Skills for Life: Practical Gardening
Practical gardening is a 20 hour Skills for Life unit in which learners get to know plants, flowers and vegetables, prepare soil or containers, plant and care for them, and use sustainable and safe methods, indoors or outdoors. Level 2 learners plan independently, explain their choices and analyse plant health. It is one unit learners combine with others into a Skills for Life Award, Certificate or Diploma. Digital demand is low because the work is hands on. Digital work sits in recording plant growth with photos, logs or digital growth charts, planning a planting layout, using online growing guides and optional digital portfolios or slideshows.
- 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 different types of plants, flowers and vegetables, plant and grow them, care for and maintain plants, know about sustainable gardening and work safely), 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 (understand the characteristics and growing requirements of plants, plan and carry out planting activities, care for and maintain plants to support healthy growth, understand sustainable gardening practices and work safely), 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 Storing and sharing
-
Compiling a digital portfolio of gardening work
Possible evidence includes digital portfolios or slideshows that bring together images, notes and reflections, and video clips of learners doing tasks or explaining what they have done. This is one optional way to present evidence at any level.
DCF: Creating digital content, Storing and sharing, Evaluating and improving digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils save their garden photos into a named folder and add three of them to a slide with captions.
- Year 8
- Pupils build a short slideshow of their planting project with photos, labels and one sentence of reflection per slide.
- Year 9
- Pupils film a one minute clip explaining how they care for their plants, add it to a slideshow portfolio and improve it after a partner's feedback.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Delivery guidance, sources of evidence, page 10
“Digital portfolios or slideshows compiling images, notes and reflections from the gardening tasks”
Progression step 3
I can use a range of software to select, produce and edit a range of multimedia components for a purpose, such as:
- text and images, e.g. format text (bold, underline, italics, highlight); insert and edit text boxes; columns; use refine tools (spellchecker, find and replace); word wrap; crop; alter size and shape; alter images; add effects; trim and split sound and video clips; transitions; onion skin
- presentation, e.g. page orientation; animations; transitions; remove and alter images; use background; use action buttons to create hyperlink; embed objects.
I can manage files and folders locally or online, e.g. move files to a folder.
Progression step 4
I can select and use a variety of appropriate software, tools and techniques to create, modify and combine multimedia components for a range of audiences and purposes, such as:
- text and images, e.g. explore and use effectively image manipulation techniques; explore and use appropriately the many aspects of document layout; use animation, video and audio effects such as echo, tempo, envelope, layering, frame rate, key frames
- presentation, e.g. use design tools; adapt themes and colours to suit the purpose; create master templates.
I can suggest and make improvements that are relevant for audience and purpose, based on feedback and self-evaluation of my digital work.
Good to know
- Unit codes are "S622E1" to "S622L2", one code per level from Entry 1 to Level 2, and the unit is 20 guided learning hours (Unit overview, page 3).
- The unit needs growing space and kit: centres "may need access to small outdoor/indoor planting areas, basic tools (trowels, gloves, watering cans), and consumables (seeds, soil, compost)" (Resources required for delivery, page 11).
- Practical work is best evidenced with images: sources include "Photographs of learners carrying out planting, maintenance or sustainability activities", "Video clips of learners performing tasks" and "Digital portfolios or slideshows" (Sources of evidence, page 10).
- Plants take time to grow, so learning outcome 3 asks Level 1 learners to "monitor growth" and "Record observations of plant growth or issues" over weeks rather than in one lesson (page 6).
- 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).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names Community participation, Looking after others, Healthy lifestyle, Home management and maintenance, Mental health and wellbeing, Skills in the natural environment, Sustainability in action and Teamwork as units to deliver alongside Practical gardening. GCSE The Sciences and GCSE Integrated Science share plant structures, what plants need to grow and pollination, and the pack names AS and A level Biology as a later link. GCSE Geography shares sustainability and local environments, and GCSE Food and Nutrition shares growing vegetables and seasonal food.
Source: WJEC Practical gardening 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).