How involved does the Location need to become with the Key Skills and Technical Certificate?
Key Skills or Functional Skills, are skills that we all use in everyday life - in our work, our homes and our training. The six Key Skills are listed earlier in this website.
You will not be surprised when you think about it, how important Key Skills are to all of us. We all need to be able to communicate with our family, friends, work colleagues or employers - that covers Communication! When we buy food, measure out animal feeds, weigh hay or work out the area of a dog exercise yard we are using Application of Number.
If you want to place an advert for a horse for sale; write to a client or keep training notes, you will involve ICT. There is also a more serious side to the benefits of Key Skills which ultimately benefits your business: your learner will need to be able to read Health & Safety notices; instructions;staff information and work procedures.
Learners should be able to take phone messages; complete accident forms or prepare customer orders. They might have to record numbers accurately and calculate accurately; the list is endless, and the more you find out about Key Skills the more you will realise that being involved in them is not an onerous task - more a day to day happening - the only difference being that as part of an Apprenticeship the tasks have to be recorded.
The Technical Certificate is a test that the Learner has to sit. It shows whether or not the learner has the sufficient knowledge and understanding to support their practical work. The location therefore becomes involved through its day to day training. The better the training, the better the knowledge and understanding of practical tasks is going to be and in turn you become involved in preparing for their Technical Certificate. Added to your day to day training, your allocated assessor will prepare the learner for their test with the help of their Workbook and other reference material.
If applicable your learner may need to attend coaching sessions for either Key Skills or their Technical Certificate.