Delivery of Essential Skills Wales qualifications in apprenticeship programmes - Estyn

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

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