What are Digital Functional Skills?

Digital Functional Skills are a new qualification aimed at demonstrating a learner’s digital skills at Entry 3 and Level 1. These levels are prescribed by the Department of Education and no Awarding Organisation can offer any other levels.

Digital Functional Skills qualifications should fulfil the following purposes:

• Provide reliable evidence of a learner’s achievements against content that is relevant to the workplace and real life.
• Provide assessment of a learner’s knowledge and skills as well as their ability to apply these in different contexts.
• Provide a foundation for progression into employment or further education and develop skills for everyday life.

Funding

Pearson’s offer is funded for:

• 14-16
• 16-18
• 19 +

This means they can be funded for schools, study programmes and for adults too. They are currently funded at the same rate as Functional Skills English and maths.

Learning aims and outcomes at Entry Level 3

According to the Department for Education’s subject content, Digital Functional Skills will enable students to initiate and participate in digital and online activities safely in the workplace and other real-life contexts. At this level, digital FSQs should:

enable students to gain confidence and fluency in their use of digital knowledge and skills, and develop a positive attitude towards the use of digital skills

• enable students to develop an appreciation of the importance of digital skills in the workplace and in life generally
• enable students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills by applying these to complete tasks and activities
• provide a basis for further study, work and life

The content is broken down into the following topic areas:

• Using devices and handling information
• Creating and editing
• Communicating
• Transacting
• Being safe and responsible online

Learning aims and outcomes at Level 1

According to the Department for Education’s subject content, Digital Functional Skills will enable students to initiate and participate in digital and online activities safely in the workplace and in other real-life contexts. At this level, digital FSQs should:

• enable students to increase their confidence and fluency in their use of digital knowledge and skills, and develop a positive attitude towards the use of digital skills
• enable students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills by applying these to complete tasks and activities
• introduce students to areas of life and work which may be new or unfamiliar, and tasks and activities that they may encounter in future
• enable students to develop an appreciation of the importance of digital skills in the workplace and in life generally
• provide a basis for further study, work and life.

The content is broken down into the following topic areas:

• Using devices and handling information
• Creating and editing
• Communicating
• Transacting
• Being safe and responsible online

The subject content can be accessed here.

Guided Learning Hours and Total Qualification Time

The following table provides the details of the GLH and TQT for both Entry 3 and Level 1

How are Pearson’s Digital Functional Skills assessed?

Pearson’s Digital Functional Skills assessments for both levels are split into two elements: a multiple-choice knowledge test and a task-based skills test. These are sat together during one sitting, but they are not a hurdled assessment. This means that a learner does not have to achieve a passing grade in both elements, rather it is based on the overall mark. The assessments will be pass / fail in line with the other Functional Skills qualifications. We have created two mapping documents that show what standards will be assessed in the knowledge test and which will be assessed in the tasks. You can access the Entry 3 mapping document here, and the Level 1 mapping document here. We hope this will help you prepare your learners for assessment.

Digital Functional Skills assessments are available on demand from March 2024. They are externally assessed onscreen and online assessments. This means that the learners will have access to the internet throughout the assessment and that learners need to be monitored closely by the invigilators during the knowledge element to ensure that they are not accessing the internet when they are not supposed to.

Section A is the knowledge test and once the learners have moved onto section B, they will be unable to return to section A, very much like the sectioning in the Functional Skills maths assessments.

• For both Entry 3 and Level 1, Section A is 15 minutes long and is made up of 10 questions each worth 1 mark.
• For Entry 3, Section B is made up of a series of tasks worth a total of 33 marks which lasts 75 minutes.
• For Level 1, Section B is slightly longer and worth more marks. Again, it is made up of a series of tasks worth a total of 44 marks and has a time limit of 90 minutes.
• So, in total, the Entry 3 assessment lasts 90 minutes and the Level 1 assessment last 105 minutes.

You can access the pdf and POP versions of our SAMs here.

Digital Functional Skills Supporting Resources

As well as our Skills and Knowledge mapping and our sample assessments, Pearson has also produced the following supporting resources to help prepare your learners for Digital Functional Skills:

EDSQ and DFSQ Initial Assessment Tool

Entry 3 Scheme of Work

Level 1 Scheme of Work

EDSQ / FS ICT / DFSQ Mapping Document

We will shortly be releasing more teaching and learning resources to support your learners.

For further Information and to access our FAQs please check out our webpage here.