Foundation Digital Technology
Foundation Digital Technology is a two year Entry Level and Level 1 qualification for learners aged 14 to 16 who need an accessible route into the subject, and it leads on to GCSE Digital Technology. Digital work runs through every unit. Unit 1 is three short topic tests on digital systems, online safety and digital careers and working practices. In Unit 2 learners collect audience data, set up and analyse it in a spreadsheet, then plan, build and demonstrate a computer game, interactive quiz or interactive storybook. In Unit 3 they plan a digital video with a mood board and storyboard, edit text, photos, graphics and footage, export it and demonstrate their skills in a screen recording. The skills to practise in Key Stage 3 are spreadsheets, block coding and media editing.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level and Level 1
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- High
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: The Digital World: Three digital topic tests of 20 minutes each (1 hour in total), 30%, 60 marks, set and marked by WJEC, taken in digital or paper format within a four week window under invigilated conditions
- Unit 2: Designing Digital Solutions: Non-examination assessment, suggested timing of approximately 16 hours, 35%, 70 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC, assignment brief available via the WJEC Portal
- Unit 3: Creating and Communicating with Digital Media: Non-examination assessment, suggested timing of approximately 14 hours, 35%, 70 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC, assignment brief available via the WJEC Portal
Skills that use Collaboration
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Understanding digital services, careers and working practices
Learners know the purpose of everyday digital services such as NHS apps, virtual classrooms, GPS navigation and streaming, and the roles and skills of digital jobs such as IT support technician and content creator. They understand working practices such as video call etiquette, naming files and folders, backing up and tracking versions, collaborating online and logging in securely.
DCF: Health and well-being, Communication, Storing and sharing, Collaboration
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils list the digital services their family uses in a week, sort them by purpose and save the list in a named OneDrive folder.
- Year 8
- Pupils edit a shared PowerPoint with a partner, set edit or view permissions and compare when a video call is better than an email.
- Year 9
- Pupils run a small group project in Teams with shared files, restore an earlier draft from version history and match digital jobs to the skills they need.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 1, Sections 1.1.1, 1.3.1 and 1.3.2, pages 12, 16 and 17
“track work with versions”
Progression step 3
I can identify the wider positive and negative influences of technology, e.g. on my life, on society, on the environment.
I can show an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of communication and when it is appropriate to use each, e.g. explain when video conferencing may be more appropriate than e-mail, and vice versa; explain the pros and cons of using instant messaging in social contexts; talk about purpose and audience.
I can manage files and folders locally or online, e.g. move files to a folder.
Progression step 4
I can use appropriate advanced file management techniques, e.g. version history, restore previous version, tagging, compression.
I can independently select and use a range of online collaboration tools to create a project with others in one or more languages, e.g. making use of online technology to share and present ideas to others.
Good to know
- Unit 1 can be taken on screen or on paper: "Centres can select from digital and paper formats within a four-week assessment window." (Summary of assessment, page 5). Each 20 minute test "must be sat under invigilated examination conditions" (Section 3.2, page 28).
- Both NEA units end with a recording of the work: learners "Demonstrate digital skills in a screen recording" (Summary of assessment, pages 5 and 6), so screen recording software is needed in Units 2 and 3.
- Learners pick the product for Unit 2: they "may choose to develop either a computer game, an interactive quiz, or an interactive storybook." (Section 3.2, page 28). No software is named.
- Marks depend on the level of skills used: learners use skills "from each level of complexity" (Unit 2, Section 2.1.2, page 20 and Unit 3, Section 3.3.1, page 26), and Appendices A and B label each skill as Basic (Entry 1/Entry 2), More advanced (Entry 2/Entry 3) or Complex (Level 1) (pages 36 to 40).
- NEA follows the JCQ vocational rules: work "must adhere to the instructions included in JCQ's Instructions for Conducting Non-Examination Assessments (Vocational and Technical Qualifications)" (Section 3.3, page 29). The specification gives no separate rule on AI use.
- Teachers may allow "one opportunity to improve their evidence and resubmit it for marking" in Units 2 and 3 (Section 3.4, page 30), but not in Unit 1.
- Section 3.3 states "All units of this qualification are assessed through non-examination assessment." (page 29), although Unit 1 is a set of invigilated topic tests marked by WJEC (page 28).
- Appendix C (pages 41 to 43) maps the DCF strands to the units: Citizenship to 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.3, 3.1 and 3.2, Interacting and Collaborating and Producing to 1.3 and all of Units 2 and 3, and Data and Computational Thinking to 2.3 and 3.1 to 3.3. Section 1.2 refers to this mapping as "Appendix A" (page 7).
Links with other qualifications
The qualification is designed as a route onto GCSE Digital Technology, and its units match the GCSE closely in a simpler form. The GCSE asks learners to clean and analyse a WJEC data set with formulas, filters and pivot tables, build a multi page website in HTML and CSS plus a game or 2D animation, and edit media into a marketing video, while the Foundation keeps to the learner's own small audience survey, one block based game, quiz or storybook and a short video. The online safety and digital footprint content links with Personal and Social Education, and the spreadsheet charts support Mathematics and Numeracy.
Source: WJEC Entry Level/Level 1 Foundation Digital Technology specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027, for award from 2029 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).