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Embedded Basic Skills used to be called “Contextualised” or “Integrated”, and is still being fully defined. There are different views as to a precise definition of Embedded Basic Skills, but a working definition of Embedded Basic Skills could be:

• “Activities or experiences supporting the development of basic skills in participants in the activities or experiences, and in the context of those activities or experiences”.

• The activity within which the skills are embedded need not be directly related to education or training, but may well be in the context of other needs shown by the participants.

• The activity within which the skills are embedded can, as you might expect, be a course in some other aspect of learning or training, but with the opportunity to develop the individual learner’s Basic Skills within the principal activities of the course

• The skills developed and the activities used to develop them should be based upon the identified needs of the individual, and should be charted against the framework of national standards for Basic Skills, particularly in the context of allowing for quality control and access to funding for Embedded Basic Skills.

• To learn more about how Embedded Basic Skills can work, what they might be and where they can happen, look at the Case Studies.

• The way in which the skills development can be embedded can vary, but there are three main recognised models. These are the fully embedded model, the sandwich model and the overlapping circles model.

• In the context of the “Skills for Life” strategy, the Adult Basic Skills Strategy Unit (ABSSU) says:

  • Embedded teaching and learning combines the development of literacy, language and numeracy with vocational and other skills

  • The skills acquired provide learners with the confidence, competence and motivation necessary for them to succeed in qualifications, in life and at work
    (ABSSU, March 2004).

[Introduction]
[What is EBS?]
[Why get Involved?]
[Advantages]
[Should you get involved?]
[Models of Embedding]
[Good Practice]
[EBS with Disabled People]