Skills for Work: Rights and Responsibilities in the Workplace
Rights and Responsibilities in the Workplace is a Pearson Skills for Work unit in which learners find out about the rights and responsibilities of employees and employers, including legal rights, and how individuals take personal and social responsibility at work. It is one 10 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, from Entry 1 to Level 2, and it is assessed internally through a centre set assignment. Digital demand is low. No assessment criterion needs technology; the digital work is searching for current information about rights from given or self-selected sources, checking that it applies in Wales, and acknowledging any sources and AI tools used.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 10
- 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, moving from listing examples of workplace rights and responsibilities and a way to take responsibility, to identifying rights and responsibilities for employees and employers and ways individuals can take responsibility. Evidence is chosen by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment; Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 10 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at Level 1 (describe) and one at Level 2 (explain) how employees and employers can demonstrate taking responsibility for meeting workplace rights and responsibilities, including legal rights, across at least two (Level 1) or three (Level 2) workplace contexts. Evidence is chosen by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment; Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 10 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Evaluating and improving digital content
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Referencing sources and acknowledging AI use
At every level learners must certify that their evidence is their own and clearly reference any sources and any artificial intelligence used, and using AI without acknowledging it is malpractice. This applies to all evidence submitted for the unit rather than to a single criterion, so learners need to keep a record of the websites and tools they use while researching rights and responsibilities.
DCF: Digital rights, licensing and ownership, Sourcing, searching and planning digital content, Evaluating and improving digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils add a simple list of the websites they used, with page titles and links, to the end of a short fact sheet about rights at work.
- Year 8
- Pupils discuss why copying an AI answer about workplace rules would be plagiarism, then write a one line note acknowledging the AI tool they used to check a spelling.
- Year 9
- Pupils keep a research log of every source and AI tool used for a workplace rights task and turn it into a correctly formatted reference list.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 15, Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 81
“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 evaluate the reliability of sources of information, justify my opinions and reasons for choices, and reference using appropriate methods.
Progression step 5
I can refer appropriately to sources of information used in my digital work.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfW 15 and carries 10 guided learning hours in the unit summary: "SfW 15 Rights and responsibilities in the workplace 10" (Unit summary, page 5). The WJEC unit of the same name is 20 guided learning hours, so it fills a smaller share of an Award.
- A unit counts once only: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6).
- The specification gives only the assessment criteria and assessment guidance. The teaching content is in a separate document: "This can be found in the Teaching and Learning Support document for this unit" (Unit content, page 79).
- Evidence is the centre's choice: "there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 79).
- The Authorised Assignment Brief is optional: "AABs are not mandatory", and centres may adapt it or write their own brief (How to use this document, page 1).
- Legal content must be current and Welsh: centres "must ensure that it is current, up to date and relates to the legislative context of Wales" (Units, page 11).
- AI may be used only if acknowledged: "A learner will have committed malpractice if they use AI tools without acknowledging them" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 81).
- The Skills for Work specification has editing slips: the assessment section says "Every unit in our Skills for Life qualifications includes an Authorised Assessment Brief" (Authorised Assignment Briefs, page 8), the contents page jumps from section 2 to section 4, and the units section points to "Section 6 Glossary" (page 11) although the glossary is section 7.
Links with other qualifications
The work on rights, equality and fairness links with GCSE Social Studies, and the work on employers, employees and legal duties gives context for GCSE Business. Pearson places the unit in its Developing adaptability and resilience group with Understanding the changing labour market, Using IT in the workplace and Wellbeing and work, and Using IT in the workplace is where workplace digital skills are taught and assessed. Compared with the WJEC Rights and Responsibilities in the Workplace unit, the Pearson unit is half the size (10 rather than 20 guided learning hours) and has one broad criterion per level instead of four learning outcomes; it does not separately require the employment contract or a search for an advice organisation's contact details, which is the one digital step in the WJEC unit.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Work Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfW 15: Rights and responsibilities in the workplace.