About functional skills
Everyone should have the opportunity to succeed in work and life – practical skills in English, mathematics and ICT will make that possible.
We all need a range of skills to succeed in our jobs and in our lives. That's why the government is committed to ensuring all learners acquire functional skills. Functional skills are the practical skills in English, information and communication technology (ICT) and mathematics that allow people to work confidently, effectively and independently in life.
These qualifications are central to the government’s 14–19 reforms, and are:
- a constituent of new Foundation, Higher and Advanced Diplomas
- a replacement for key skills qualifications
- part of all apprenticeships
- part of all Foundation Learning programmes
- part of GCSE English, mathematics and ICT.
Functional skills are also a part of the key stage 3 curriculum and revised programmes of study for key stage 4.
All consortia offering the Diploma, plus further centres participating in the functional skills pilot, now offer functional skills qualifications. From September 2010 these qualifications will be available to all learners.
Further help
If you're involved in delivering functional skills, the functional skills support programme is the central resource for support and guidance:
Functional skills support programme.
Get in touch
If you have a question about functional skills we hope you'll be able to find the answer elsewhere in this section. You can also take a look at our FAQs. And if you still can't find what you're looking for then get in touch with the functional skills team: functionalskills@qcda.gov.uk. We'll try to answer your question and if we can't we'll do our best to point you in the right direction.
To let us know about any changes to centre information or to respond to requests for data/information, please email fsdata@qcda.gov.uk.
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Last modified: 16 Jun 2010
