Coventry City Council Adult Education Service (AES) has been running pilot courses for the new Essential Digital Skills Qualifications (EDSQs). They have run two pilot courses so far and are now undertaking a third in the summer term 2021 before moving into full delivery in September. Due to the delay in their awarding body (TLM) receiving authorisation by Ofsted for EDSQs, they decided in the interim to run non-accredited pilot programmes. Academic Manager and Curriculum Lead, Sandra Smith, believes that piloting EDSQs is the right way to approach introduction as they are so different from previous skills-based ICT qualifications. Coventry AES is part of a regional West Midlands group of adult learning providers who are sharing experiences of implementing EDSQs.
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When the digital entitlement was announced to launch in September 2020, the Coventry AES team was excited to start planning for the delivery of the EDSQ programmes after many years of talking about digital skills being the third entitlement and the need for it to be free for all.
They talked to their current awarding body, TLM, about their draft EDSQs, which were progressing through technical evaluation by Ofqual, and while waiting for that approval decided to progress with a pilot EDSQ course at Entry 3 level.
After first sight of the draft EDSQs, the team concluded that they were completely different to previous skills-based ICT qualifications, with a much stronger focus on knowledge and general digital awareness.
They based their pilot curriculum on the proposed EDSQs from TLM. Planning the schemes of work, Sandra said, “Some things were easy as we were doing them all the time anyway. Other things we had to give more thought to, such as video conferencing or aspects of using smartphones and tablets.”
The team also realised early on that learners would need a certain level of literacy to do the EDSQ course. If their literacy was limited, they would struggle with the reading required to convey the knowledge and concepts in the course. This was something they would need to factor into the pilot.
“Run a pilot…” Sandra Smith, Curriculum Lead at Coventry AES advises those who’ve not yet delivered EDSQs to run a pilot first.
“A lot of knowledge…” ICT Programme Manager Veronica Pickett says there are a few surprising facts about EDSQs.
“Everybody buys from Argos…” Veronica Pickett, ICT Programme Manager at Coventry Adult Education Service describes creating the scheme of work for teaching EDSQs.
Value of piloting EDSQs
Surprising facts about EDSQs
EDSQs in practice
The first Entry 3 pilot course started in January 2020. The target was six learners and they made sure that learners who went on to the pilot had completed an Entry Level 2 digital skills course. They made clear to learners that this was a pilot course, and so they would not be able to be awarded with an EDS qualification but would be able to receive an alternative qualification at the end. The course was offered for free.
An existing ITQ Tutor, Harmesh Grewal, was selected to deliver the course. Sandra felt that Harmesh would be able to bring her ITQ experience to bear in structuring the EDSQ course because there is similarly a significant amount of content to be delivered in a small number of guided learning hours. Harmesh worked with Veronica Pickett, the ICT Programme Manager, who designed the assessments. The curriculum was shaped around the learning outcomes for the assessments.
The course was added to the Coventry City Council Moodle learning platform. Harmesh used GCFLearnFree.org and Learn My Way resources from the Good Things Foundation for delivery.
During the course, the first lockdown came into force as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and learning had to be transferred online. Unfortunately, they lost learners from the EDSQ pilot who did not want to learn online or were unable to do so. Lack of equipment, difficulties with cost of data usage, and general lack of confidence in accessing online learning caused a drop-off in attendance of the Coventry AES programmes across the board, not just the EDSQ pilot. Only two of the original six learners were able to complete the EDSQ pilot course.
A second cohort of six learners started in October 2020 and again this had to be delivered in a blended mode. Tutors contacted existing learners who were prepared to engage with a blended course as they had already established a rapport with the tutors. Four learners continued with the course which finished at Easter 2021. A third cohort is now underway.
Harmesh plus two other ICT Tutors have been experimenting with using Google Sheets and Jamboard to develop their skills for teaching EDSQs through an EDS Action Research project funded through the ETF.
“The impact of those skills…” ICT Tutor Harmesh Grewal says EDSQs are not just about digital skills.
“An everyday qualification…” ICT Programme Manager Veronica Pickett believes EDSQ is for everyone.
“Innovative ways to engage with learners…” ICT Programme Manager Veronica Pickett is looking at integration of EDS courses with English and maths provision as the third essential skill.
Developing digital awareness
Developing everyday skills
An essential skill to engage learners
Feedback from initial pilot participants suggests that the learners have valued the content of the EDS course and have found it relevant to their real-life experiences.
“Refreshing and getting up to date…” This learner took the course to refresh her digital skills prior to applying for jobs.
“Google docs sharing helped me…“ Viktoria found it useful to learn how to share files of her children’s work with school.
Viktoria enjoyed learning about document formatting, using the internet and how to be safe on her EDS course.
“Now I understand…” Understanding about creating and editing files and knowing how to help her child online has been a big help for this learner.
“It saves me time…” A learner with Coventry ACL Service says the Essential Digital Skills course has helped her to save time.
Updating skills for work
Supporting children’s schoolwork
Document formatting and using the internet
Creating and editing
Saving time
The way in which learners who remained engaged with the course were empowered to improve their digital skills for life was very encouraging.
It quickly became clear through the pilot that literacy would be an issue for some learners on Entry 3 EDSQs and there would be a need for additional upskilling around language and reading skills.
It also became clear that the EDSQs did not fit well with the existing progression pathway for learners on Coventry AES ICT courses because they do not focus as much on traditional office-based skills. For progression onto other Coventry AES Level 2 ICT courses, the team are looking at supplementary learning.
“How are they going to use skills outside the classroom?” Relating skills learnt on the EDS course to everyday life is key says Tutor Harmesh Grewal.
“Adapting progression pathways around EDSQs” Academic Manager Sandra Smith describes some challenges fitting EDSQs into existing progression pathways.
Relating EDSQs to real life scenarios
Adapting progression pathways around EDSQs
The Coventry City Council Adult Education Service is funded through the West Midlands Combined Authority and there is collaboration with other local authority adult education providers. Most authorities are using the TLM awarding body and have waited for TLM’s EDSQs to be approved by Ofqual, but one or more adopted the Gateway EDSQs which received Ofqual approval earlier in 2020. A working party has been set up to look at EDSQ delivery across different authorities and assess opportunities for standardisation. Sandra feels that this is vital to support planning for those delivering EDSQs for the first time from September, especially as the funding is stopping for other ICT qualifications at Entry 3 and Level 1.
Coventry City Council’s Adult Education Service delivers a wide range of community-based courses that support learners’ wellbeing and interests, and where appropriate, lead to qualifications. The service also provides study programmes for younger people and apprenticeships for both younger and older adults. Progression routes are central to all courses and learners are supported to increase their confidence, develop life skills and skills that lead towards employment.
Tutors provide high quality learning experiences and are mainly part time. Overall, the service has around 5,000 learners each year, though this has been lower in the past year due to the effects of the pandemic.