CHANGES TO ESOL:

1. CHANGES TO ESOL: NEW QUALIFICATIONS COMING WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING? PAUL SCEENY – CITY & GUILDS

2. THE ESOL LANDSCAPE… • CHANGES CHANGES CHANGES… • New Home Office rules for Citizenship/Settlement. • Move to ‘listed’ funding rates– and desire to stamp out non-regulated provision). • All roads (it seems…) now lead to GCSE. • Impact of JCP mandating– and more generally the changing patterns of provision. • QCF maths/English qualifications– being used extensively with ESOL learners • Changes to ESOL Skills for Life Reading assessment at levels 1-2. • ESOL Skills for Life to be replaced by new QCF-based ESOL qualifications from this summer.

3. QCF-BASED ESOL QUALIFICATIONS WHAT WILL NEED TO CHANGE? • HOW DOES QCF WORK? • Qualifications built from one or more units • Each unit has a credit value(1 credit = 10 notional hours or learning) • Qualification title depends on its size(1-12 credits = Award, 13-36 credits = Certificate, 37+ credits = Diploma) • Credit now used (by Skills Funding Agency) to determine qualifications’ funding rate • DESIGN FEATURES • Units consist of Learning Outcomes (LOs) and Assessment Criteria (ACs)– candidates must meet all ACs to pass (so they need to be written carefully!) • ESOL qualifications must continue to be based on National Standards for Adult Literacy and demonstrate ‘clear relationship’ with Adult ESOL Core Curriculum. • Government expects new qualifications to be ‘refreshed’ and more flexible than current ESOL Skills for Life.

4. QCF-BASED ESOL QUALIFICATIONS WHAT IS BEING DEVELOPED? • UNITS TO UNDERPIN THE QUALIFICATIONS • Several awarding organisations are developing these jointly • City & Guilds opted to write its own units • All must cover the same standards, and are likely to be of a similar size (with one unit per mode). • QUALIFICATION STRUCTURES AND ASSESSMENTS • Each awarding organisation producing its own assessments – subject to Ofqual’s acceptance. • Some will use internal assessment, some external, some a mixture of both. • Most likely to have a similar structure (eg single-mode and full-mode qualifications)– especially those using the shared units. THERE’S NO CHANGE TO THE ESOL CORE CURRICULUM, OR TO THE STANDARDS

5. CURRENT ESOL SKILLS FOR LIFE QUALIFICATIONS WILL CLOSE ON 31 AUGUST 2014 ALL AWARDING ORGANISATIONS ARE WORKING CLOSELY WITH THE SKILLS FUNDING AGENCY TO ENSURE NEW QUALIFICATIONS WILL BE FUNDABLE QCF-BASED ESOL QUALIFICATIONS TIMESCALES • ACCREDITATION • Because Ofqual regards ESOL as a ‘high risk’ area, all proposed new ESOL qualifications must go through a full review process before they can be accredited. • Process takes up to 40 days (longer if rejected), although most AOs intending to submit well before Easter. • TRANSITION ARRANGEMENTS • These will be a matter for each awarding organisation. • All are intending to make sample assessments available as soon as they can. • Skills Funding Agency anxious to avoid a gap in provision– eg might use Innovation Code to fund new qualifications initially on an unregulated basis.

6. WHAT ABOUT SITUATIONS WHERE A ‘WHOLE’ ESOL QUALIFICATIONS JUST ISN’T SUITABLE OR ACHIEVABLE? The Government wants ‘unregulated’ provision (ie where it doesn’t lead to a qualification) only in exceptional cases. What are your experiences of using Employability qualifications QCF English (and maths) units and qualifications Entry 1 Personal Progression (‘bottomless’) units? Is there anything else? ESOL LEARNERS WHAT ELSE CAN ESOL LEARNERS DO? OTHER THAN UNREGULATED PROVISION… • OFTEN FACE MULTIPLE • CHALLENGES • – OF WHICH • LANGUAGE • IS ONLY ONE