ABSTRACT
Introduction Whether students are used to thinking about them or not, certain key skills have always underpinned learning and build upon the basic skills that have already been acquired in the early years of education. They are certainly nothing to be afraid of. On the contrary, key skills provide an opportunity for the first time for students to acquire recognition for these skills. Key skills are in fact the means through which learning takes place and which, in a rapidly changing world, must be updated throughout life. What is new is that a key skills qualification, valued by employers and higher education institutions, is now available at Levels 2, 3 (and probably 4). This chapter is intended to provide some general advice and guidance to students and teachers and also points out some specific suggestions about how evidence for the key skills qualification can be produced on the A-level Law specification. (Specification, remember, is the new term for syllabus – see the Introduction to this book.)
• C3 Communication
• N3 Application of number
• IT3 Information technology
The ‘Wider’ key skills at Level 3
• WO3 Working with others
• LP3 Improving own learning and performance
• PS3 Problem solving
At present the wider key skills do not form part of the qualification for the purposes of assessment but they are nevertheless seen as integral to post-16
education and training, and the Government has made it clear that these wider skills must be developed and promoted. Consequently, all new specifications have ‘signposted’ these wider skills.
