Level 1 and below newsletter October 2023

I hope you are enjoying the new term so far and have enjoyed meeting some amazing young people who will enjoy learning with you this year.

As we head into the second month of the new term, we are pleased to announce some new teaching activity resources and other information which will help to support you in the classroom.

Inclusive Education Event Reminder

I would like to remind you about the amazing Keynote speaker event we are hosting this month. Russell is an incredible individual, and I can guarantee it's an event not to be missed particularly if you work with students with additional needs so why not 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.

If you would like to book this FREE CPD event, please secure your place through this link: CPD Event | registration - It will be an incredible event so don’t miss out.

Talk to me!

Friday afternoons is “Your Time” To help support our centres delivering BTEC Level 1, Entry, Workskills or Personal Growth and Wellbeing Qualifications we have introduced a bookable system where you can come and chat with me about anything to do with these qualifications. Nothing is a silly question; I am happy to support and help you as much as I can. Every Friday between 1:00pm - 4:00pm I will be available to help answer any queries or questions. To book in with me please click the link below: Support Chat

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. 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 this link: Feedback form - The feedback you provide is anonymous and will help us to continue to provide the best support possible whilst teaching our qualifications.

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 added these for all subjects across the entire Level 1 intro qualifications so please be sure to use these in your teaching if appropriate. We have also added a number of exemplar assignment briefs to help with the delivery of these programmes.

These are provided 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 and I hope you find them to be useful.

Also, just a reminder that 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

On demand and live Training Events

As part of our level one and below suite we now have a YouTube training channel. This channel holds our Level 1 live training re-runs and on demand content, 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 Paul who is explaining how to assess work in both Personal Growth and Wellbeing and also Workskills. Paul is an extremely knowledge practitioner in these suites and this on demand video content is geared to help centres assess work accurately and can be used for standardising purposes. We highly recommend checking this out. You will also need to download the work packs so you can see the work Paul is referring to. These are available here for Workskills BTEC WorkSkills Level 2 (2021) | Pearson qualifications under support materials and here for Personal Growth and Wellbeing under support materials. Personal Growth and Wellbeing (Level 1) | Pearson qualifications

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

The new skills channel is up and running. 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 Rosenshine’s Principals of Instruction, which having used this myself in the classroom is a really practical tool that can support excellent teaching and learning. This video is designed to support centres who are interested in finding out more about how these theory can deliver excellent results in the classroom. The recording is available here: Rosenshine Principals of Instruction 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 form here and we will be in touch to have an initial conversation.

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. This month’s episode is about using assistive technology in the classroom with Andrew Veasey. BTEC Below L2 Workskills and PGW insights | A podcast on Spotify - Andrew has extensive knowledge on Using Assistive Technology to aid students’ progress and the podcast is worth a listen for practitioners and teachers regardless of setting.

Our blog this month is on progression. As a product manager and a practitioner, myself I strongly believe in progression for all learners. It is also something Pearson as a company are really passionate about. This month's blog provides an overview of how additional needs learners can be supported through Entry Level qualifications in order to progress to our Level 1 Intro qualifications. It provides practical tips to support the learners and I hope you find it useful. You can visit the blog here. Level 1 and below blog | Pearson UK (please note, our website is under maintenance, so if the link doesn't work, please try again later as it will hopefully be showing live soon). 

Wishing you an enjoyable October.

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