Foundation Design and Technology
Foundation Design and Technology is a two year Entry Level and Level 1 course for learners aged 14 to 16, taken in one of three pathways: Engineering Design, Fashion and Textiles or Product Design. Its digital content is modest and mostly named as examples. Every pathway examines the advantages and disadvantages of CAD/CAM in the Unit 1 topic tests, which centres can run on screen, and Engineering Design adds systems, flowcharts and circuit modelling. In the Unit 2 design project, learners may use CAD, CAM, audio and visual recordings and computer-based tools such as AI to record and develop ideas, alongside hand drawing and modelling. The most useful thing KS3 can build is confident, purposeful use of simple CAD and CAM, with pupils recording their research, plans and decisions digitally.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level and Level 1
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Medium
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Design and Technology in the 21st Century: Three topic tests of 20 minutes each (1 hour in total): a Core Knowledge and Understanding test on health and safety (16 marks) and two pathway tests on Materials and Components and on Tools, Techniques and Processes (12 marks each), 40 marks, 30%, set and marked by WJEC, digital or paper format within a four week window
- Unit 2: Design Project: Non-examination assessment, a sustained design and make task of approximately 40 hours based on a contextual challenge set by the centre, 60 marks, 70%, set and marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC
Skills that use Data and information literacy
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Gathering user views to write a specification
Learners identify potential user groups and the needs, wants and values of their intended users, then write specifications derived from their own research, including sizes of key features. A short online survey or a table of findings is one way to gather and sort this information, and Appendix A maps Data and Computational Thinking to Unit 2.
DCF: Data and information literacy
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils ask classmates three questions about their ideal pencil case and record the answers in a table in Word.
- Year 8
- Pupils build a short Microsoft Forms survey about a product for young children, share it with another class and turn the answers into a chart.
- Year 9
- Pupils design a survey for their own target users, group the responses in a spreadsheet and use the most common answers to write three measurable specification points.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 2, Sections 2.1.1 and 2.1.2, page 20; Appendix A, page 33
“write specifications that are derived from their own research”
Progression step 3
I can construct, refine and interrogate data sets within tables, charts, spreadsheets and databases to test or support an investigation.
Progression step 4
I can create a data capture form, capture data, search data and create a database and spreadsheet with appropriate data input method.
I can perform analysis on simple data sets including grouping data as appropriate.
Good to know
- Centres choose how Unit 1 is sat: "Centres can select from digital and paper formats within a four-week assessment window." (Summary of assessment, page 5), with separate "Topic tests (On-screen)" and "Topic tests (Paper)" entry codes (Section 5.1, page 29).
- Digital tools in the project are examples, not requirements: learners "communicate and record their ideas using appropriate techniques, for example:" CAD, CAM, audio and visual recordings and AI, alongside hand drawing and modelling (Unit 2, Section 2.1.3, page 21).
- CAD/CAM knowledge is compulsory in every pathway: learners "describe the advantages and disadvantages of CAD/CAM in the production of a product and/or component." (Unit 1, pages 15, 16 and 18).
- Equipment named in the pathways includes the "laser cutter" and "3D printing" for Product Design (page 18) and "computerised embroidery machines" for Fashion and Textiles (page 16).
- AI is named as an example tool, "computer-based tools, for example, AI." (page 21), but the specification gives no separate AI rules. Work must be authenticated: "Authentication sheets must be signed by both the teacher and the learner." (Section 3.3, page 26).
- The specification does not say how Unit 2 evidence is submitted. It states "Written evidence must be annotated to show how it meets the marking criteria." and performance evidence such as presentations "must be documented using observation records" (Section 3.3, page 26).
- Appendix A (page 33) ticks Digital Competence Interacting and Collaborating and Data and Computational Thinking for Unit 2 only; Citizenship and Producing are not ticked for either unit.
Links with other qualifications
The specification says the qualification "provides a broad basis for progression onto GCSE Design and Technology" (page 8). The Foundation shares the GCSE's three pathways, its 40 hour design project and its knowledge of CAD and CAM, but asks learners only to describe the advantages and disadvantages of CAD/CAM and lists CAD, CAM and AI as optional examples. GCSE Design and Technology steps this up with an on-screen examination with typed extended answers, 2D and 3D CAD modelling and preparing files for CAM, programmable microcontrollers in Engineering Design, and the impact of emerging technologies.
Source: WJEC Entry Level/Level 1 Foundation Design and Technology specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027, for award from 2029 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).