Sunday, April 27, 2008
Launch of the PLT skills ladders
A free copy of the PLT skills ladders to every secondary school.
From September 2008 all Secondary Schools in England and Wales will be implementing the new National Curriculum Framework for 11 - 19 year olds.
The new curriculum will place a much higher importance on the role of skills and will request that schools provide much more consistent and meaningful use of peer assessment. Schools will be requested to involve learners much more in their own learning.
“Individuals need to be able to articulate the skills they possess and need to be able to manage their skill development at work and during further studies.” (QCA)
To help learners manage the development of their competencies, the QCA have provided the Personal Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTs) Framework, which, together with the Functional Skills, make up the core of the new curriculum.
We have developed a set of 24 skills ladders which match and meet the PLT requirements. In common will all PbyP skills ladders, these allow learners to progress from levels 1 to 9 using language that they will find accessible. On 21st May we will be sending all Secondary Schools a free poster for their staffroom displayingall24 skills ladders. We hope this will help schools to clarify what is exactly required of learners to enable them to be successful with the new PLTs.
The following week we will put on sale a guidance pack for schools and a number of offers to help them implement the PLTs using the PbyP approach.
If your school is currently using PbyP, you will probably want to move over to the PLTs and Functional Skills at some point in the coming year. When you are ready to do this, just contact us and we will be happy to send you electronic copies of all the materials and the ladders free of charge. We have developed a sophisticated addition to the software that will allow your learners to continue using their current ladders yet at the same time be contributing to their PLT evidence so that transition can be as smooth as possible.