City and Guilds have recently launched a new website dedicated to providing information on key skills.

www.key-skills.org exists to support the government's push to make key skills a priority by providing information for those involved in the administration, teaching and assessment of Key Skills.

The City and Guilds site is a nice, clear, simple easy-to-use site which appears to be updated on a regular basis. There's a nice graphic summary defining the key skills (problem solving, communication, application of number, improving own learning, working with others and information technology) on the home page.

Once into the site itself, there's access to plenty of downloadable information describing each key skill (particularly useful for those involved in delivery), details about applying for the qualification and a news and updates service. The links gives access to the websites for the Key Skills Support Programme, the Basic Skills Agency and the Further Education Development Agency, as well as the 'Back To The Floor' area of the BBC site. We were unable to access one intriguing feature of the site - an interactive discussion forum called Skills Talk. It's currently being piloted with a small group of key skills practitioners before it launches for proper. Access will be by login, and registration for this will apparently be available soon.

One small gripe about the site - there's no button to return to the home page on the other pages, although the navigation bar on the side of each page means you can flick from one area of the site to another quite easily. However, this doesn't alter the fact that this site is a good port-of-call for anyone looking for information about delivering key skills either in education or the workplace. For those looking for more background information, it would however also be useful to check out the more comprehensive definitions of what the government is trying to achieve on the DfEE site at