ESSENTIAL SKILLS

Essential Skills are new Northern Ireland qualifications in Adult Literacy and Adult Numeracy.

Workforce Training Services is offering the following qualifications at Entry Level:

Entry Level Certificate in Essential Skills – Adult Literacy
Entry Level Certificate in Essential Skills – Adult Numeracy
Essential Skills Levels 1 and 2 in Application of Number and Communication.

Entry Level Certificates are awarded at Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3, and this corresponds to the Entry Level of the National Qualification Framework. The specifications are designed to allow progression through the Entry levels and also for progression to NVQ Level 2 courses.

Essential Skills at Entry Level

Understandably, many young people and adults working at Entry level are anxious about returning to education.

The tasks are designed to be non-threatening and interesting.

For both Literacy and Numeracy, assessment tasks are based around a topic of relevance to adults and:

may be taken when the tutor decides the student is ready;
have no time restrictions;
are taken within the normal class environment and supervised by the usual tutor;
are in full colour;
contain images and local Northern Ireland references where appropriate;
are written specifically for an adult audience.
A Literacy task, based around a theme such as Health and Fitness and Buying a New Car, these tasks would be made up of three activities:

A tutor/student interview;
A group discussion;
Completion of a student answer booklet.
A Numeracy task, based around a theme such as Ready, Steady, Cook, Job Seek and Money Matters, is made up of two activities:

A tutor/student interview;
Completion of a student answer booklet.