DCF Cymru Digital competence for Wales

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Skills for Life: Basic First Aid

Basic First Aid is one of 30 Skills for Life units in Agored Cymru's Skills Suite, offered at Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3, Level 1 and Level 2, each a separate 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Skills for Life, or Skills for Life and Work, Award, Certificate or Diploma. Learners carry out a primary survey, respond to an unresponsive casualty, use the recovery position, call for help, treat wounds, nosebleeds and burns and, at Level 1 and Level 2, recognise the signs of acute illnesses such as a stroke, anaphylaxis and a cardiac arrest. Practical work is shown in role play, recorded on video or annotated photographs with an assessor observation statement, and the centre marks the task within Agored Cymru's mandatory Summative Assessment Package. Digital demand is low: no criterion asks for digital work, and the digital links are recording and submitting the prescribed video or photographic evidence, checking current first aid guidance online, using apps for emergency readiness, and the ban on AI in the summative task.

Awarding body
Agored Cymru
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 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): Three learning outcomes at each Entry level: know the steps to providing first aid, be able to respond when an individual is unresponsive, and be able to respond to injuries. Entry 1 (Unit ID CDR883, Unit Code PV3E1CY002) learners identify situations such as cuts, grazes, burns and scalds, list ways to get help, indicate how to help place someone in the recovery position, give an example of what to tell those helping, and demonstrate washing hands, helping to apply a dressing and helping someone with a nosebleed. Entry 2 (CDR882, PV3E2CY002) learners also list the checks before giving first aid, including environment, airway, breathing, circulation and consent, indicate how to call 999, and demonstrate the recovery position, applying a dressing and helping with a nose bleed. Entry 3 (CDR881, PV3E3CY002) learners give examples of when first aid is needed, outline checks including medication, outline how to respond to an unresponsive person according to current accepted guidelines, and demonstrate the recovery position, calling for help, hygienic dressing of a wound and treating minor burns. At every Entry level the prescribed method is role play recorded on video and/or annotated photographs with an assessor observation statement for LO2 and LO3. The centre devises the task within Agored Cymru's mandatory Summative Assessment Package, marks it internally, and Agored Cymru moderates it. 20 guided learning hours and 2 credits at each level, graded Pass or Fail.
  • Level 1 and Level 2: Four learning outcomes at each level: the primary survey, responding when an individual is unresponsive, responding to external bleeding and wounds, and the signs of acute illnesses. Level 1 (Unit ID CDR880, Unit Code PV31CY003) learners outline the six steps of a primary survey, demonstrate checks on an unresponsive casualty, the recovery position, controlling bleeding including nosebleeds and applying wound dressings, outline the treatment of burns and how to respond to head injuries, and outline the signs of 6 acute illnesses from an asthma attack to a cardiac arrest. Level 2 (CDR879, PV32CY001) learners describe the six steps, demonstrate the checks and recovery position including when an individual is unconscious or having a seizure, describe precautions with wounds, demonstrate controlling a nosebleed and applying and checking dressings, describe treating grazes, minor cuts, bruises and minor burns, and describe the signs of 8 acute illnesses, including mild and severe choking in adults. The prescribed method is role play recorded on video and/or annotated photographs with an assessor observation statement, for LO2 and LO3 at Level 1 and for LO2 and AC 3.2 and 3.4 at Level 2. The centre devises the task within the mandatory Summative Assessment Package, marks it internally, and Agored Cymru moderates it. 20 guided learning hours and 2 credits at each level, graded Pass or Fail.

Skills that use Digital rights, licensing and ownership

  1. Producing own reference materials without AI

    Assessed: In coursework (non-examination assessment, NEA)

    Learners must prepare their own reference materials before the summative task, and AI tools must not be used at all. Teachers may give general guidance only before the task starts. Notes taken from websites must be in learners' own words, and copying them is not the learner's own work. This is an assessment rule of the Summative Assessment Package rather than an assessment criterion.

    DCF: Digital rights, licensing and ownership, Sourcing, searching and planning digital content

    Getting pupils ready

    Year 7
    Pupils make a one page revision card on treating a minor burn in their own words, writing the website name under each fact they used.
    Year 8
    Pupils discuss why handing in an AI written answer about the recovery position would not be their own work, then write their own version from class notes.
    Year 9
    Pupils prepare a reference sheet on the signs of a stroke from 2 trusted websites, rewrite it in their own words and list the sources at the bottom.
    Show the specification wording and the DCF statements

    Where it is in the specification: Appendix A, Resources and AI, Teacher support and feedback, page 106

    “AI tools must not be used at all.”
    Progression step 3

    • I can understand that copying the work of others and presenting it as my own is plagiarism.

    • I can begin to reference sources used in my work, and consider if content is reliable.

    Progression step 4

    • I can understand copyright and can explain the legal and ethical dimensions of respecting creative work, e.g. exploring the ethical and legal ramifications of piracy and plagiarism and know that they are irresponsible and disrespectful, and I can apply my understanding of the rules and regulations to different scenarios.

    • I can evaluate the reliability of sources of information, justify my opinions and reasons for choices, and reference using appropriate methods.

Good to know

Links with other qualifications

Agored Cymru places Basic First Aid in the Health and Well-being Area of Learning and Experience and maps it to Relationships and Sexuality Education, Human Rights, Diversity, and Careers and Work-related Experiences, naming first aid roles in health, emergency and community services. It sits well beside GCSE Health and Social Care, and Childcare, the VCSEs in Public Services and Sport and Leisure, and the matching Foundations, and within the Skills Suite beside Personal Safety, Looking After Others, Mental Health and Wellbeing and Healthy Lifestyle. Its digital work is light compared with GCSE Digital Technology. Compared with the WJEC Basic first aid unit, which has four learning outcomes at every level and a portfolio, and the Pearson unit, which has one criterion per level and asks for CPR from Entry 2 and AED use at Level 1 and Level 2, Agored's version has three learning outcomes at Entry level and four at Level 1 and Level 2, adds the signs of acute illnesses from Level 1, prescribes video or annotated photographic evidence of role play, does not ask for CPR or an AED, and bans AI in the summative task.

Source: Agored Cymru The Skills Suite: Skills for Life and Work Specification, version 1.0, October 2026, Basic First Aid.