Skills for Work: Exploring Career Pathways
Exploring career pathways is a 20 hour Skills for Work unit in which learners find out about jobs, sectors, qualifications and progression routes, reflect on their own interests and skills, and present what they find. It is one unit that learners combine with others into a Skills for Work, or Skills for Life and Work, Award, Certificate or Diploma. Digital work sits in researching careers websites such as Careers Wales, judging whether sources are reliable, organising findings in a comparison chart or job matrix, and presenting with a slideshow or digital presentation. The criteria never insist on a computer, so the same evidence can be produced on paper or orally.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Medium
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): Four learning outcomes (types of jobs and sectors, locating and organising basic job information, own interests and skills, presenting information about a chosen career), evidence compiled in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC, 20 guided learning hours, unit codes S657E1, S657E2 and S657E3
- Level 1 and Level 2: Four learning outcomes (jobs, sectors, skills and qualifications, researching and organising career pathway information, reflecting on interests, skills and aspirations, presenting findings about career options), evidence compiled in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC, 20 guided learning hours, unit codes S657L1 and S657L2
Skills that use Digital rights, licensing and ownership
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Acknowledging sources and AI tools in research
The shared specification treats unacknowledged AI use as malpractice, including failing to acknowledge AI tools used as a source of information and giving misleading references. Learners at every level who research careers online need to note where information came from; this is a rule for producing portfolio evidence, not an assessment criterion.
DCF: Digital rights, licensing and ownership, Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils add the website name and link under every fact on their job fact sheet, and talk about why copying a whole page is not their own work.
- Year 8
- Pupils keep a simple source list at the end of their careers research, including a line saying if and how they used an AI chatbot.
- Year 9
- Pupils compare an AI chatbot's description of a job with the Careers Wales job profile, note any differences, and reference both properly in their write up.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Skills for Life and Work specification, section 4.6, page 21
“Failing to acknowledge use of AI tools when they have been used as a source of information.”
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
- Unit codes run from Entry 1 to Level 2: "S657E1" to "S657L2", 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 13).
- Evidence can be collected in many forms, and the specification says the portfolio "is not limited to paper-based materials" and can include "video/audio recordings" and "photographic evidence" (section 4.1, page 18). The pack suggests "printouts or screenshots from online research tasks" (page 9).
- Extended writing is not expected: "extended written work is not required unless appropriate" (Sources of evidence, page 9).
- AI can be used only if acknowledged. Learners "risk committing malpractice if AI is misused", and examples include "Failing to acknowledge use of AI tools when they have been used as a source of information." (section 4.6, page 21).
- Suggested assessment tasks "are not mandatory"; teachers may adapt them or write their own (section 4.1, page 18).
- Appendix A of the specification maps this unit to Numeracy, Digital Competence, Creativity and innovation, and Critical thinking and problem solving (page 29), and to the Careers and work-related experiences theme (page 27).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names VCSE Retail and Customer Service as a possible link, since that qualification also looks at job roles and progression in a sector. Within the Skills Suite, the pack suggests delivering this unit alongside Personal development planning, Jobs of the future, Applying for jobs, Interview and confidence techniques, Work experience, Career creativity, Rights and responsibilities in the workplace, Understanding the changing labour market and Working in Wales.
Source: WJEC Exploring career pathways 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).