Functional Skills

[SnapesGreasyHair]

Ds1 is about to sit his GCSEs in a mainstream school. He will either get a U or 1 at the very most. He is sitting a reduced amount anyway but still isn't predicted more.

This is a mixture of lazyness and autism.

He will be going to college to do a Foundation Course (only option) and will have to retake maths and english.

The college do a mixture of GCSE and Functional Skills.

I'm wondering if l should push for Functional skills as maths and english GCSE has been an absolute disaster.

However I'm not that familiar with Functional Skills and google isn't helping!

Could someone please explain what Functional skills is like to learn. Are questions set out different? Are they more "life based" as apposed to GCSE questions that want things like fractions added up.

He needs something that he can relate to and see that will be useful for the future as currently learning algebra when he can't see what he'll ever need it for is demoralizing him.

Hi OP
Not a teacher or lecturer, but did a work based level 3 It course, which included level 2 (Gcse standard) functional maths and English, as son sat his Gcse's.
The functional course worded much simplier and focused on lifeskills/work place needs. They are designed to help people like your child and me who struggle with Gcse's get an qualification which allows them to access work/fe.
Hth.
Good luck to your son. Our youngest may get 4's if lucky. But I bet your son, like him is lovely in so many other ways.

I used to teach functional skills English and maths to level 2. It's a broad spectrum of the syllabus, not as in depth as gcse, but diffident to demonstrate an understanding to allow students to do further study, especially those such as apprenticeships or training. We used to deliver each level in 60hours, then a 1 hour exam. The English is functional language, not literature, so there's no Shakespeare or poetry.

I have tutored many kids, mostly boys, who have really struggled with gcse English but found F2 to be manageable alongside their further education studies.

Many thanks