Delivery of Essential Skills Wales qualifications in apprenticeship programmes
Thematic Report
This report considers the delivery of Essential Skills Wales (ESW) qualifications in Welsh Government-funded apprenticeships in Wales. Essential Skills Wales are a suite of qualifications intended to develop and confirm learners’ communication, application of number and digital literacy skills. Apprentices – unless they already have certain qualifications which allow exemption – are required to attain specified ESW qualifications to achieve their full apprenticeship framework.
Recommendations
The Welsh Government should:
- R1 Work with Qualifications Wales and the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research to review the use of Essential Skills Wales qualifications in apprenticeships
- R2 Refresh the Wales Essential Skills Toolkit (WEST) and resources
- R3 Working with partners, develop opportunities for professional learning to enhance practitioners’ understanding of the pedagogy and capacity to deliver essential skills
Work-based learning apprenticeship providers should:
- R4 Develop partnership working approaches to ensure that:
- learners have meaningful opportunities to study and take assessments bilingually or through the medium Welsh
- learners’ additional learning needs are promptly identified, evaluated and appropriately supported
- R5 Ensure that learners who have already attained the required ESW qualifications or are exempted by proxy continue to develop their literacy, numeracy and digital skills
- R6 Offer professional learning that develops tutors’ and assessors’ pedagogy to deliver essential skills
Lead providers should:
- R7 Ensure that self-evaluation reflects on the effectiveness of the delivery models in use across the provider’s partners and sub-contractors and takes action to reduce the potential disadvantages identified in this report