| |
 |
|
  |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
FAQ for Colleges
Q.
What is mandatory on institutions to enable them to claim entitlement funding?
Q. What is mandatory on institutions to enable them to claim entitlement funding? A.All students must be following a programme which includes tutorial, enrichment and key skills learning. However, providers are reminded of the Secretary of State's expectations for post-16 learners regarding key skills achievement, which are set out in section 1.2 of this document.
Q. Will there be funding for mathematics and English GCSEs and the corresponding Key Skills at level 2? A.Yes, GCSEs in mathematics and English will continue to be eligible for funding in addition to the entitlement funding.
Q. How will Key Skills be funded for adults? A.Funding is available for learners aged 19 and over for key skills qualifications, and for all part-time learners aged 16 and over. Funding is loadbanded based on the guided learning hours (glh). Where the delivery of key skills is embedded within the main programme, the provider is required to identify the glh for the key skills learning.
Q. How will the delivery of Key Skills be monitored in colleges, now that the audit requirement for Key Skills has been reduced? A. The LSC will monitor key skills through quality monitoring visits, along with other curriculum provision, as part of the performance review area Quality of education and training and standards achieved by learner. It is also expected that key skills will be inspected as part of OFSTED's and the ALI's planned cycle of inspections of all institutions. External auditors will check that students meet the eligibility criteria for Council funded entitlement, i.e. that they are aged under 19 on 31 August in the calendar year in which they start their programme of study and that they are studying on a full-time basis, defined as undertaking a main programme generating at least 16 basic on-programme units (bopus) per period, equivalent to 48 bopus per year.
Q. What information does the college need to document/maintain to inform the monitoring visits? A. Monitoring of the Quality of education and training and standards achieved by learners performance review area considers a range of evidence sources relevant to key skills. Monitoring of key skills is part of overall monitoring. The depth and breadth of specifically monitoring key skills needs to be commensurate with its scale in the context of education and training overall. Sources of evidence for quality of education and training may include, for example: a. inspection grades and more detailed findings in inspection reports (where available); b. levels of learners' achievements and learner retention; as well as the results of learner satisfaction surveys. These may specifically monitor learners' views about key skills delivery; c. strategic planning information held by the local LSC will contain a commentary on plans to deliver the enrichment package (as specified in John Bolt's letter to local LSC Executive Directors, dated 15 August 2001). Supplementary information may also be derived from: · the individual learner profile
Q. What information should be included in the college's strategic planning information to be returned to the Local LSC by the end of September each year? A.Institutions are asked to provide, as part of their strategic planning information to their local LSC a commentary detailing their plans to support the Secretary of States expectations for key skills and for delivering the entitlement package.
Q. How do I record key skills activity on the ISR for learners, who are not registering with an awarding body? A. All students following key skills programmes are eligible for the entitlement funding provided they are also receiving tutorial and enrichment activities. The current guidance for recording data on the ISR is published in the Institution Support Manual - Individualised Student Record (ISR) 2001/02. Institutions are requested to return information about all the qualifications on which a student is enrolled to study. This includes both those learners who are registered with an appropriate awarding body for key skills qualifications and those who are not. Page 87 of the current manual sets out the requirements to complete the Student Data Set Field S28. To claim the entitlement funding a valid entry must be entered in this field. Page 137 sets out the requirements to complete the Outcome Field Q20. The valid entries listed should continue to be used for 2001/02 returns. Learners who have completed the key skills learning and who are not registering with an awarding body should be identified in the outcome field Q20 by using code 7.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
top of page