Delivery mode update for Functional Skills ICT assessments

As a reminder, Functional Skills ICT is being replaced by Digital Functional Skills at the end of this academic session to complete the overall reform of Functional Skills qualifications.
 
Following guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) and Ofqual, the qualification will be withdrawn in stages. View the key dates that outline the final journey of the old qualification and the start of the new qualification on this webpage.

As part of this, after 28 April 2023 you’ll no longer be able to book our NCFE Functional Skills in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Levels 1 and 2 (600/0030/2 and 600/0139/2) assessments through our online and remote invigilation delivery modes.

You may be aware that our ICT online assessments use Adobe Flash Player, which is no longer a supported format. If learners sit the assessments in this format, they may encounter technical issues which could put them at a disadvantage and affect their assessment results.

The 42-day booking window will still be open until 4:30pm on Friday 28 April, meaning that Friday 9 June will be the last date a learner can sit a Functional Skills ICT assessment through an online or remote invigilated format. When booking within the 42-day window, you can still leave the window open for as long as needed if the assessment date is not known at the time of booking. All bookings after Friday 28 April will need to be made through the Portal for our paper-based assessments.

To support you with the transition to paper-based, we’ve created a paper-based ICT delivery support document.

If you’re new to delivering ICT paper-based assessments, we suggest for you to run mock assessments to support staff members delivering the assessments and learners sitting the assessments. You can access sample assessments on our website.

If you prefer an online route, we do have our Essential Digital Skills qualification available and we’ll also be launching the new Digital Functional Skills qualification in August 2023.

When is the last date learners can undertake Functional Skills ICT paper-based assessments?

The last external assessment date for paper-based assessments will be 24 June 2024 and you’d receive results on 1 July 2024.

When is the last certification date for Functional Skills ICT qualifications?

Following the registration end date on 31 July 2023, you’ll have 12 months to certificate your learners. The final certification date will be 31 July 2024 and at this point the qualifications will be formally withdrawn.

For any further support delivering our paper-based ICT assessments please contact our Customer Support team at [email protected].