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Integrating wider key skills with active citizenship by Shipley College
Background
Heather Crane, Tutorial Manager at Shipley College has developed a pack of materials which explain how to integrate wider key skills with active citizenship. The work includes an example assignment with notes on how that assignment may be amended for each of the different levels (1, 2 and 3). The work includes all three of the wider key skills, working with others, improving own learning and performance and problem solving. The example assignment is linked to the curriculum pack Choosing and angle: citizenship through video production.
Part of Heather’s Tutorial Manager role has involved her being both the Citizenship Project Manager and the Wider Key Skills Coordinator for the College. Shipley College is a small FE College in the world heritage site of Saltaire. All of the full-time students study both wider key skills and key skills as part of their major programmes. They also have hour long group tutorials on weekly basis, and the curriculum for these PSD sessions includes active citizenship amongst other subjects. Personal Tutors are responsible for the group tutorials, and therefore active citizenship, as well as for the delivery and assessment of improving own learning and performance at the appropriate level.
Wider Key Skills
Edexcel is the exam board used at Shipley College. The appropriate supporting specification document which are referred to in this report may be freely downloaded from the Edexcel website. The supplementary questions are not referred to within this report, but are a requirement in each of the wider key skills portfolios at each level.
An important consideration within group activities and wider key skills is to remember that each of the learner’s portfolios is their own individual portfolio. The portfolio must therefore evidence the process based work that they as an individual have carried out as part of a group, but still ensuring that each target has been achieved. Example portfolios may also be found on Edexcel’s website.
See also a Powerpoint presentation explaining the context of citizenship and wider key skill for staff development purposes.
The Students
The assignment was used with two groups of IT students studying on BTEC National Diploma for IT Practitioner courses. All of the students were male, and confident with IT. Students were involved in reviewing materials and activities and Josette Bennett, a basic skills tutor from Stockport, kindly agreed to review the work from an independent tutor’s point of view. The pack of materials includes some of the students planning documents - special credit to Michael O’Brien for permission for his document to be included.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The final version of the videos were not made as part of the project to develop the materials, so the ‘problem’ was not solved. Edexcel do not see that as a barrier to the wider key skills being awarded as the qualifications are process not product based. It is however frustrating for all concerned, but there are explanations along the way as to why the videos did not get made.
Heather plans to use this assignment again next year as she feels she and the students have learned a lot from it with all developing their citizenship and IT knowledge along the way.
This webpage along with the pack of materials is intended to provide sufficient information and material to support tutors running the assignment. Other tutors will need to build on it in order to adapt it into a bespoke resource for other tutors.