Skills for Work: Using IT in the Workplace
Using IT in the Workplace is a Pearson Skills for Work unit in which learners recognise common digital devices and safe online behaviour, explain why privacy and security matter at work, and use workplace software to create a digital document. 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. The centre sets and marks the assignment. Digital demand is high because every assessment criterion is digital: safe use of devices and accounts, file handling, choosing applications and formatting documents, rising at Level 2 to explaining threats such as phishing and insecure networks and producing professional documents with version control.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 10
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- High
- 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 common digital devices, safe online behaviour and why privacy and security matter, and follow instructions or use simple workplace software and settings to complete a basic digital task or create a simple digital document. The centre sets and marks its own assignment (Pearson's Authorised Assignment Brief is optional) and there are no mandatory evidence requirements; work is internally verified and quality assured by a Pearson Standards Verifier. 10 guided learning hours, graded Pass or Fail.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each level: at Level 1 learners describe why privacy and security are important and use digital applications to create a simple digital document; at Level 2 they explain the risks in digital environments and select and use appropriate digital tools to create a digital document. The centre sets and marks its own assignment, with no mandatory evidence requirements, internally verified and quality assured by a Pearson Standards Verifier. 10 guided learning hours, graded Pass or Fail.
Skills that use Evaluating and improving digital content
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Choosing applications and justifying formatting
Entry 3 learners identify why headings, bullet points and images make information clearer. Level 1 learners select tools such as word processors, basic spreadsheets or presentation software and justify their decisions in simple terms, and Level 2 learners select the most appropriate tools for the task and amend decisions when needed. The selection is required by the Level 1 and Level 2 criteria and the justification comes from the essential information for assessment decisions.
DCF: Evaluating and improving digital content
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils compare a notice with and without a heading and bullet points and say which is easier to read and why.
- Year 8
- Pupils decide whether a word processor, spreadsheet or presentation suits three office tasks, such as a rota, a memo and a talk, and write one reason for each choice.
- Year 9
- Pupils produce a staff notice, then annotate a screenshot of it to justify each formatting choice and the application they used.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 17, assessment criteria Level 1 and Level 2, page 87; Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 3 to Level 2, page 89; Levels of supervision, page 90
“selecting appropriate tools such as word processors, basic spreadsheets or presentation software”
Progression step 3
I can explain reasons for layout and content of my own work and the work of others.
I can ensure my output is appropriate for specific purposes.
Progression step 4
I can justify the reasons for choices and explain the advantages and disadvantages of the different digital outputs I create.
Good to know
- The unit is SfW 17 and is worth 10 guided learning hours, listed under "Developing adaptability and resilience" in the unit summary (Section 3, page 5). The WJEC unit of the same name is 20 guided learning hours, so the two do not swap like for like in a qualification.
- A learner achieves the unit once, at one level: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level." (Rules of Combination, page 6). Units and qualifications are graded Pass or Fail (page 7).
- The Pearson qualification numbers run from C00/5473/0 (Entry Level 1 Skills for Work Award) to C00/5474/4 (Level 2 Skills for Work Diploma) (Qualification titles, pages 3 to 4).
- The teaching content is not in the specification: "This can be found in the Teaching and Learning Support document for this unit" (Unit content, page 88), so schools need that separate document as well.
- Evidence is flexible: "there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 88), but "achievement cannot be inferred from performance" (Section 4, page 9), so screenshots, saved files or observation records are needed.
- Equipment is not specified: "No resources are explicitly prohibited for the assessment of this unit, and the centre can decide the resource requirements" (page 90). In practice learners need devices with word processing, spreadsheet or presentation software for every level.
- 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 90).
- The Authorised Assignment Brief is optional: "AABs are not mandatory." (How to use this document, page 1). The Skills for Work specification also says "Every unit in our Skills for Life qualifications includes an Authorised Assessment Brief" (page 8), a leftover reference to the Skills for Life suite, and it names the brief both as an Assessment Brief and an Assignment Brief.
- The Entry 3 guidance contains a typing error, "Learners’ can provide a brief description" (page 89), and the unit is mapped to the Science and Technology statement "Design thinking and engineering offer technical and creative ways to meet society’s needs and wants" (page 91), which fits the document work only loosely.
Links with other qualifications
The WJEC Skills for Work unit Using IT in the Workplace covers the same subject in 20 guided learning hours with five learning outcomes, including finding information, organising files, communicating by email, chat and video call, and copyright and data protection rules. Pearson's 10 hour unit has one holistic criterion per level built around privacy and security and creating one digital document; finding information and work communication appear in its aim but no criterion requires them. The security content (phishing, insecure networks, passwords, access control) links with GCSE Digital Technology and GCSE Computer Science, and document creation and file management with GCSE Digital Technology. Writing memos and staff notices links with GCSE Business. Within the WJEC Skills Suite, Online Safety covers safe online behaviour in more depth, and Science and Technology in Everyday Life uses similar digital skills for personal rather than work purposes.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Work Award, Certificate and Diploma specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfW 17: Using IT in the workplace.