Skills for Life: Ethical Choices
Ethical choices is one 10 hour Pearson unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Life or Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, at any level from Entry 1 to Level 2. Learners recognise ethical dilemmas at home, at school, in the community and at work, suggest a responsible response to each and, from Level 1, show the decision-making process behind it. The centre sets and marks the assessment. Digital demand is low: none of the dilemmas named is about online life and no criterion needs a computer. Digital work sits in the recommended use of online resources and case studies, choosing sources, and acknowledging sources and AI.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 10
- 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: state, outline or identify ethical dilemmas at home, at school, in the community and (Entry 3) in a workplace, and suggest a responsible response to each. There are no mandatory evidence requirements. Evidence is internally assessed by the centre, using the Pearson Authorised Assignment Brief or its own assignment, and quality assured through Pearson standards verification. 10 guided learning hours, graded Pass or Fail.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: describe (Level 1) or explain (Level 2) ethical dilemmas from home, school, community and workplace settings, and demonstrate how individuals take responsibility by following a decision-making process. There are no mandatory evidence requirements. Evidence is internally assessed by the centre and quality assured through Pearson standards verification. 10 guided learning hours, graded Pass or Fail.
Skills that use Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
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Using online resources and case studies about dilemmas
Annexe C recommends a device for research and online resources or case studies as the digital link, so learners can find real dilemmas, especially for the workplace setting required from Entry 3. This is a recommendation, not a criterion; the assessment judges the dilemmas and responses learners describe, not how they found them.
DCF: Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils read a short online news story chosen by the teacher about someone finding lost money and note the dilemma the person faced.
- Year 8
- Pupils search for a real workplace dilemma, such as a worker seeing a safety rule broken, try two sets of keywords and bookmark the best case study.
- Year 9
- Pupils collect three online case studies of dilemmas from home, school and work, save them in a shared folder and summarise each in one line.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 8, Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 45; Annexe C, SfL 8 row, page 161
“Device for research; online resources/ case studies (recommended)”
Progression step 3
I can adjust keywords and search techniques to find relevant information.
I can store search results for future use, e.g. bookmark, add to favourites.
Progression step 4
I can search a variety of sources using relevant search techniques with increased complexity.
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Choosing reliable sources for dilemmas and responses
Level 1 learners select relevant information from a limited range of sources provided, and Level 2 learners identify and select information from a variety of sources, including some they find themselves. Checking that a case study or guideline is trustworthy supports the Level 2 step of checking against rules or policies. This describes how learners work during assessment rather than a separate criterion.
DCF: Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils look at two web pages about the same story, one from a news site and one from an unnamed blog, and say which they trust more.
- Year 8
- Pupils check a workplace case study by finding who published it and when, and record their verdict in a reliability table.
- Year 9
- Pupils find a school or company policy that applies to a dilemma, judge whether the source is official and current, and explain their choice in writing.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 8, Levels of supervision and support before and during assessment, page 44; Essential information for assessment decisions, Level 2, page 44
“They can identify, select, and use information from a variety of sources, including some self-selected.”
Progression step 3
I can begin to reference sources used in my work, and consider if content is reliable.
Progression step 4
I can evaluate the reliability of sources of information, justify my opinions and reasons for choices, and reference using appropriate methods.
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Acknowledging sources and AI use
Learners must certify that their evidence is their own and reference any sources and artificial intelligence they used. If AI is used the final submission must be in their own words, and using AI tools without acknowledging them is malpractice. This applies to every submission at every level.
DCF: Digital rights, licensing and ownership, Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils list the websites they used for a short piece of research, with the site name and web address for each.
- Year 8
- Pupils discuss whether handing in an AI written answer would be honest, then write an acknowledgement line describing how they used an AI tool to check spelling.
- Year 9
- Pupils keep a research log of websites, case studies and any AI prompts used for an ethics project and turn it into a reference list.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 8, Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 45
“If learners use AI tools, they must acknowledge them clearly.”
Progression step 3
I can understand that copying the work of others and presenting it as my own is plagiarism.
I can cite sources when researching and explain the importance of this, e.g. create simple lists for the referencing of digital and offline sources.
Progression step 4
I can act responsibly as creator and user of creative work, e.g. exploring decisions that creators make when exercising their creative rights and responsibilities, giving consideration to ethical, real-life issues.
I can evaluate the reliability of sources of information, justify my opinions and reasons for choices, and reference using appropriate methods.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfL 8 and the unit summary lists it at "10" guided learning hours, half the 20 hours of the WJEC unit of the same name (Unit summary, page 5).
- The number of dilemmas is fixed by level: Entry 3 needs "four different ethical dilemmas in total", one each for home, school, community and workplace (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 43).
- At Entry 1 the teacher supplies the dilemma: "the dilemma will be provided by the teacher and given to learners" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 43).
- A learner achieves the unit once at one level: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6).
- AI is allowed only if acknowledged: "A learner will have committed malpractice if they use AI tools without acknowledging them" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 45).
- The specification gives no unit content: content "can be found in the Teaching and Learning Support document for this unit" (Unit content, page 43), so schools need that separate document.
- The unit pages contain small typing errors, "Teaching and Learning Support document t" and "Essential information f" split from "or assessment decisions" (Learner Profiles, page 45).
- The unit page says its cross-cutting themes evidence "can be found in Annexe E" (page 45), but Annexe E has no row for SfL 8; it lists SfL 1 to 5 and then jumps to SfL 18 (Annexe E, pages 170 to 172).
Links with other qualifications
The WJEC Skills Suite has its own Ethical choices unit, twice the size at 20 guided learning hours, with four learning outcomes covering who can help, values and viewpoints, consequences and justifying a decision, and with dilemmas about online behaviour and private information that bring in digital citizenship; the Pearson unit has one criterion per level built around dilemmas in four fixed settings and a decision-making process, and has no online dilemmas. Both link with GCSE Religious Studies, which treats moral and ethical issues in more depth, and with ethical decisions in GCSE Business and VCSE Public Services. Within the WJEC Skills Suite the closest units are Values for life and Rights and responsibilities in the workplace.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfL 8: Ethical choices.