Skills for Life: Skills in the Natural Environment
Skills in the Natural Environment is an Open Awards Skills for Life unit offered at 5 levels, Entry Level 1 to Level 2, each a separate 20 guided learning hour unit. Learners prepare for outdoor activity, care for living things and green spaces, learn bushcraft such as knots and shelters, and from Level 1 plan sustainability activities, research a local Welsh environment and review their impact. Evidence is mostly practical and collected in a portfolio. Digital demand is low: only Literacy is listed as a cross-curricular skill and no criterion needs a device, but the examples include a digital poster, a short video and a blog post for sharing environmental messages.
- 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 1 (CBM136): Three learning outcomes: select at least 2 items for a short outdoor activity and demonstrate outdoor clothing, demonstrate care for a living thing and carry out a task to improve the local environment, and state what people need to stay warm and identify 2 natural materials. Evidence through matching, picture selection, demonstration and simple verbal responses. 20 guided learning hours, 2 credits.
- Entry Level 2 (CBM137): Three learning outcomes: identify clothing for different Welsh weather and items for a survival or exploration kit, carry out 2 recycling or waste reduction tasks and help maintain a green space, and identify 2 native Welsh plants or wildlife and 2 features of a safe outdoor environment. 20 guided learning hours, 2 credits.
- Entry Level 3 (CBM138): Three learning outcomes: identify 3 hazards in an outdoor setting and explain the purpose of 3 survival kit items, take part in 2 biodiversity activities and use 2 pieces of equipment to manage waste or resources, and identify 2 Welsh habitats and explain 2 ways to protect the local environment. 20 guided learning hours, 2 credits.
- Level 1 (CBM139): Four learning outcomes: describe safe outdoor practice such as the Countryside Code with 3 examples and prepare kit lists for 2 activities, demonstrate 2 outdoor techniques such as knots and carry out a task such as shelter building safely, plan a sustainability activity and make a functional item from 3 natural materials, and review the impact of 2 of their own actions and research a local Welsh environment and communicate the findings. 20 guided learning hours, 2 credits.
- Level 2 (CBM140): Four learning outcomes: plan a safe outdoor activity in a Welsh environment and explain the impact of human activity on an ecosystem with 3 examples, modify a shelter and follow safety procedures with 2 tools, compare 2 local habitats and create a resource promoting environmental stewardship, and review the success of an activity and assess 3 ways to reduce personal resource use. 20 guided learning hours, 2 credits.
Skills that use Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
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Researching a local environment
Level 1 learners must research a local environment in Wales and communicate their findings, and Level 2 learners compare local habitats. Providers must give access to a computer for digital resources, so online sources such as wildlife and habitat guides are a natural starting point, but the specification does not require digital research.
DCF: Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils search for 3 birds found in their local area, changing their keywords to add the place name when results are too general.
- Year 8
- Pupils research a Welsh peat bog using two websites, note who runs each site and record the sources.
- Year 9
- Pupils research a local woodland from 3 online sources, judge which is most reliable and use it to write a short fact file.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Level 1 (CBM139), AC 4.2, page 21; Physical Resources, page 7
“4.2 Research a local environment”
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 is a separate 2 credit, 20 guided learning hour unit, CBM136 to CBM140: "Guided Learning Hours: 20" (Unit Content, pages 13 to 25; Qualification Guide, Qualification Units, page 19).
- Only one level counts in a qualification: "units with the same title at different levels are barred for completion within the same qualification" (Qualification Guide, Qualification Units, page 17).
- The provider writes the tasks, pre-course verification must confirm they cover every criterion, and "No partial award can be made if any assessment criteria is not met" (Assessment Approach, page 8).
- Evidence goes in a portfolio, digital or paper: "Wherever possible, e-portfolios are encouraged." Work is checked by internal quality assurance and then by Open Awards (Assessment Approach, page 8).
- Providers need a safe outdoor space such as school grounds or local parks, and "scenario-based materials to support learning where direct outdoor access is limited" (Physical Resources, page 7).
- Many examples are set in Wales: native Welsh plants and wildlife at Entry Level 2, Welsh habitats at Entry Level 3, and a route card for Bannau Brycheiniog at Level 2 (pages 15 to 26).
- A computer is a listed resource: providers should give "access to a computer or laptop for digital resources" (Physical Resources, page 7).
- Digital is not claimed: every level lists only "Literacy" under cross-curricular skills (Unit Content, pages 14 to 28).
- Draft wording remains: Entry Level 1 says "a short outdoor wal" (page 14) and Level 1 asks learners to "communicate their fundings" (page 23). Entry Level 1 learning outcome 1 is worded as an action, "Identify items needed for outdoor activity", not as Know or Be able to.
- The specification says nothing about the use of AI or about referencing sources.
Links with other qualifications
Pearson and WJEC both have a Skills in the Natural Environment unit at 20 hours; the Open Awards version is strongly Welsh in its examples and adds bushcraft such as knots, shelters and whittling. The habitats, biodiversity and human impact work links with GCSE Geography and the biology in GCSE The Sciences, and the outdoor activity and safety work links with the WJEC VCSE in Sport and Leisure. Within the Open Awards suite it pairs with Home Management and Maintenance for recycling and resource use and with Community Participation for local conservation.
Source: Open Awards Skills for Life Unit Specification, Skills in the Natural Environment, Entry Level 1 to Level 2 (units CBM136 to CBM140).