Essential Skills Wales
Encyclopedia
Essential Skills Wales
ESW are embedded within Welsh educational initiatives including the 14-19 Learning Pathways, Welsh Baccalaureate and the Skills Employment Action Plan. ESW/Wider Essential Skills results in Wales have continued to show consistent and substantial growth each year.
• Communication
The aim of the Communication standards is to encourage candidates to develop and demonstrate their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills for different purposes.
• Application of Number (AoN)
The aim of the Application of Number standards is to encourage candidates to develop and demonstrate their skills in using number to tackle a task, activity or problem by collecting and interpreting information involving numbers, carrying out calculations, interpreting results and presenting findings
• Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
The aim of the ICT standards is to encourage candidates to develop and demonstrate their skills in using ICT to carry out a task or activity by finding, exploring, exchanging, developing and presenting information.
Each level of the skills incorporates and builds on previous levels, therefore for each skill; you can view the individual standards as well as progression.
The Wider Essential Skills form part of the suite of Essential Skills qualifications.
Background
As of September 2011, Key Skills in Wales have been replaced with Essential Skills Wales (ESW). Essential Skills Wales is the suite of skills qualifications which replaced the previous Key Skills of Communication, Application of Number and ICT, and the Basic Skills of Adult Literacy, Adult Numeracy and Skills for Life ICT. These skills can be achieved through the medium of Welsh or English.ESW are embedded within Welsh educational initiatives including the 14-19 Learning Pathways, Welsh Baccalaureate and the Skills Employment Action Plan. ESW/Wider Essential Skills results in Wales have continued to show consistent and substantial growth each year.
ESW in the Welsh Baccalaureate
Essential Skills Wales are one of the four Core components of the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification. The other three components (Wales, Europe and the World, Personal and Social Education and Work-related Education) also offer opportunities to develop and integrate ESW in relevant and purposeful contextsEssential Skills Wales Qualification
Essential Skills Wales (ESW) currently consists of three different skills qualifications and are available from entry level 1 (Foundation Level) through to level 4 (Advanced Level):• Communication
The aim of the Communication standards is to encourage candidates to develop and demonstrate their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills for different purposes.
• Application of Number (AoN)
The aim of the Application of Number standards is to encourage candidates to develop and demonstrate their skills in using number to tackle a task, activity or problem by collecting and interpreting information involving numbers, carrying out calculations, interpreting results and presenting findings
• Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
The aim of the ICT standards is to encourage candidates to develop and demonstrate their skills in using ICT to carry out a task or activity by finding, exploring, exchanging, developing and presenting information.
Assessment
Assessment of Key Skills in Wales is based on the same standards as in England and N Ireland but is based solely through a portfolio of evidence. At entry level, the nature of the assessment for the qualifications will be determined by the awarding body delivering the qualification. For levels 1 to 4, the qualifications will be assessed via a portfolio of evidence.Each level of the skills incorporates and builds on previous levels, therefore for each skill; you can view the individual standards as well as progression.
Wider Key Skills
In due course the suite will also include the current Wider Essential Skills of Improving Own Learning and Performance, Working with Others and Problem Solving. Wider Essential Skills (WES) is the term given to the Essential Skills of Working with others, Improving own learning and performance, and Problem solving. Whereas the three main Essential Skills concentrate on specific IT, Communication and Application of Number skills, the wider Essential Skills aim to make you a better learner and help you to work with others.The Wider Essential Skills form part of the suite of Essential Skills qualifications.