Skills for Life: Everyday Law
Everyday Law is an Open Awards Skills for Life unit offered at 5 levels from Entry Level 1 to Level 2, each 20 guided learning hours, covering rules and laws, rights, the people who enforce the law, how laws are made in Wales, equality and consumer law, and how to get help and resolve legal problems. The provider designs the tasks and learners build a portfolio assessed Pass or Fail. Digital demand is low: no criterion needs a computer. Digital work sits in judging reliable online sources of legal information, online safety law, complaint emails and 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 CBM061, Entry Level 2 CBM062, Entry Level 3 CBM063): Entry Level 1 has 4 learning outcomes and 7 criteria: recognise rules, recognise people who help keep others safe, identify where to get help, state a basic right and a responsibility, and take part in safe and fair behaviour. Entry Level 2 has 3 outcomes and 6 criteria: state the difference between a rule and a law, identify people who enforce the law, give examples of laws that keep us safe, recognise when a law has been broken, identify a consumer right and demonstrate how to ask for help. Entry Level 3 has 3 outcomes and 6 criteria: state the purpose of laws, identify consequences of breaking a rule or a law, give examples of laws that protect young people, describe where to find reliable information about legal rights, use basic legal terms to describe a consumer problem and take part in a structured activity to resolve a legal disagreement. 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 CBM064, Level 2 CBM065): Level 1 has 4 learning outcomes and 9 criteria: state the difference between civil and criminal law, identify who represents people, outline how a law is made in Wales, describe and analyse past and present systems of government in Wales, give examples of protected characteristics, describe the workplace rights of a young person, demonstrate how to make a formal complaint about a faulty product and identify reliable sources to report a safety concern or a crime. Level 2 has 3 outcomes and 7 criteria: explain civil and criminal law, summarise how a Senedd Bill becomes an Act, compare a law in Wales with one in another country, analyse the impact of the Equality Act, assess the rights of young workers in Wales, use consumer law to address a dispute and communicate a legal argument to resolve a community issue. 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 Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
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Finding reliable legal information online
Entry Level 3 learners must describe where to find reliable information about legal rights, and Level 1 learners must identify reliable sources to report a safety concern or a crime. Most of the examples are websites: GOV.WALES children’s rights pages, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Meic and the Crimestoppers website. The criteria assess knowing which sources are trustworthy, so learners need to judge online sources, though the criteria do not require them to search live.
DCF: Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils visit the Children’s Commissioner for Wales website and find 3 rights young people have, noting the page address.
- Year 8
- Pupils search for advice about returning faulty goods and sort the results into official sites, charities and adverts, saying which they trust and why.
- Year 9
- Pupils compare a forum post and the GOV.WALES page on the same legal question, check the date and owner of each, and justify which they would rely on.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Entry Level 3 criterion 2.2, page 15, and indicative content, page 16; Level 1 criterion 4.2 and indicative content, pages 19 to 20
“Learners must describe places where to find reliable information about legal rights”
Progression step 3
I can adjust keywords and search techniques to find relevant information.
I can begin to reference sources used in my work, and consider if content is reliable.
Progression step 4
I can search a variety of sources using relevant search techniques with increased complexity.
I can evaluate the reliability of sources of information, justify my opinions and reasons for choices, and reference using appropriate methods.
Good to know
- Each level has its own unit code and the same size: CBM061 to CBM065, "Credit Value: Two (2)" and "Guided Learning Hours: 20" (Unit Content, pages 10, 13, 15, 18 and 21). The Pearson unit of the same name is 10 hours.
- 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).
- The delivery requirements list "access to a computer or laptop for digital resources" and "access to appropriate information sources, including Welsh Government materials (printed or digital)" (Physical Resources, page 6). No criterion requires a computer.
- Learners need a robust starting point check: "the provider must complete robust initial assessments to ensure the learner is able to access the content at the level they are starting" (Entry Requirements, page 6).
- Level 1 asks for more than law: criteria 2.1 and 2.2 ask learners to "Describe the key features of past and present systems of government in Wales" and to analyse the differences (Level 1, page 18), and the Level 1 assessment task table on page 9 gives no example task for this outcome.
- Some indicative content does not match its criterion. Entry Level 3 criterion 2.2 says "Describe" but the assessment table says "Indicate where to find reliable information about legal rights" (page 8). Level 2 content refers to "how he nine protected characteristics" (page 22), an apparent typing slip.
Links with other qualifications
Everyday Law sits closest to GCSE Social Studies, which covers rights, responsibilities, law and government, and the Level 1 and Level 2 work on the Senedd and systems of government in Wales also links with GCSE History and the Humanities Area of Learning and Experience that the unit is mapped to. The criminal law and reporting content links with the VCSE in Public Services. The Pearson unit of the same name is 10 hours and centres on human rights and criminal and employment law, while the WJEC Everyday law unit is 20 hours like this one. Within the Open Awards suites, Democracy in Action, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Ethical Choices are the closest Skills for Life units.
Source: Open Awards Skills for Life Unit Specification, Everyday Law, Entry Level 1 to Level 2.