Dysg, DELLS/AADGOS, WAG/LlCC

Welcome to Key Skills 2007 -08, and a special welcome to those of you that are just beginning with key skills as well as the 74 schools, colleges and training providers now delivering the Welsh Baccalaureate.

Key Skills in Wales keeps growing from strength to strength.  We continue to be the fastest growing Key Skills region in all of the UK. Last year saw an increase of 45% in growth of Key Skills Awards in Wales.    A total of 124,000 Key Skills Awards were achieved in Wales during 2005-06 alone.  Some of the fastest growing areas are ICT Key Skills at Key Stage 3, and wider Key Skills (especially problem solving) at Level 3.  We are now seeing an increase in Level 4 Key Skills awards. Congratulations to all of the Key Skills Coordinators around Wales for ensuring that these awards really reflect true increases in independent, confident learners ready for life and work.

We are also pleased to announce that 20 more Key Skills Coordinators and Specialists completed the Key Skills Coaching and Mentoring programme at Level 3 or Level 5 last year and a further 186 candidates completed the Key Skills Professional Development programme.  These two programmes are essential for raising standards of Key Skills and ensuring that our students receive the highest quality education possible here in Wales. 

Here at Dysg we have a new departmental name - DCELLS (Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills) but we still exist to provide support, advice and resources to assist you to deliver the highest quality key skills programmes in the UK (if not the world!).  As usual, we have planned many new training events to help you to improve your key skills programmes in schools, FE Colleges and Work Based Learning setting.  Please look at the schedule of training that is attached and book early for these events as they are already filling fast. 

Some Key Skills highlights. 

·                     The website (www.dysg.org.uk) has been updated and over the summer we added nearly 90 new resources for teaching and learning and have 9 new models of good practice as well as updates on some of our continuing good practice centres. We now have over 1400 Key Skills resources and reports on our Dysg site.   Recently we  introduced 'toolkits' to get students and teachers started in Key Skills.  Let us know what you think of these new resources.

·                     On the e-dysg site, (http://www.e-dysg.org.uk/) we have some new resources for initial screening for wider key skills as well as moodles for Wider key skills and teaching and learning resources for Communications and Application of Number (Level 2).

·                     The Key Skills Professional Development programme has added two new centres (Swansea College and Coleg Meirion Dwyfor) for a total of 14 FE Colleges approved to deliver the KSPD.  Teams have updated two KSPD sessions (History of Key Skills and  strategies for teaching and learning Key Skills).  The entire KSPD course will be available on moodle this Autumn.

·                     Dysg is undertaking an evaluation of  the Key-line, on-line resource and CPD. We look forward to reading your comments so that we can better understand what you value in this resource

·                     We will be sponsoring 5 Learning Circles to provide exciting opportunities for your students to engage in active, student centred problem based learning with other students both in Wales as well as across the world -- and develop their Key Skills at the same time. 

·                     We are also sponsoring two working parties (one for Initial teacher training and another for Careers and Work based learning). 

·                     We plan to offer a Work Based Learning conference in December which will look forwards towards sustainable employment. To explore how to meet the Leitch challenge of raising achievement of level 2 and level 3 key skills in Wales.  

We look forward to meeting with you this year as we continue to grow and expand Key Skills success in WalesCheryl, Kim, Jeff, Lesley and Stephanie