Skills for Work: Sustainable Economic Development
Sustainable economic development (Unit SfW 3) is one 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, from Entry 1 to Level 2. Learners identify sustainability issues such as waste, pollution, climate change and transport, their impacts and actions to reduce them, then plan and carry out sustainability actions at home, in school, in the community or in a simulated workplace. The centre sets and marks the assignment. Digital demand is low: no criterion needs a digital tool. Pearson's mapping names searching and presentation as digital links, Level 2 needs local, national and global research, and learners must acknowledge any AI used.
- 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: list, outline or identify sustainability issues and actions to reduce their impact, and take part in sustainability activities in their own setting, following a simple action plan at Entry 2 and producing one at Entry 3. There are no mandatory evidence requirements; the centre sets and marks its own assignment (Pearson's Authorised Assignment Brief is optional), internally verified and checked by a Pearson Standards Verifier. Graded Pass or Fail. 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each level: describe (Level 1) or explain (Level 2) a range of sustainability issues and their impacts, then develop and implement an action plan in their own setting, with realistic short term goals at Level 1 and detailed, measurable goals at Level 2, where learners also give two local, two national and two global examples. Evidence is chosen by the centre, internally assessed and checked by a Pearson Standards Verifier. Graded Pass or Fail. 20 guided learning hours.
The digital skills in this qualification
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Researching sustainability issues at different scales
Learners identify sustainability issues across areas such as waste, pollution, climate change and transport, and Level 2 learners explain a wide range of issues with two local, two national and two global examples and their implications. The examples are required by the criteria; Pearson's Annexe C names search as the digital link, though research need not be online.
DCF: Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils search for how much waste their local council collects and record the fact and website in a table.
- Year 8
- Pupils find one local, one Welsh and one global example of air pollution, changing their search terms to get relevant results.
- Year 9
- Pupils research two sustainability issues at local, national and global scale, judge the reliability of each source and reference them.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 3, Assessment criteria, page 22; Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 3 to Level 1, page 23, and Level 2, page 24; Annexe C, page 118
“two examples of issues and implications on a global scale”
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.
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Planning a sustainability action plan
Entry 2 learners follow a simple action plan, Entry 3 learners produce one linking each issue to an action, Level 1 learners develop a plan with realistic short term goals, and Level 2 learners develop a detailed, measurable plan. The plan is required by the criteria and can be on paper or digital.
DCF: Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils make a simple table on a laptop listing a sustainability problem at school, the action to fix it and who will do it.
- Year 8
- Pupils plan a week of energy saving actions in a shared calendar with a goal and a date for each action.
- Year 9
- Pupils compare a Gantt chart and a checklist for planning a school recycling scheme, choose one and set measurable goals in it.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 3, Assessment criteria, page 22; Essential information for assessment decisions, pages 23 to 24
“develop and implement a detailed action plan with measurable goals and activities”
Progression step 3
I can independently create and plan work before beginning a digital task.
Progression step 4
I can select and effectively use a variety of planning techniques.
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Presenting sustainability findings and plans
Pearson's Annexe C names presentation as a digital link, for example presenting issues, impacts and the action plan to a group. Centres choose the evidence format, so a digital presentation is suggested rather than required by the criteria.
DCF: Creating digital content, Evaluating and improving digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils make three slides on one sustainability issue at school with a title, a photo and an action.
- Year 8
- Pupils create a short presentation for the school council on reducing paper use, choosing images and charts that suit the audience.
- Year 9
- Pupils present their sustainability action plan to a mock business audience, then improve the slides using peer feedback.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 3, Annexe C, page 118; Essential information for assessment decisions, page 23
“Sustainability issues, environmental challenges, and action planning.”
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 ensure my output is appropriate for specific purposes.
Progression step 4
I can select and use a variety of appropriate software, tools and techniques to create, modify and combine multimedia components for a range of audiences and purposes, such as:
- text and images, e.g. explore and use effectively image manipulation techniques; explore and use appropriately the many aspects of document layout; use animation, video and audio effects such as echo, tempo, envelope, layering, frame rate, key frames
- presentation, e.g. use design tools; adapt themes and colours to suit the purpose; create master templates.
I can suggest and make improvements that are relevant for audience and purpose, based on feedback and self-evaluation of my digital work.
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Acknowledging sources and AI
At every level learners must certify that their evidence is their own and reference any sources and any artificial intelligence they used. Using AI without acknowledging it is malpractice, which matters for the Level 2 research at local, national and global scale.
DCF: Digital rights, licensing and ownership, Sourcing, searching and planning digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils list the websites they used for a climate change fact sheet at the bottom of the page.
- Year 8
- Pupils rewrite a copied paragraph about transport pollution in their own words and add a reference.
- Year 9
- Pupils use an AI tool to suggest ways a business could cut waste, check each suggestion against a reliable source and write an acknowledgement of the AI use.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 3, Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 25
“Learners must certify that the evidence submitted for this unit is their own”
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.
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.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfW 3 and the unit summary lists it at 20 GLH ("SfW 3 Sustainable economic development 20", Unit summary, page 5); it counts towards Skills for Work qualifications numbered C00/5473/0 to C00/5474/4 (Qualification titles, pages 3 to 4).
- A unit is achieved once, at one level: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6).
- Activities can be run in school: learners act "in the home, classroom, community or a simulated workplace" (Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 1, page 23), so no real workplace is needed.
- Level 2 has a fixed spread of examples: "two examples of issues and implications on a national, and two examples of issues and implications on a global scale" alongside two local ones (Essential information for assessment decisions, Level 2, page 24).
- Despite the title, the criteria contain no economics or costing; the only economic element is Pearson's Annexe C numeracy link "cost, financial" (Annexe C, page 118).
- 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 25). Pearson's Authorised Assignment Brief is optional: "AABs are not mandatory" (How to use this document, page 1).
- The Level 1 criterion is garbled in print: "their impact and actions that and develop and implement an action plan" (Assessment criteria, page 22), and the Entry 3 guidance repeats a word in "in in the home" (page 23).
Links with other qualifications
Pearson maps this unit to the Humanities statements on the natural world and informed, ethical citizens, and its Annexe E names environmental rights, social responsibility and careers in green industries, so it links to GCSE Geography, GCSE Social Studies and the WJEC Foundation in Humanities, and the workplace focus links to GCSE Business. Within the WJEC Skills Suite it overlaps with Sustainability In Action, Jobs of the Future and Skills in the Natural Environment. Compared with the WJEC Sustainable Economic Development unit, which has four learning outcomes built around what makes a workplace sustainable, a strategy, and taking part in activities and reviewing their impact, the Pearson unit covers a broader range of issues, requires two local, two national and two global examples and a measurable action plan at Level 2, and has no separate review of impact, although Level 2 learners suggest strategies for improvement.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Work Award, Certificate and Diploma specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfW 3: Sustainable economic development.