Level 1 and below including Workskills and Personal Growth and Wellbeing insight newsletter | September 2023

If you are returning from the summer break, we hope you have found it restful and that you have reenergized yourself ready for the start of the new academic year.

As we head into the new term this month, we have new teaching activity resources to discuss, on demand training events, new social content, as well as an opportunity for your centre to provide feedback on our below level 2, Workskills and Personal Growth and Wellbeing qualifications.

Inclusive Education Event

Over 1.5 million learners in the UK have special educational needs and 1 in 7 of the population is neurodivergent. Great strides are being made in the improvement of educational and employment practices that empower neurodivergent and differently abled learners and employees throughout their education and employment journey. In this event, we’d like to share with you the value of vocational education and creative teaching and learning techniques to benefit all learners.

Join us for our first Inclusive Learning in Vocational Education event and Q&A, where we will be joined by our very special guest, Russell Hogarth. We will be discussing:

• Experiences in vocational education and moving into employment and business
• Creative teaching and learning techniques to benefit all learners
• How centres can identify and encourage the strengths of learners to ensure they leave education empowered to move into their chosen path.

This event is designed to help centres delivering all levels of BTEC, T-Level, Functional Skills and Apprenticeships implement inclusive learning practices in their teaching and learning practices.

About our Keynote Speaker, Russell Hogarth

Russell is a philanthropist and social entrepreneur, and his area of special interest is equality, diversity, and inclusion. His 2015 MacMillan Palgrave publication, titled Creative Education, Teaching and Learning is often quoted as a pathway to inclusion and accessible education. Russell is an Honorary Fellow, Community Engagement Ambassador and Entrepreneur in residence at the University of Central Lancashire and he also chairs the Honorary Fellow advisory group and the EU award winning international Creative Communities Group. 

He is also an advisor to the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the British Association of Social Workers. Russell is the CEO for the national forum for health and wellbeing. His expertise in entrepreneurship, lifelong learning and active citizenship is now recognised both nationally and internationally.

Russell’s wealth of experience and understanding in the area of inclusive learning practices will provide us with valuable insights into empowering learners to engage deeply in their education and help you implement practical and effective inclusive teaching techniques.

If you would like to book this FREE CPD event, please secure your place. It promises to be an event not to be missed!

On demand and live Training Events

As part of our level one and below suite we have recently set up a training channel which you can subscribe to on YouTube. This channel will hold all our Level 1 live training reruns and on demand content moving forwards so it is well worth subscribing to.

If you missed any live recordings or if you attended them and would like to revisit them, you can do so by visiting the channel. BTEC Below Level 1, Workskills and Personal Growth and Wellbeing - YouTube

This month’s new content is an excellent on demand training event produced by our SSV Katie who is proving support on unlocking potential in all Level 1. Katie is an extremely knowledge practitioner in the Level 1 area and this on demand video content is geared to help all learners to achieve their potential. We highly recommend checking this out. Engaging Level 1 and Below Learners in Delivery and Assessment- Unlock their Potential - YouTube

Have your say on our qualifications.

We would like to gather your feedback on several different aspects of our below level 2 provision including Workskills and Personal Growth and Wellbeing. If you haven’t completed this already, we would like to offer you the opportunity to complete a short Microsoft Form to feedback to us to give your views on the things that work and the things that we could improve on to help us to continue to provide the best support to you when teaching our qualifications. To provide feedback please use the link below. The feedback you provide is anonymous and will help us to continue to provide the best support possible whilst teaching our qualifications.

• BTEC Level 1 and below inc Workskills and Personal Growth and Wellbeing Feedback Form

Join our Facebook page

Please note we now have a Facebook page up and running: Pearson BTEC Level 1 and below Facebook Group | Facebook - Please feel free to join our group to find out the latest updates and help us to grow our community. We would love you to participate. You can also follow the Product Manager Kelly Adams on Linked in where she posts updates to the suite on a regular basis. Kelly Adams | LinkedIn

Subscribe to our Skills Channel

You might be interested to know that Below Level 2 and Functional Skills (Product manager Chris Briggs) now have a combined skills YouTube Channel. On this channel we aim to provide you with helpful ideas and support linked to teaching and learning within each of these suites. Please save our playlist Pearson Skills - YouTube

Our latest videos are about using interleaving in the Level 1 classroom. This video is designed to support centres who are interested in using interleaving in the classroom. The recording is available here: Interleaving For the Classroom - YouTube

Case study opportunities

We are looking for centres who would like to feature on our Pearson qualification pages for this suite showcasing their learners or centres and how they deliver our Level 1, Entry, Workskills or Personal Growth and Wellbeing Qualifications. If you are interested in this opportunity, please complete the link - Expressions of Interest for BTEC Level 1 suite case studies and we will be in touch to have an initial conversation.

New teaching and learning resources.

We have recently developed Pearson resources to support you in teaching the Level 1 Intro suite These focus on the more popular units taken from the specification of our 17 qualifications available in this space with 3 unit learning activities being available for each subject. These learning activities are designed to support delivery of each unit with content from the specification of the relevant subject. We have provided these in PowerPoint format to make them fully customizable to your centres needs so you can adapt as you see fit. Many of these learning activities are also available to be used in our Market Leading Vocational Studies qualification at Level 1. Here is a sample of what we have available for the Vocational Studies (L1 Introductory) | Pearson qualifications - Please check these out.

We will be adding more subjects this month. Currently we have learning activities for Vocational Studies, Construction, Engineering, Business, Applied Science, Sport, Digital Media, Art and Design and Caring for Children. Please see the relevant qualification page for details.

Also we would just like to remind you that Functional Skills ICT is being replaced. There is no funded ICT qualification pre-16 so we have developed a package where you can use BTEC Workskills (for either post 16- or pre-16) at Entry 3- Level 2 to teach your learners ICT. Further details are available on this webpage including really useful documents to help you transition including assessment guidance and schemes of work. Delivering ICT Through BTEC WorkSkills | Pearson qualifications

Other useful supports

Finally, do take the opportunity to read our monthly blog and listen to our Below L2 Workskills and PGW insights blog on Spotify where we have recently launched the final part of our episode on how to support autistic learners in the classroom with our guest Mandy Jayne Lace. BTEC Below L2 Workskills and PGW insights - Podcast on Spotify - Mandy Jayne has extensive knowledge on SEND and the podcast is worth a listen for practitioners and teachers regardless of setting.

As this is the final part of the Podcast with Mandy Jaye this month’s blog is all about considering the tools and strategies to help Autistic students access our BTEC Workskills qualification more effectively. I hope you find it useful for your planning as we approach the new term. Level 1 and below blog | Pearson UK

Have a great start to the term. Autumn term is an exciting, yet busy time meeting new students and getting to know them. Do remember to take time out for yourself. Remember to reach out to us at Pearson for any advice and support if you need to.

Wishing you an enjoyable September.

Kelly Adams - Product Manager Level 1 Below Including Workskills and Personal Growth and Wellbeing.