Functional Skills
What are Functional Skills?
Functional skills are essential skills in English, maths and ICT that enable everyone to deal with the practical problems and challenges of life – at home, in education and at work.
They are essential to all our lives. For example, they can help us recognise good value deals when making purchases, in writing an effective Job or College application letter, or when using the internet to access local services or online banking. The key is they are about using English, maths and ICT in everyday situations.
Improved functional skills are linked to a range of benefits. These include: Increased self-confidence and confidence to support children’s learning - Improving people’s lives by reducing social exclusion and Improving a person’s employability.
Taking a free Functional Skills course at EDT could help you get to grips with your maths and English, improve your IT knowledge, increase your confidence and enhance your CV.
Functional Skills Maths
If you need a maths qualification to improve your CV or boost your confidence, the Functional Skills maths qualification is a great way to show you can apply your maths skills in a practical way.
Brushing up on your maths will help you to:
- Calculate sums and shopping lists
- Keep on top of a home budget
- Manage your time more efficiently
Functional Skills English
The Functional Skills English qualification is a great way to show you can apply your English skills in a practical way. It will help you to:
- Read, write and improve your spelling
- Communicate easier both at work/college and at home
- Understand what leaflets, posters and newspaper articles are telling you
Ready to test your skills?
Free Functional Skills Maths Online 10-Minute Tests
Try a 10 minute level 1 or level 2 Maths test
Try a 10 minute level 1 or level 2 English test
Online resources
There are lots of online resources to help you with your EDT literacy and numeracy courses - check out some helpful sites below:
National Numeracy Challenge - This is a confidential, friendly, easy to use interactive website designed to assess and improve your everyday maths skills in bite-sized steps, while building confidence along the way. It takes a couple of minutes to register and you can then take the assessment test and set goals to aim for - studying at your own pace all the way. An excellent numeracy resource that's well worth investigating.
BBC Skillswise - is a highly interactive adult literacy and numeracy resource from the BBC with a range of factsheets, worksheets and quizzes which help adults to improve their reading, writing and number skills. It has a huge amount of resources - games, worksheets, puzzles etc. Try it here
OpenLearn - offers free courses designed to help you study alongside your busy life and develop your maths and English skills at a pace that suits you.
They are designed to allow you to study alongside your busy work–life commitments and develop your maths and English skills at a pace that suits you.
Progression Routes
One of the core aims of EDT is to help you progress towards your goals. If you're looking to enhance your employment or career options - or move on to college / university or further training, we're here to support and guide you. We'll discuss your options, and assist with further course applications. See links below to some of the routes former EDT students have followed - and organisations that EDT has signposted them to.
Hugh Baird College - English and Maths Courses
Hugh Baird College - Access to Higher Education
The City Of Liverpool College - IT Courses
University of Liverpool - Access to Higher Education Diploma
Hope University - Access Courses