff and resources, educational programmes will struggle to meet the required standards.
References
BBC News. (1996). Many ADHD pupils excluded - poll . Available: (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/5348612.stm). Last accessed 4 December 2008.
John Tomlinson. (1996). Inclusive FE. Available: (http://csie.org.uk/publications/tomlinson-96.pdf). Last accessed 27 November 2008.
Petty, G. (2001) Teaching Today. 2nd ed. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes. (Page 124).
Qualifications and curriculum authority. (2008). An introduction to Functional Skills. Available: http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_6062.aspx. Last accessed 14 December 2008.
The Stationary office. (1998). social exclusion in scotland. Available: (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library/documents1/socexcl.htm). Last accessed 8 December 2008.
Directgov. (2005). Definition of 'disability' under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). Available:
(). Last accessed 12 December 2008
