Skills for Life: Basic First Aid
Basic first aid (Unit SfL 2) is one 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Life Award, Certificate or Diploma, from Entry 1 to Level 2. Learners identify hazards, treat minor injuries, place a casualty in the recovery position, call for help and, from Entry 2, start CPR, with AED use at Level 1 and Level 2, mostly shown in simulated incidents. Centres set and mark the assessment, Pearson verifies it, and the unit is passed once at one level. Digital demand is low: the digital links are following a training AED's voice prompts, checking current CPR guidance online and acknowledging sources and AI.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- 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): One assessment criterion at each of Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3: learners state (Entry 1), outline (Entry 2) or identify (Entry 3) and demonstrate the use of simple or basic first aid resources and procedures, including the recovery position at every level and starting CPR from Entry 2, usually in a simulated incident. The centre chooses the evidence, sets and marks the assessment, and Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours, graded Pass or Fail at the level achieved.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: learners describe and demonstrate (Level 1) or explain and demonstrate (Level 2) the first aider's role, situations, procedures and resources, including treating bleeding or burns, the recovery position, calling the emergency services, CPR and the use of an AED. The centre chooses the evidence, sets and marks the assessment over a number of sessions, and Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours, graded Pass or Fail at the level achieved.
Skills that use Problem-solving and modelling
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Following a training AED's voice prompts
Entry 3 learners request an AED when calling for help, Level 1 learners know they would follow the voice prompts given by the training AED unit to support CPR, and Level 2 learners describe how an AED would be used. Learners follow a set sequence of steps from the device and the resuscitation procedure, where the order of each step matters. This is in the Level 1 and Level 2 essential information; Annexe C names using AED prompts as the digital link.
DCF: Problem-solving and modelling, Health and well-being
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils put cards showing the steps of a simple emergency routine in order and explain what would go wrong if two steps were swapped.
- Year 8
- Pupils watch a training AED demonstration video and turn its voice prompts into a numbered flowchart.
- Year 9
- Pupils discuss how public access defibrillators that talk users through each step help untrained bystanders, and list one limitation of relying on the device.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 2, Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 3, Level 1 and Level 2, page 18; Annexe C, page 160
“know that they would follow the voice prompts given by the training AED unit to support the CPR process”
Progression step 3
I can understand the importance of the order of statements within algorithms.
I can identify the wider positive and negative influences of technology, e.g. on my life, on society, on the environment.
Progression step 4
I can identify the different parts of an algorithm to determine their purpose.
Good to know
- Basic first aid is Unit SfL 2 with 20 "Unit GLH" (Unit summary, page 5), and the qualification numbers run from C00/5443/4 to C00/5445/0 (Qualification titles, pages 3 and 4).
- It is not a workplace first aid certificate: "Completing this unit does not replace a formal licence to practise First Aid Qualification such as Pearson Level 3 Emergency First Aid or Level 3 First Aid at Work" (Unit SfL 2, page 16).
- Practical equipment is implied: the Level 1 guidance says learners "follow the voice prompts given by the training AED unit" (page 18), and CPR is demonstrated from Entry 2, although "the centre can decide the resource requirements" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 19).
- Practical work must be evidenced: "achievement cannot be inferred from performance" (Assessment requirements, page 9), so record demonstrations with observation records or similar, although "there are no mandatory evidence requirements" for this unit (page 17).
- A unit counts once only: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6), and "Units and qualifications are graded Pass/Fail" (page 7).
- AI tools must be acknowledged: "A learner will have committed malpractice if they use AI tools without acknowledging them" (page 19).
- The teaching content is in a separate document: "This can be found in the Teaching and Learning Support document for this unit" (Unit content, page 17).
- The essential information contains typing errors, for example "show how to put clean a small cut" and "be able to be able to choose" (Entry 2, page 17), and the specification refers to "Section 6 Glossary" although the glossary is Section 7 (page 11).
Links with other qualifications
Basic first aid sits well beside GCSE Health and Social Care, and Childcare, the VCSEs in Public Services and Sport and Leisure, and the Foundations in Health and Social Care, and Childcare, Public Services and Sport and Leisure, and Annexe E points to careers in health, social care and the emergency services. Its digital work is light compared with GCSE Digital Technology. Within the WJEC Skills Suite, Personal Safety, Looking After Others and Mental Health and Wellbeing are natural partners. Compared with the WJEC Basic first aid unit, also 20 hours and organised into four learning outcomes, Pearson's version has one criterion per level and its essential information sets out specific procedures, the recovery position at every level, starting CPR from Entry 2 and AED use at Level 1 and Level 2, and Pearson states plainly that the unit does not replace a formal first aid qualification.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications Specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfL 2: Basic first aid.