Skills for Life: Healthy Relationships
Healthy relationships is a 20 hour Skills for Life unit, offered from Entry 1 to Level 2, about what makes relationships healthy or unhealthy, respecting difference and inclusion, building and maintaining positive relationships, and what to do if a relationship feels unsafe. It is one unit that learners combine with others into a Skills for Life or Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma. Digital demand is low. The digital work is about online relationships: recognising online harm such as cyberbullying, blackmail and image sharing, spotting harmful behaviour in media examples at Level 2, and knowing how to report it and get help. Posters and campaign materials can be made digitally but nothing requires it.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Low
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): Four learning outcomes, with separate assessment criteria at Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3. Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: Four learning outcomes, with separate assessment criteria at Level 1 and Level 2. Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Identity, image and reputation
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Using media examples to identify harmful behaviour and stereotypes
At Level 2 learners recognise harmful behaviours in relationships and give examples from scenarios or media, including what someone could do to assert themselves. The unit also asks learners to build confidence to challenge stereotypes, so media examples such as clips, soap storylines or posts are a natural source. Using media is one option the criterion names, so the digital part is not compulsory.
DCF: Identity, image and reputation, Health and well-being
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils watch a short clip from a children's television drama and note one kind and one unkind thing a character does to a friend.
- Year 8
- Pupils look at three advert stills showing couples or friends and discuss what stereotypes about boys and girls each one shows.
- Year 9
- Pupils pick a soap or social media storyline about a relationship, identify controlling or harmful behaviours in it, and suggest what the character could do to assert themselves.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Level 1 and Level 2, learning outcome 4, assessment criterion 4.1 (Level 2), page 8; Unit overview, cross-cutting themes, page 4
“Recognise harmful behaviours in relationships”
Progression step 3
I can think critically about information shared online, e.g. the impact of sharing images and videos, metadata of images and videos.
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 stereotypes and their impact in a range of media.
I can reflect on the role of digital media in my life and habits.
Good to know
- The unit has five codes, one for each level, from "S615E1" to "S615L2" (Unit overview, page 3). Only the highest level achieved counts, because "only the highest level of the unit achieved will count towards the GLH" (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 2.2, page 10).
- No special equipment is needed: "Assessment of this unit should not require any specific resources." (Resources required for assessment, page 16), and it is "designed to be delivered using standard classroom environments" (page 15).
- Evidence does not have to be written. The pack says "evidence may be verbal, written, practical, or visual, extended written work is not required unless appropriate" and lists "digital portfolios and evidence produced using total communication approaches" such as AAC and Makaton (Sources of evidence, page 14). The portfolio "is not limited to paper-based materials" (specification, section 4.1, page 18).
- Role-play and discussion are assessed through observation, so keep "tutor observation records from discussions, group work, and role-play activities" (Sources of evidence, page 14). Video or audio recordings are also accepted evidence (specification, section 4.1, page 18).
- The suggested activities and tasks are optional. The specification says suggested assessment tasks "are not mandatory" and teachers "may choose to use these suggestions, adapt them, or develop their own alternatives" (section 4.1, page 18).
- AI tools are only acceptable "When properly referenced", and learners "cannot be credited for any work they produce for assessment which is not their own". Misuse includes "Failing to acknowledge use of AI tools when they have been used as a source of information" (specification, section 4.6, page 21).
- The pack carries a warning that "The UK Government has announced plans to restrict social media use by children under 16", so the online relationships content may change (page 2).
- Where a criterion uses a plural without a number, "a plural reference within assessment criterion refers to a minimum of two" (pages 6 and 8).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names links with "GCSE Health and Social Care, and Childcare", where learners also study relationships, wellbeing and inclusion. Within the Skills Suite it suggests delivering this unit alongside Looking after others, Teamwork, Mental health and wellbeing, Personal safety, Online safety, Equality, diversity and inclusion, Understanding self and others, Fairness and inclusion in the workplace and Wellbeing and work. Online safety is the closest digital partner, since both cover cyberbullying, image sharing and reporting harm online, and Equality, diversity and inclusion shares the inclusion and challenging unfairness content of learning outcome 2.
Source: WJEC Healthy relationships unit delivery and assessment pack, read with the WJEC Entry 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life and Skills for Work specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).