Questions and answers about key skills

Here are some questions and answers that may help when teaching key skills.

Request for help
Our Head of Sixth Form is trying hard to integrate Key Skills into all
areas of the curriculum but it's an uphill struggle. Up till now we
have only used the SPU materials to help us deliver the science and
technology component of our General Studies course. We're hoping to
start running SPU as an AS subject from September and there are
obviously lots of opportunities for students to build up Key Skills
evidence through the SPU course.

I'd be very grateful to hear from anyone who has experience in this,
especially in Application of Number and ICT as we've had most success
with Communication thus far.

Two replies
(1) The SPU course in the Netherlands is very similar to that in England exept for the fact that Key Skills are the primary domain.
In my school the students take celestial measurements, including solar
measurements to fix their latitude. We also use an Amylase and pH experiment to improve scientific thinking, use of statistics and graphics.

As for ICT, there is a task which is to search the internet for the answers
to a question such as "How do birds navigate?", copy and paste relevent
passages, then write the answer using the different possibilities in the
word processing programme such as fonts, subscript, underlining, tables and columns etc.
Do not forget the lesson on how to avoid RSI!

(2) I used SPU for all the key skills at some point during the pilot years
and the brief summary of that experience is what appears in the AQA
Teachers Guide.

Once Curriculum 2000 got underway my students' use of SPU for key
skills evidence has been rather patchy. Partly my choice and partly
circumstances in my centre. However, I think the important first step
is to decide whether you are allowing 'naturally occuring evidence' to
be used in a portfolio -- in which case number and IT evidence will
most easily turn up in some canidates' coursework -- or whether you are
deliberately going to put it in, by creating a research (because it is
level 3 so needs to be candidate led)/numerical exercise around some
data on eg risk when you get to that section, or insisting that all
topical issue coursework has some statistical analysis of data, etc.
That again is easy to fit in BUT (a big BUT) you will distort the SPU
course if you try to overload it. You can get evidence for all six key
skills but you need to be selective.

Given that most SPU classes have a mix of student interest and ability,
and that current guidance is to look for a qualification in one
appropriate main key skill I'd go for the fist alternative I outline
above -- allowing the student to use what turns up naturally and making
that easy by having the occasional class where they can check what
they've got, add a particular bit of work (eg particular extra
calculation), photocopy/annotate for portfolio, etc. This is where I am
now and although its awkward for your Head of Sixth's neat mapping
exercise it is realistic, doesn't distort the SPU course and can
produce results.