How to support apprentices with Functional Skills Maths

One of our  Functional Skills Lecturers at Bury College has offered some helpful advice for how you can your help your apprentices progress and succeed on their Functional Skills course.

Wendy Fairhurst, a Functional Skills Lecturer at Bury College, said:

It is important that your apprentice is given the time and support they need for their Functional Skills Maths, which includes allowing them to attend for weekly lessons and providing opportunities for them to revise for the exam.  75% of the exam is made up of problem-solving type questions, which requires them to apply skills to different contexts. It is with these question types that most have difficulty and lots of practice is required to become confident. 

By completing Functional Skills Maths and focusing on problem-solving, your apprentice will benefit your workplace as they are more prepared to take on challenges, use their initiative, work independently, and realise that tasks often need persistence, thought and reflection.  There are many ways in which you can help your apprentice.  Some of these are:

• Talking to your apprentice about what they have covered in maths and give them the opportunity to practice and apply skills they have learnt, particularly calculating sums without a calculator – practice makes perfect!
• Becoming actively involved in your apprentice’s progress and encourage them as much as possible with their learning to support them to succeed.  You could, for example, use the revision questions issued to them in class to help test your apprentice in readiness for their weekly recap tests.
• Contacting the Functional Skills Maths tutor if your apprentice is struggling to apply their maths skills to a task at work; any ‘real-life’ or ‘work related’ examples are excellent opportunities for covering in lessons. 
• Be aware that the maths exam is challenging.  The Functional Skills Maths tutor should have emailed you a copy of a practice exam so that you can consider what is involved.   The First Time National Pass Rates for Level 1 Maths is 47% and at level 2, 42%; I am sure you will see that these scores are reflective of how hard the exam is.  Therefore, regular attendance and hard work by your apprentice is a priority. 

If you have any suggestions or ideas for lesson content, please contact Wendy Fairhurst at wendy.fairhurst@burycollege.ac.uk.