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Functional skills refer to the Literacy, Numeracy and Information Communication Technology (ICT) ability of the learners. Whenever possible these should try to be improved during lessons as they are vital in everyday life and could help career ambitions.
Reading and writing skills are a vital aspect to everyday life and can help improve confidence. Language would be the most common aspect of literacy that is essential to getting by in life. This could be by making a simple telephone call through to getting your message across in a job interview.
Teachers can help students improve the literacy skills by setting reading and writing tasks. Discussions can be incorporated; however teachers have to be aware that learners may need extra support. Their skills will not be improved simply by setting endless tasks that could even inhibit the learning process.
Basic maths skills are essential to getting through in life without assistance. Bills need to be added up to calculate finances and sums may need to be calculated when handing back change. Once again without these skills people may lose confidence and withdraw from the learning process.
The role of the teacher could be to incorporate basic maths skills into their lessons. This could be through calculating ratios or analyzing statistics in small groups.
ICT skills are an essential [part of the twenty first century. Increasingly people past retirement age may enrol on government backed lessons to learn how to use a computer, or read emails. These type of skills can open up a wealth of potential information from looking up a family tree on the web, or communicating with a relative on the other side of the world.
Teachers need to actively incorporate ICT in their lessons. This could be through interactive presentations, researching topics on computers and use of videos.
Not enough learners are thought to be at the Level 2 stage of any of the above which is roughly GCSE or equivalent standard. Teachers themselves should maintain this level or improve their own skills to ensure they are giving learners the best possible chance to improve.
