Skills for Work: Career Creativity
Career creativity is a Pearson Skills for Work unit in which learners choose a 'dream job', look at ways of working and levels of responsibility, compare their own skills and attributes with what the job needs, and from Entry 3 complete a skills audit and development plan. It is one 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, achieved at one level from Entry 1 to Level 2. The centre sets and marks the assessment. Digital demand is low: no criterion requires digital work, and digital skills sit in researching careers online, building the audit and plan in software, and referencing sources and AI.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- 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 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): One assessment criterion at each of Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3: state, outline or identify a 'dream job' with reasons and, from Entry 2, its level of responsibility, compare own skills and attributes with those the job needs, and at Entry 3 complete a basic skills audit and plan. There are no mandatory evidence requirements; the centre sets and marks the assessment and Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: describe (Level 1) or explain (Level 2) how a career and 'dream job' match preferred ways of working, and complete a skills audit with a development plan, with timescales at Level 1 and a detailed, timebound plan showing progression through the career path at Level 2. The centre sets and marks the assessment and Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
-
Researching dream jobs and career paths online
Learners research a chosen 'dream job' and career path to find the job roles, levels of responsibility and skills involved, from simple supported research at Entry 1 to researching a career pathway and explaining its roles with examples at Level 2. Pearson lists online search as a digital link for the unit, but the criteria do not require the research to be done online, so the digital part is taught, not assessed.
DCF: Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils use the Careers Wales website to find three facts about a job they like, such as the hours and the skills it needs, and record them on a fact card.
- Year 8
- Pupils search for one job on two different websites, change their keywords to find the entry routes, and note which site gave the clearer and more reliable information.
- Year 9
- Pupils research a career path on Careers Wales, list the job roles from entry level to senior level, and record each source with a short note on how reliable it is.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 11, Levels of supervision and support before and during assessment, pages 60 to 61; Annexe C, page 120
“research a chosen 'dream job' role/career pathway and use examples to explain the roles”
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.
-
Producing a skills audit and development plan as a digital document
From Entry 3 learners complete a skills audit and a plan to develop their skills and attributes; Level 1 adds timescales, and Level 2 needs a detailed audit with a timebound plan for progressing through the career path. The audit and plan are required by the criteria, but the format is the centre's choice, so building them in a word processor or spreadsheet is suggested by Pearson's digital links (software, device) rather than assessed.
DCF: Creating digital content, Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils make a simple table in a word processor listing five skills and colour each row red, amber or green to show how confident they feel.
- Year 8
- Pupils build a skills audit in a spreadsheet, rating themselves against the skills in a job advert and using conditional formatting to highlight the gaps.
- Year 9
- Pupils turn their skills audit into a formatted development plan with headings, a table of actions and target dates, and save it to update in Year 10.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 11, assessment criteria Entry 3 to Level 2, page 58; Essential information for assessment decisions, pages 59 to 60; Annexe C, page 120
“A detailed skills audit will be completed alongside a timebound development plan”
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 independently create and plan work before beginning a digital task.
Progression step 4
I can explore and develop a range of formal text document structures for different audiences and purposes.
I can select and effectively use a variety of planning techniques.
-
Acknowledging sources and AI in evidence
Learners must certify that their evidence is their own and reference any sources and any artificial intelligence they used, and using AI tools without acknowledging them is malpractice. This applies at every level and is a requirement of the assessment, not unit content. It matters in this unit because learners draw job information from careers websites and may use AI to help write their plans.
DCF: Digital rights, licensing and ownership, Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils copy a job description from a website into their notes and add the web address and the date they visited it underneath.
- Year 8
- Pupils compare a paragraph they wrote about a job with one produced by an AI chatbot, then write an acknowledgement saying exactly which parts the AI helped with.
- Year 9
- Pupils add a reference list to a careers research task, citing each website and any AI tool they used, and explain in one sentence why this protects them from malpractice.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 11, Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 61
“they have clearly referenced any sources and any artificial intelligence used”
Progression step 3
I can understand that copying the work of others and presenting it as my own is plagiarism.
I can cite sources when researching and explain the importance of this, e.g. create simple lists for the referencing of digital and offline sources.
Progression step 4
I can act responsibly as creator and user of creative work, e.g. exploring decisions that creators make when exercising their creative rights and responsibilities, giving consideration to ethical, real-life issues.
I can evaluate the reliability of sources of information, justify my opinions and reasons for choices, and reference using appropriate methods.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfW 11 in the "Exploring opportunities" group and the unit summary lists it at 20 GLH (Unit summary, page 5). The WJEC Career creativity unit is only 10 GLH, so the two are not interchangeable in a timetable.
- A unit counts once: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6), so learners cannot bank Entry 3 and then resubmit for Level 1 credit as well.
- The specification prints only the assessment criteria and guidance: the unit content "can be found in the Teaching and Learning Support document for this unit" (Unit content, page 59), and an Authorised Assignment Brief gives an example task, so schools need both documents from the Pearson website.
- Evidence format is open: "no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 59), and "No resources are explicitly prohibited for the assessment of this unit" (page 61), so digital audits and plans are allowed but not required.
- AI must be acknowledged: "A learner will have committed malpractice if they use AI tools without acknowledging them" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 61).
- Pearson maps the unit to Expressive Arts rather than Humanities: "Creating combines skills and knowledge, drawing on the senses, inspiration and imagination" (Statements of 'what matters' mapping, page 62).
- The document has some slips: section 5 says "please refer to Section 6 Glossary" (page 11) but the glossary is section 7, and this Skills for Work specification says "Every unit in our Skills for Life qualifications includes an Authorised Assessment Brief" (page 8), elsewhere called an Authorised Assignment Brief.
Links with other qualifications
Compared with the WJEC Career creativity unit, Pearson's version is twice the size (20 GLH against 10), has one assessment criterion per level instead of three learning outcomes, and is built around a single 'dream job', its levels of responsibility, a skills audit and a timed development plan, whereas the WJEC unit looks more widely at ways of working such as freelance, portfolio and self-employed work. Digital demand is low in both. The skills audit and development plan overlap with the WJEC Skills Suite unit Personal Development Planning, and researching roles and progression routes overlaps with WJEC Exploring Career Pathways, Jobs of the Future and Understanding the Changing Labour Market, so a school should avoid pairing these with the same evidence.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Work Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfW 11: Career creativity.