Overcoming the Functional Skills barrier: sector analysis and recommendations

On Wednesday 12 February, as part of National Apprenticeship Week 2025, technology provider Aptem and the Fellowship of Inspection Nominees (FIN) are offering a free webinar to apprenticeship providers and employers. 

Functional Skills in English and Maths are often highlighted by Ofsted as areas needing significant improvement, adversely affecting learner progress and the overall success of apprenticeship programmes. An in-depth analysis by Aptem, involving more than 110,000 active learners, underscores this concern, revealing that those with a Functional Skills component in their programme were 60% more likely to fall behind schedule.

In this webinar, Mark Abrahams, Head of Research and Analytics at Aptem, will delve into this study, which also examined the impact of Functional Skills across various apprenticeship levels. He will be joined by Kerry Boffey, who will share insights into the Functional Skills challenge from members of the Fellowship of Inspection Nominees (FIN). Kerry will discuss FIN's recent report advocating for reform rather than removal and will offer practical strategies to address Functional Skills challenges while awaiting potential policy changes.

You can book your place here.