The skills you need to succeed.

Welcome to Essential Skills Wales, the web site for everybody studying the new suite of key / basic skills qualifications in Wales.  This website is currently under construction in advance of the launch of Essential Skills Wales in September 2010.  In the coming months we will bring you a range of resources to help you study for and obtain the new qualifications.  Do please check back here regularly for updates.

The Essential Skills Wales qualification suite will replace the current Key Skills and Basic Skills qualifications from 2010.  The suite is divided into the following subject areas :

Communication

Application of Number

Information & Communication Technology (ICT)

The wider Key Skills of Improving Own Learning and Performance, Problem Solving and Working with Others will continue to be available as part of the Essential Skills Wales qualification, but exactly how they will slot in to the qualification is currently under review.

GCSEs in English, Maths, ICT and Welsh will also be updated from September 2010.

Essential Skills - Communication

Introduction to the Communication skill area.

Communication will replace the existing Key Skills Communication and Basic Skills Adult Literacy qualifications when the Essential Skills Wales qualifications are launched in September 2010.  A revised GCSE in English  will also come on stream at the same time.

You will be able to study Communication at  levels 1 - 4, or at entry level.  At levels 1 - 4, assessment will be via a portfolio of evidence of the skills obtained.  This portfolio will be assessed by your school or college, with the grades awarded then being checked by an external body.  For entry level Communication, the current awarding body devised assessments will remain in place.

Quick fact : currently, 40% of all of the level 3 and 4 Communication qualifications awarded in the UK are awarded to students in Wales.  Bright bunch, aren’t we?

This site is under construction - please check back for updates.

Essential Skills - ICT

Introduction to the Information & Communication Technology skill area.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT for short) will replace the existing Key Skills ICT and Skills For Life ICT qualifications when the Essential Skills Wales qualifications are launched in September 2010.  A revised GCSE in ICT will also come on stream at the same time.

You will be able to study ICT at levels 1 - 4, or at entry level.  At levels 1 - 4, assessment will be via a portfolio of evidence of the skills obtained.  This portfolio will be assessed by your school or college, with the grades awarded then being checked by an external body.  For entry level ICT, the current awarding body devised assessments will remain in place.

Essential Skills - Application Of Number

Introduction to the Application of Number skill area.

Application of Number will replace the existing Key Skills Application of Number and Basic Skills Adult Numeracy qualifications when the Essential Skills Wales qualifications are launched in September 2010.  A revised GCSE in Maths  will also come on stream at the same time.

You will be able to study Application of Number at  levels 1 - 4, or at entry level.  At levels 1 - 4, assessment will be via a portfolio of evidence of the skills obtained.  This portfolio will be assessed by your school or college, with the grades awarded then being checked by an external body.  For entry level Application of Number, the current awarding body devised assessments will remain in place.

This site is under construction - please check back for updates.

Worth waiting for, essentially.

Welcome to Essential Skills Wales.  This site is currently under construction - please check back soon.

Worth waiting for, essentially.

Good things come to those who wait…

Worth waiting for, essentially.

What are essential skills? Why do you need them, and how do you get them?  We’ll try and talk you through the basics of the new Essential Skills Wales qualifications.

Essential skills are the skills that you will need to get on in life, no matter what career path you choose to follow.  Without the ability to read, write, communicate and use Information Technology, you will find it much harder to achieve your ambitions.

The new Essential Skills Wales qualifications are being introduced to ensure that everyone in Wales has the skills they need to succeed in life.  A similar suite of qualifications is being rolled out in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.  Different countries place a slightly different emphasis on which skills they teach, and how they assess students, and because of this there are lots of different names for the qualifications.

What’s the difference between Key Skills, Basic Skills, Functional Skills and Essential Skills Wales?

It can get confusing, so here is a breakdown of some of the more common names you might come across when you are looking for Essential Skills Wales resources :

Key Skills : this was the commonly used name for “Essential Skills Wales” before 2010 (or 2009 in some countries).  These qualifications were taken by students aged 16 - 19.

Basic Skills : this was a similar set of qualifications to “Key Skills”, but designed for adult learners returning to education, rather than 16 - 19 year olds.

Functional Skills : this is the name given to the new set of essential skills qualifications in England.  With both  Functional Skills in England and Essential Skills in Wales, there is no distinction between students aged 16 - 19 and adults - there’s just one set of qualifications for everyone.  So if all of these names are confusing you, you can think of Essential Skills Wales as Key Skills and Basic Skills rolled into one - and Functional Skills as the name given to the Essential Skills Wales qualification in other countries.

Click the links in our Essential Skills category to find out more about how the qualifications are structured, what you’ll study and how you will be assessed.