Curriculum and Assessment Developments at Key Stages 3 and 4

Activities with student teachers

It's worth – as a starting point – asking student teachers to discuss in groups and come up with a definition of 'Functional English'. What would be its key features? What does it mean to be functional in English? How might you show this functionality? How would it be different to what goes on in English 'normally'? It might also be worth asking student teachers where they believe the drive for Functional Skills is coming from. The student teachers' thoughts and ideas can then be put in the context of the official view; the QIA document (QIA, 2007) begins with an explanantion of the need for Functional Skills, and then in the opening pages (pp.21-22) of the section on English gives a definition of Functional English, along with what it calls 'A Vision'. Contrasting these ideas with the student teachers' own thoughts provides some interesting points of debate.

Student teachers might then be directed to the Functional Skills Standards themselves, and given the claims of 'embedded-ness', a critical reading activity might be to put the Level 1 Functional Skills Standards for English for, say, speaking and listening, alongside the relevant section of the new National Curriculum to investigate to what extent these official claims hold water.