Skills for Life: Personal Safety
Personal safety is a 20 hour Skills for Life unit about staying safe at home, in the community, outdoors and online. Learners spot hazards, explain how risks change between places, practise safety rules, support others and plan safety actions, with Level 2 learners analysing and evaluating their choices. It is one unit learners combine with others into a Skills for Life Award, Certificate or Diploma. Digital demand is low: no assessment criterion requires digital skills. Digital work sits in the online risks taught under the amplification, such as cyberbullying, scams and grooming, and in optional activities such as interactive quizzes, digital journals and researching online safety tools.
- 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 (know about personal safety, understand personal safety in different environments, apply safety rules or actions and support others, plan ways of staying safe), 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 (know key principles of personal safety, understand how risks vary across environments, apply personal safety strategies and support others, plan and justify personal safety actions), 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 Online behaviour and online bullying
-
Recognising online risks
Learners at Levels 1 and 2 learn the types of risk found on social media, messaging apps, email and gaming, such as cyberbullying, scams, inappropriate content, online grooming and identity theft. Online settings are one of the environments learners can choose for learning outcome 2, but the criteria themselves only ask for familiar and less familiar environments, so the online focus is taught rather than required.
DCF: Online behaviour and online bullying, Identity, image and reputation
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils sort printed screenshots of messages, game chats and emails into safe and unsafe piles and say what warning sign they spotted in each.
- Year 8
- Pupils look at three example phishing emails and a fake prize website in a safe class demo and list the clues that show each one is a scam.
- Year 9
- Pupils compare the risks on a social media app and an online game, then write a short plan for each that says how they would keep themselves safe.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Delivery guidance, amplification of learning outcome 2, page 11
“Types of risks in online environments such as social media platforms, messaging apps or chat rooms, email or gaming communities”
Progression step 3
I can demonstrate appropriate online behaviour and apply a range of strategies to protect myself and others from possible online dangers, bullying and inappropriate behaviour, e.g. turn off comments on digital media, reporting, block users.
I can understand how to protect myself from online identity theft, e.g. identifying secure sites, phishing, scam websites.
Progression step 4
I can act appropriately online, keeping myself safe and behaving in a responsible manner.
I can use strategies for guarding myself against identity theft and online scams that try to access my personal information.
-
Keeping personal information private and reporting concerns online
Safety rules in the amplification include keeping personal information private, and ways of supporting others include reporting cyberbullying or inappropriate content. Learners at any level can use these as the safety rules and support actions they demonstrate for learning outcome 3, but nothing in the criteria makes the online version compulsory.
DCF: Identity, image and reputation, Online behaviour and online bullying, Health and well-being
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils go through the privacy settings of a mock profile on the school platform and decide which details, such as school name and address, should be hidden.
- Year 8
- Pupils find the report and block buttons in two popular apps using screenshots and make a simple how to report guide for a younger pupil.
- Year 9
- Pupils role play a friend receiving nasty messages and talk through how to save evidence, report the account and tell a trusted adult.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Delivery guidance, amplification of learning outcome 3, pages 11 and 12
“reporting cyberbullying or inappropriate content”
Progression step 3
I can identify the benefits and risks of giving personal information and device access to different software.
I can demonstrate appropriate online behaviour and apply a range of strategies to protect myself and others from possible online dangers, bullying and inappropriate behaviour, e.g. turn off comments on digital media, reporting, block users.
Progression step 4
I can identify ways of reporting unacceptable online behaviour.
I can act appropriately online, keeping myself safe and behaving in a responsible manner.
-
Planning safety actions for online situations
The situations where safety planning is needed include online environments such as social media, messaging apps and online gaming. Learners can choose an online situation for learning outcome 4 and identify, carry out and explain safety actions, for example around sharing locations or photographs, but the online setting is a choice rather than a requirement.
DCF: Online behaviour and online bullying, Identity, image and reputation
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils list three things to check before joining a new online game, such as age rating, chat settings and who can message them.
- Year 8
- Pupils check which apps on a sample phone screenshot share location and decide which settings to switch off and why.
- Year 9
- Pupils plan how to stay safe before meeting an online gaming friend's group at a public event, covering location sharing, photos and who to tell.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Delivery guidance, amplification of learning outcome 4, page 12; Level 1 and Level 2, learning outcome 4, page 8
“online environments: social media, messaging apps, online gaming”
Progression step 3
I can demonstrate appropriate online behaviour and apply a range of strategies to protect myself and others from possible online dangers, bullying and inappropriate behaviour, e.g. turn off comments on digital media, reporting, block users.
I can identify the benefits and risks of mobile devices broadcasting the location of the user/device.
Progression step 4
I can understand the implications of online actions, including my digital footprint and the legal implications of sharing inappropriate material.
I can understand that photographs, locations and tags can be tracked and can make informed decisions accordingly.
Good to know
- Unit codes are "S621E1" to "S621L2", one code per level from Entry 1 to Level 2, and the unit is 20 guided learning hours (Unit overview, page 3).
- No special equipment is needed: "Assessment of this unit should not require any specific resources" (Resources required for assessment, page 16), and delivery uses "standard classroom environments" (page 14).
- Role play can be evidenced digitally: sources of evidence include "role-play evidence: photos, video clips, or teacher observation notes" and "completed interactive safety quizzes, online scenario tasks, or digital hazard maps" (Sources of evidence, pages 13 to 14).
- Writing is not the point: "extended written work is not required unless appropriate" and judgements should not focus on "spelling or presentation unless specifically assessed" (Sources of evidence, page 13).
- The portfolio does not have to be on paper: it is "not limited to paper-based materials" (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 4.1, page 18).
- Suggested assessment tasks "are not mandatory"; teachers may use, adapt or replace them (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 4.1, page 18).
- AI tools may be used only when "properly referenced", and misuse includes "Failing to acknowledge use of AI tools when they have been used as a source of information" (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 4.6, page 21).
- The pack warns that planned limits on social media for under 16s "may impact some of our qualifications", which matters for the online safety content (Contents, page 2).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names Community participation, Looking after others, Basic first aid, Home management and maintenance, Skills in the natural environment and Fairness and inclusion in the workplace as units to deliver alongside Personal safety, and Online safety covers the digital risks in much more depth. It also names GCSE Health and Social Care and Childcare as a link, which shares safeguarding, hazards in the home and who can help. VCSE Public Services shares the work of the police, fire and rescue and emergency services that the pack suggests inviting in, and VCSE Sport and Leisure shares risk in sport and leisure venues. GCSE Physical Education and Health links through the Health and well-being statement the unit supports.
Source: WJEC Personal safety 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).