Skills for Work: Rights and Responsibilities in the Workplace
Rights and Responsibilities in the Workplace is an Open Awards Skills for Work unit offered at 5 levels, Entry Level 1 to Level 2, in which learners learn employees' legal rights, the matching responsibilities of employees and employers, workplace policies, responsible behaviour and how to respond to workplace situations. Each level is a 20 hour unit assessed through provider designed tasks and a workplace or simulated activity, with evidence in a portfolio. Digital demand is low: the unit expects devices and internet access for research and lists Digital as a cross-curricular skill, but no criterion requires digital work.
- 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 (CBM231): 3 learning outcomes and 6 assessment criteria: stating one right and one responsibility employees have at work, giving examples of good and responsible behaviour at work, and stating what could happen if someone behaves poorly and how behaviour affects others. Tasks include matching, picture selection, sorting and supported observation, with evidence in a portfolio. 2 credits, 20 guided learning hours. Pass only.
- Entry Level 2 (CBM232): 3 learning outcomes and 7 assessment criteria: listing rights and responsibilities and linking responsibilities to actions in a simple scenario, giving an example of good and poor behaviour and an effect of each, and identifying how responsible behaviour helps people work together and a consequence of not doing so. Headed "Understanding Rights and Responsibilities at Work". 2 credits, 20 guided learning hours.
- Entry Level 3 (CBM233): 3 learning outcomes and 8 assessment criteria: identifying rights, linked responsibilities and why they matter, giving examples of responsible and irresponsible behaviour and outlining how behaviour affects others, and, after a workplace activity such as work experience, a taster or role play, identifying own responsible behaviour and one thing to do differently. 2 credits, 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 (code printed as CBM231; CBM234 in the Qualification Guide): 3 learning outcomes and 10 assessment criteria: identifying at least 3 legal rights, outlining employer and employee responsibilities, describing implications when they are not upheld and giving examples of workplace policies, describing workplace expectations and the effect of responsible and poor behaviour, and describing responses to given workplace situations, how own strengths help and reflecting on own behaviour in a workplace activity. 2 credits, 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 2 (CBM235): 3 learning outcomes and 10 assessment criteria: explaining key legal rights and responsibilities, identifying supporting policies, explaining their importance and describing consequences of failing to uphold them for employer and employee, explaining responsible behaviour, how irresponsible behaviour affects individuals, teams and organisations and comparing 2 contrasting behaviours, and describing and evaluating responses to 2 workplace situations and evaluating own strengths and development needs. 2 credits, 20 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
-
Researching workplace rights and policies online
Providers must give learners internet access to support research, and staff facilitate research into rights and responsibilities. Level 1 learners identify legal rights such as the minimum wage and give examples of workplace policies, and Level 2 learners explain rights such as health and safety legislation and equality law. The criteria do not require online research, so this is taught, not assessed.
DCF: Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils search for the current minimum wage for their age group and record the website they used.
- Year 8
- Pupils compare information about rest breaks at work from two websites and decide which is official and up to date.
- Year 9
- Pupils research 3 legal rights at work using official and other sources, judge their reliability and reference each source.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Physical Resources, Equipment, page 7; Level 1, AC 1.1 and 1.4, pages 22 and 23; Level 2, AC 1.1 and 1.2, page 26
“internet access to support research”
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 unit worth "Guided Learning Hours: 20" and 2 credits (Unit Content, pages 12, 15, 18, 21 and 25).
- Barred combinations: "with the exception of British Sign Language (BSL), units with the same title at different levels are barred for completion within the same qualification" (Open Awards Level 1 Qualification Guide, Qualification Units, page 17), so a learner can complete this unit at one level only within a qualification.
- All criteria must be met: "All assessment criteria must be met in full for the learner to be awarded a ‘pass’." Tasks are designed by the provider and checked through pre-course verification (Assessment Approach, page 8).
- Evidence goes in a portfolio, paper or digital, and "Wherever possible, e-portfolios are encouraged." (Assessment Approach, page 8).
- From Entry Level 3 learners need a workplace activity: "This could include work experience or taster, or a simulated activity e.g., role-play, scenario, group tasks." (Entry Level 3, LO3, page 20; also Level 1 and Level 2, AC 3.3, pages 23 and 28).
- Staff must "have knowledge and understanding of employment rights and responsibilities and a knowledge of HR" (Staffing Resources, page 6).
- The unit specification gives no rules on AI tools or on referencing sources; it must be read with the Qualification Guide and the Open Awards Provider Handbook (Qualification Documentation, page 3).
- Equipment must include "access to digital devices, e.g., computers, laptops or tablets", "internet access to support research" and "templates for planning and presenting job research" (Physical Resources, Equipment, page 7). The last item mentions job research, which this unit does not cover.
- Some wording looks draft: the Level 1 unit is headed "Unit Reference Number: CBM231", the Entry Level 1 code, although the Qualification Guide lists Level 1 as CBM234 (pages 12 and 21); the Entry Level 2 unit is titled "Understanding Rights and Responsibilities at Work" (page 15); the Level 2 criteria run 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 then "1.5", while the content calls it AC 1.4 (pages 25 and 26); and the Unit Aim says "as employees" while each level's aim says "as employees and employers" (pages 3 and 12).
Links with other qualifications
The unit sits in the Humanities Area of Learning and Experience with Human Rights and Diversity themes, and links to WJEC GCSE Business, to Careers and Work-Related Experiences, and to the Pearson and Agored Cymru units of the same name. Researching rights online and checking that sources are current connects to the DCF producing strand, and the reflection on a workplace activity supports the Skills for Work units Building a Growth Mindset and Understanding the Changing Labour Market.
Source: Open Awards Skills for Work Unit Specification, Rights and Responsibilities in the Workplace, Entry Level 1 to Level 2.