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Functional Skills English Level 1 (ESOL Progression)

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    Part Time

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    17 Weeks

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    Spalding

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    September 2025

$

This new course is designed to help learners who have completed ESOL Entry 3 qualifications to move on to a Functional Skills qualification at level 1. The course will be taught by teachers with ESOL experience and is taught over a longer period than other Functional Skills courses to allow for more focus on grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.

Functional Skills English is a flexible course, which is widely accepted by employers and most universities as an equivalent to GCSE English. It is often the best option for adult learners needing an English qualification.

What will I do?

Functional Skills English focuses on the English skills you need for your day-to-day life and career. There are three parts to the qualification:

  • Reading – read a variety of texts with different purposes, formats and audiences, finding out how writers put texts together for maximum impact
  • Writing – learn from the texts that you have read to find out how to create effective texts as well as working on your spelling, punctuation and grammar
  • Speaking and listening – learn how to structure and deliver a presentation and develop your discussion skills

We use texts and materials that cover contemporary topics, and you will also have access to online materials to allow you to study at home.

You will be expected to have completed an ESOL Entry 3 qualification.

Functional Skills English will take you 17 weeks to complete starting Tuesday 12 November 2024, 6:00pm – 8:30pm. You will attend college at our Spalding Campus.

For most people the course is free although there could be a charge dependent on your eligibility for funding, which might depend on visas and residency.

You will be assessed through externally set examinations for Reading and Writing, as well as two Speaking and Listening tasks that are marked internally.

The benefit of Functional Skills exams is that you will mostly receive your results within three weeks of taking an exam, and that re-sits are available on demand if you don’t pass first time.

Each part of the qualification is assessed separately, so once you have passed one part of the qualification, you don’t have to do that exam again even if you don’t pass the other exams straight away.

Functional Skills English is often an entry requirement for other college and university courses and is part of most apprenticeship frameworks. It is a suitable qualification for many career paths such as administrative roles, retail, hospitality, trades and manufacturing roles.

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