DTLLS PIL Task 3

The course on which I am teaching is Introduction to ICT. This programme leads to learners achieving, via external formal assessment, a Functional Skills award at an appropriate level, from Entry level 1 to Level 2. The course is unusual in that the learners in the group can be studying for the exam at any level in this range and so the learners themselves are beginning the course from diverse starting points in terms of their background, experience, confidence and ability. This group has been set up to encourage adult learners and so there is a wide age range to the cohort, up to learners in their sixties and seventies. Because of this some of the learners have minimal experience of using any IT equipment and so are starting at a point where this inexperience will need to be addressed before they become able to study subjects to the anticipated qualification.

All the above meant that the devised scheme of work has needed to be broad in terms of delivery, support and summative assessment, but still capable of enabling all learners to complete the programme in the 10 weeks identified duration of the course.

The initial assessment process informs the scheme of work in that it identifies whether students have the prerequisite skills to cope with the essential elements of the course. The initial assessment also identifies which would be the appropriate level in the Entry Level 1 to Level 2 range for the learner to study toward (although there is always scope for this to be adjusted in light of the learner’s performance during the programme). Learner interviews prior to commencing the programme and informal group and individual discussions at the start of the programme also inform the process.

Having gathered the evidence from the initial assessment and used this together with the syllabus to create the scheme of work, it was then necessary to generate lesson plans containing an appropriate mix of activities, taught elements, resources, including handouts, and