Basic Skills Cymru

Welsh companies pledge support to basic skills

One hundred and six companies around Wales, employing over 170,000 people, have now signed up to the Agency's Employer Pledge programme. Last month, Executive Director for Wales, Toni Schiavone, presented three Employer Pledge awards to Conwy Borough Council, Conwy Furniture Reclaim and to Sumitomo in Ystradgynlais, Swansea.

In total, 25 awards have now been given and a total of 76 companies have submitted action plans. The Employer Pledge has been developed to reduce the substantial number of adults in Wales with poor literacy and numeracy skills. It is designed for all private and public sector companies and organisations, whatever their size, and allows them to demonstrate their commitment to the National Strategy in a concrete way.

New publications: Post-16 good practice guides

In conjunction with some of our National Support Projects, we have produced a range of good practice guides for the Post-16 sector.

• Basic Skills in Probation [PDF] 300KB
• Supporting Basic Skills in the Community [PDF] 400KB
• Basic Skills in Further Education Colleges - Good Practice Guide for Managers [PDF] 3.3MB
• Basic Skills in Further Education Colleges - Good Practice Guide for Governors [PDF] 2.3MB
• Good Practice Guide for Training Providers [PDF] 150KB

ESTYN praises Quality Mark

ESTYN's (Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales) annual report for 2004-5 praised the Agency's Quality Mark, reporting that "working to gain the Basic Skills Quality Mark helps primary and secondary schools to improve the way they plan, teach and assess basic skills. This work also encourages more staff to take responsibility for teaching basic skills." Read the full report along with an outline of the most effective practice stemming from the Quality Mark.

Practice worth sharing

Maths Recovery programme, Flintshire LEA

For the last three years, Flintshire LEA has been running a primary age Maths Recovery programme which has seen 81 per cent of the children involved moving up one, two or even three stages in their numeracy. The programme, modelled on an international initiative from Canada and Australia, uses an innovative method of filmed assessment to look at the strategies children struggling with numeracy employ in their maths.