Written by Nina Hinton, Director of Business and Development at Open Awards
Open Awards is, first and foremost, a charity with a mission to support educational achievement for all. Our mission is not about profit – it’s about people.
Functional Skills qualifications in English and maths are one of our flagship products, designed to support learners and apprentices to progress through the education system and begin their chosen careers. Everyone deserves access to the essential English and maths skills needed for life, work, and further education.
Nearly 34% of our learners every year are with Open Awards for Functional Skills qualifications, yet these same registrations accounts for less than 10% of our overall income.
The cost of developing, delivering and maintaining Functional Skills is significant.
From developing high-quality assessments to training markers/examiners and external quality assurance, ensuring rigorous marking, quality assuring centre assessment and marking (particularly for Entry Level qualifications) and offering support materials for learners and educators, every step requires investment. Additionally, maintaining secure and accessible exam delivery, alongside ongoing research to improve our qualifications, means we are continuously reinvesting in the education sector.
These costs become more stark when looking at Entry Level Functional Skills qualifications where the learner registration numbers are significantly lower but the development costs are very similar to Levels 1 and 2. However, Entry Level qualifications provide the stepping stones to higher level qualifications and can open doors to supported internships and apprenticeships.
Unlike commercial organisations, our focus is on educational impact rather than financial gain. Any surplus is reinvested to enhance the quality, accessibility, and reach of our qualifications, ensuring that learners from all backgrounds have the opportunity to succeed. This includes our recent investment in making Entry Level 3 English and maths assessments available on-screen and online representing real progress from the out-of-date view that learners at this level have poor digital literacy skills and prefer pen/paper.
Functional Skills qualifications are a vital stepping stone for many learners, and we are proud to remain committed to making them available and cost-effective for our providers and learners. Our goal is simple: to support achievement and open doors to future careers and meaningful lives, not to generate profit