The new Foundation Learning Tier is a key tool in the Government's drive to ensure that all young people acquire the skills and learning to enable them to fulfil their potential.
Currently, about 30 per cent of young people have not achieved a Level 2 qualification by the age of 19, and there are eight million adults without any qualifications.
The FLT, which is being piloted across England in preparation for full implementation from September 2010, encompasses entry and level one qualifications. It is one of the four national qualification routes for 14- to 19-year-olds alongside GCSEs/A Levels, apprenticeships and diplomas.
The idea is that by creating this choice of routes for learners, all of which will lead to qualifications and progression to further learning, then all young people will be able to find the route that best suits them to learn and progress and so improve their work and life chances.
Qualifications in the FLT include a vocational qualification, personal and social development (PSD) units and functional skills to equip learners to make progress.
'The aim of the FLT is to better enable learners to move through entry level and level 1 to other learning, or the types of destinations most suitable for them - so that they don't get trapped in the "revolving door" of taking one entry or level 1 qualification after another,' says Jill Barnes, Qualifications and Credit Framework programme manager at CACHE. 'In this way, the FLT framework should enable and encourage more learners to move forward with their careers, perhaps by taking further qualifications which will help them to get a job and enter the workforce.'
'City and Guilds have always had entry level qualifications, such as preparing to work,' says Gill Mason, childcare adviser for City and Guilds. 'We are now looking at more sector specific entry level qualifications to reflect current needs. We are developing entry level qualifications to meet the interests and aspirations of our learners that will help them move on in small steps. We have already got some available on the QCF.'
Ms Barnes says that CACHE intends to migrate its current qualifications at Entry Level and Level 1 to the QCF in time for full FLT implementation in September 2010. These qualifications are:
- Entry Level Certificate in Preparing for Childcare (ELC)
- L1 Foundation Award in Caring for Children (FACC)
- L1 Award in Getting Started in Pre-School Setting.
Q & A
- How do the Foundation Learning Tier and the Qualifications and Credit Framework link up?
The new Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) has been devised to create a clear and coherent mechanism for charting all the various qualifications.
Every unit and qualification in the framework is graded at a specific level and has a credit value showing how much time it takes to achieve - for example, one credit represents ten hours.
There are three sizes of qualifications on the QCF:
- Awards - 1 to 12 credits
- Certificates - 13 to 36 credits
- Diplomas - 37 credits or more.
The levels on the QCF run upwards from entry level to level 8, showing how difficult a qualification is, with a PhD being at level 8. All entry level and level 1 qualifications are part of the Foundation Learning Tier.
- What is the FLT?
The Foundation Learning Tier, which is part of the wider reform programme of vocational qualifications for 14- to 19-year-olds, aims to ensure that entry level and level 1 learners have solid routes for progression across and through qualifications.
At present these routes do not exist, with many learners finding themselves stuck at entry level with little ability and opportunity to progress on to take qualifications of a higher level.
Initially it had been envisaged that there would be specific routes through the FLT, but the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has recently announced that there will no longer be specific progression pathways in the FLT framework. Therefore, the framework in effect becomes a single progression pathway requiring the study of three elements - a vocational qualification, PSD units and functional skills.
PSD units will need to be four credits in size overall, taking 40 hours of study. Functional skills in maths, literacy and ICT will be five credits each - 15 credits in all, or 150 learning hours.
There is no requirement regarding size for the vocational qualification element. However, with destinations such as level 2 Certificates or 14-19 Diplomas in mind, qualifications that are provided via the FLT are likely to be Award or Certificate in size.
Specific vocational qualifications chosen by learners will depend on the skills they want to develop and will be chosen in the context of information, advice and guidance given by their training provider.
- What are the aims of the FLT?
The overarching aims of the Foundation Learning Tier are to:
- Support improved engagement, participation, achievement and progression through entry level and level 1 towards level 2 or, where relevant and appropriate, towards other destinations such as supported employment and independent living.
- Bring coherence to programmes of study at entry level and level 1 to support progression for young people and adults, including supporting the full participation of all young people in learning.
- Ensure learners gain a minimum level and range of skills providing a sound foundation for further learning and employment
- support the delivery of quality learning programmes that are personalised and appropriate to the learner's needs, which help to encourage raised aspirations and a culture of lifelong learning.
- What is destination-led learning?
The idea is that learners are supported individually to progress to the most appropriate level for them via a personalised learning programme which is developed by the training provider and the learner working together. It is hoped that this system will give people the individual support and flexibility to help them to learn and progress.
Learning journeys evolve and develop, so the destination may change at a later point in the programme through the process of ongoing review of the programme.
- What are the destinations within the FLT?
Destinations for the 14-19 age group are one of the four national qualifications routes running alongside FLT:
- Diplomas
- GCSEs/A Levels
- Apprenticeships
- Sustainable employment with training.
For learners with FLT learning difficulties and/or disabilities and for those with a Statement of Special Educational Needs, the destinations might be supported employment and or/independent living.
Adults embarking on the FLT will include people who have no qualifications, or a few low-level ones, and people who have been out of formal learning for some years. Destinations for them include:
- Full level 2 Qualifications
- Apprenticeships - sustainable employment with training
- Train to Gain - level 1 or level 2
Further information
www.cache.org.uk
www.city-and-guilds.co.uk
www.cwdcouncil.org.uk
Part 2, looking at the new Qualifications and Credit Framework, will appear in Nursery World on 20 August
THE COLLEGE VIEW
Around 150 learners are expected to join the FLT pilot project at Nescot College, Epsom in September, says Lynn Reddick, the head of Foundation Learning at the college.
'We ran a small pilot Edexcel Workskills qualification in 2008/09 with six learners but did not deliver the functional skills aspect of the course,' she says. 'We are going to deliver a pilot project from September to all entry level learners on vocational courses.'
The pilot also includes three level 1 study groups.
To get this far has involved 'researching and selecting awarding bodies and qualifications, gaining accreditation, training staff, producing tracking paperwork, further developing our personalised learning plans and writing new units for all the groups', says Ms Reddick.
She says the benefits for learners from the FLT are that they are able to choose which subjects they want to study and can combine different areas of interest at different levels, according to their ability.
'They will also have enhanced personalised learning plans, as these have been developed further than in the past, and they will have ownership of them from the beginning.'
Drawing up timetables covering both staff and rooms to ensure that all learners are able to access support and have their choices will be complicated.
'The insistence on functional skills being part of the overall package is also going to be a challenge for less able learners who are very good practically, especially in construction and other vocational areas, but have weaker English, maths and ICT skills and find tests difficult and in some cases impossible to pass,' says Ms Reddick. 'This may result in learners failing the overall course. Combining the vocational aspects, personal and social development and the functional skills with the staff and funding available will be difficult to address initially, until we train or recruit the staff with the skills to address all three areas.'
