The Education and Endowment Foundation (EEF) is launching a £5 million fund aimed at helping learners who don’t hold an English or maths GCSE at grade C or above.
The EEF fund, in partnership with JP Morgan, will be used to support up to 8 research projects that are aimed at improving English and maths GCSE grades for Key Stage 4 learners.
English and maths skills are often in the headlines, and in recent years it’s been because of poor achievement rates in the UK. A 2013 study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that 16-24 year olds in England were ranked 21st (maths) and 22nd (English) out of 24 European countries for these vital skills. The study also showed that 8.5 million adults in the UK had lower than average numeracy skills. An additional study revealed that over a third of learners don’t achieve a C or above in GCSE English and maths.
Employers rate English and maths among the most important skills when hiring. A person with poor numeracy skills is twice as likely to be unemployed than someone with average or good maths skills. While GCSEs have long been considered the benchmark for English and maths skills, more employers than ever are recognising Functional Skills and valuing candidates and employees with these qualifications.
ForSkills director Jonathan Wells argues that Functional Skills are “much more rigorous than GCSEs when it comes to application of skills… the focus is on the application of basic skills in real life practical situations, rather than academic theories.”
A common complaint of GCSE learners is that maths GCSEs don’t prepare them for a practical application of maths, citing the likes of Pythagoras’ theorem and algebra as theories that they’ll never use in their day-to-day lives.
The key aim of the initiative will be not only to improve the maths and English skills of school leavers, but ultimately to make learners more employable and give them a better chance of getting on in work. Chief Executive of the EEF, Sir Kevan Collins, commented: “Every year, hundreds of thousands of young people are leaving formal education without the qualifications in English and maths they will need to succeed in life. Those from poorer backgrounds are particularly vulnerable to finding themselves unable to continue their studies or to secure a good job.”
English and maths skills are vital, no matter what profession a learner enters into. Strong literacy skills aid communication, while numeracy skills are essential for day-to-day tasks like managing finances. We’re pleased to see a fund dedicated to upskilling learners in English and maths, and hope to see an improvement in the employability prospects of all learners.
We’d love to hear your thoughts – do you agree that this is a worthwhile initiative and what are your expectations of the outcomes?
