Katie Richardson: My name's Katie Richardson, I'm the Inclusion Manager and Assistant Head Teacher at a primary school.
Within our school we have many different people working in many different roles and it's important for all of them to have good literacy and numerous skills.
Child: You have to put them into twos.
Support Assistant: We're gonna replace it into piles of two so every time you see a pile of three cups we replace it with a pile of two, one, two.
Katie Richardson: There are many occasions where we need to be able to really quickly calculate things mentally and sometimes we need to be able to write down written methods to help children.
So it's really important that we've got that basic skills mastered and that we're confident to use them and to model to the children.
Support Assistant: So the answer we put in our box is four, well done.
Support Assistant: It's important as a support assistant to understand fractions and decimals so we can help and adapt the children's work so they understand it as well.
Children: Up, day, see, high, below, zoo.
Woman in red top and glasses: We're always using the sounds of English and it's helping the children with their reading and writing.
For example, a, we would be A, b would be B, c is C and so on and so on.
Support Assistant: One, two, three. F f f.
Children: L l l. M m m.
Katie Richardson: That's how we teach our children to read in the early years.
And if you weren't to have that skill then obviously you wouldn't be able to show the children how to do that.
Woman in glasses: Communication is very important when working in a school.
We have to work with many types of abilities and you have to not use too many words and really speak in a clear voice, not using any slang or silly language.
Katie Richardson: It's really important that we set great examples to the children and are good role models of formal English both spoken and written.
Anybody who wants to work in an educational setting need to have those basic literacy and numerous skills because we use them all the time.
This video was first published in 2011.
Quick tips for tutors
These resources cover some of the literacy and numeracy skills that may be needed to work in childcare and teaching. They also signpost to further websites to find more information about this vocational area. All the resources can be cross-referenced to the national adult literacy or numeracy curriculum and will also be relevant for learners on functional skills courses.
Downloadable Factsheets
Entry 3 - Working in childcare and teaching
Summary of career opportunities in childcare and teaching, and which subject skills are important for this line of work.
Entry 3 - Writing reports about children
How to write reports about children using clear sentences and the correct punctuation and tense.
Level 1 - Using rotas in childcare settings
How to read and understand a rota in a childcare setting.
Level 1 - Useful words for early years settings
Summary of common words used in early years settings, including tips on how to remember to spell them.
Downloadable Worksheets
Entry 3 - Skills for childcare and teaching
Assess your skills for work-related tasks in childcare and teaching by completing this chart.
Entry 3 - Writing reports in early years settings
Exercise in placing the missing words in the gaps to complete the early years report.
Level 1 - Childcare and teaching words in use
Exercises in using the correct childcare and teaching word to complete sentences, and writing sentences using words in the right context.
Level 1 - Using rotas in childcare planning
Exercise in reading a rota and answering questions relating to it.
