Skills for Life: Arts and Crafts
Arts and Crafts is an Open Awards Skills for Life unit offered at 5 levels from Entry Level 1 to Level 2, each 20 guided learning hours, in which learners prepare for, make and review an art or craft piece, with planning, comparison of techniques and evaluation at Level 2. The provider designs the tasks and learners build a portfolio assessed Pass or Fail. Digital demand is low: the unit lists Literacy, not Digital, as its cross-curricular skill and no criterion needs a computer. Digital work sits in an optional comparison with digital drawing, online research for inspiration, planning and photographing work for the e-portfolio.
- Awarding body
- Open Awards
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Low
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry Level 1 CBM021, Entry Level 2 CBM022, Entry Level 3 CBM023): Each Entry level has 3 learning outcomes: prepare for a creative task, take part in or produce a piece, and respond to or review it. Entry Level 1 has 9 criteria, such as recognise materials, state a safety instruction, hold a tool correctly, use a colour to make a mark and indicate if they like their piece. Entry Level 2 has 9 criteria, such as identify shapes, colours and tools, use tools safely with guidance, carry out steps to create a piece and talk about it. Entry Level 3 has 9 criteria, such as describe sources of ideas, list and explain safety rules for materials and tools, follow a sequence of structured steps, use colour, texture or shape to express an idea, explain decisions and help display the work. Tasks are designed by the provider and evidence goes in a portfolio, assessed Pass or Fail. Each level is 2 credits and 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2 (Level 1 CBM024, Level 2 CBM025): Level 1 has 3 learning outcomes and 10 criteria: describe sources of inspiration, explain the purpose of materials and equipment, outline health and safety procedures, use colour, texture and shape to express an idea, use tools safely, create a piece, describe the creative process, analyse how the piece compares with the original idea and suggest one strength and one improvement. Level 2 has 3 outcomes and 8 criteria: analyse sources of inspiration for a design brief, compare at least 2 art or craft techniques, plan a staged project with objectives and resources, create a piece safely, and evaluate both the final piece, using feedback, and the design process. Tasks are designed by the provider and evidence goes in a portfolio, assessed Pass or Fail. Each level is 2 credits and 20 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Storing and sharing
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Photographing work for an e-portfolio
Learners must collect evidence in a portfolio, and Open Awards encourages e-portfolios wherever possible. Practical art and craft pieces and displays are often evidenced by photographs, so learners may need to photograph, name and upload images of their work. The portfolio is required, but the digital format is optional.
DCF: Storing and sharing, Creating digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils take a clear photo of their finished piece and save it in a named folder.
- Year 8
- Pupils photograph each stage of a craft piece and upload the images in order to an online folder.
- Year 9
- Pupils build a digital portfolio page showing development photos with short captions, cropping and arranging the images for a clear record.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Assessment Approach, page 7
“Wherever possible, e-portfolios are encouraged.”
Progression step 3
I can manage files and folders locally or online, e.g. move files to a folder.
I can upload files from a local drive to online storage.
Progression step 4
I can use appropriate advanced file management techniques, e.g. version history, restore previous version, tagging, compression.
I can select and use a variety of appropriate software, tools and techniques to create, modify and combine multimedia components for a range of audiences and purposes, such as:
- text and images, e.g. explore and use effectively image manipulation techniques; explore and use appropriately the many aspects of document layout; use animation, video and audio effects such as echo, tempo, envelope, layering, frame rate, key frames
- presentation, e.g. use design tools; adapt themes and colours to suit the purpose; create master templates.
Good to know
- Each level has its own unit code and the same size: CBM021 to CBM025, "Credit Value: Two (2)" and "Guided Learning Hours: 20" (Unit Content, pages 10, 13, 16, 19 and 22). The unit is titled Arts and Crafts inside the document.
- Units at different levels cannot be combined: "with the exception of British Sign Language (BSL), units with the same title at different levels are barred for completion within the same qualification" (Open Awards Level 1 Qualification Guide, Qualification Units, page 17).
- Every criterion must be met: "All assessment criteria must be met in full for the learner to be awarded a ‘pass’" (Assessment Approach, page 7). There is no grade above Pass.
- The provider writes the tasks: the unit is "assessed through assessment tasks and activities designed by the provider", and providers must "undertake pre‑course verification" to confirm the tasks cover all criteria (Assessment Approach, page 7).
- Evidence goes in a portfolio, paper or digital: "Wherever possible, e-portfolios are encouraged." (Assessment Approach, page 7). Assessments are subject to internal quality assurance and external quality assurance by Open Awards.
- The unit specification says nothing about AI or referencing. The qualification guide requires assessment evidence to "Be the learner’s own work" (Open Awards Level 1 Qualification Guide, Assessment Conditions, page 31).
- Practical work must be safe: providers must ensure "learners are supervised during practical work" and "risk assessments are in place where required" (Health and Safety, page 6).
- The minimum resources are mostly physical art materials, plus "A laptop or computer for accessing digital resources and presentations" for the teacher (Physical Resources, page 5). The cross-curricular skills row names "Literacy" only, not Digital (pages 12, 15, 18, 21 and 24).
- Indicative content and criteria do not always match. Entry Level 2 criterion 1.3 says "State instructions for keeping safe" but the content says learners "must recognise two simple rules" (pages 13 to 14), and criteria 3.1 and 3.2 are described the other way round. At Level 2 the content for criterion 2.1 says "select appropriate tools / equipment / materials safely" though the criterion is about colour, texture and shape (pages 22 to 23). Level 1 content stops after criterion 3.1, so criteria 2.1, 2.3 and 3.2 to 3.4 have no guidance (pages 20 to 21).
Links with other qualifications
Arts and Crafts leads into GCSE Art and Design and links with the Expressive Arts Area of Learning and Experience that it is mapped to, and with the Foundation in Expressive Arts; textiles, ceramics and sewing machine work also touch GCSE Design and Technology. The Level 2 comparison of pencil and digital drawing gives a bridge to GCSE Digital Media and Film and the VCSE in Creative and Media Production and Technology. The Pearson unit of the same name is also 20 hours. Within the Open Awards suites, Digital Film and Media and Music, Dance and Drama are the nearest creative units, and the encouragement to use recycled materials links with Sustainability in Action.
Source: Open Awards Skills for Life Unit Specification, Arts and Crafts, Entry Level 1 to Level 2.