Skills for Work: Wellbeing and Work
Wellbeing and work is a 20 hour Skills for Work unit about what wellbeing at work means, managing workload and work-life balance, building positive working relationships, handling disagreements and knowing when to ask for support. It is one unit that learners combine with others into a Skills for Work, or Skills for Life and Work, Award, Certificate or Diploma, from Entry 1 to Level 2. Digital demand is low: no criterion asks for technology. Digital links sit in balancing screen time within work-life balance, planning tasks with a to-do list, choosing how to communicate at work, an optional digital wellbeing charter or poster and finding online support.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of digital work
- Low
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): Four learning outcomes (what wellbeing means at work, managing workload and work-life balance, positive working relationships, dealing with work problems and asking for help), with assessment criteria at Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3. Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours, Skills for Work group.
- Level 1 and Level 2: The same four learning outcomes, with assessment criteria at Level 1 and Level 2. Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours, Skills for Work group.
Skills that use Online behaviour and online bullying
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Choosing how to communicate at work
At Level 2 learners describe effective communication strategies for building professional relationships, and the amplification stresses clear and calm communication. Comparing a face to face chat, an email or a message as ways to raise a problem or ask for help is a useful digital angle, but the pack does not name any digital tools.
DCF: Communication, Online behaviour and online bullying
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils sort cards showing messages, phone calls, emails and face to face talks into the best way to tell a teacher they are ill.
- Year 8
- Pupils rewrite a rude group chat message about a shared task so that it is polite and clear, and say why tone is hard to read online.
- Year 9
- Pupils draft a short, polite email to a manager asking for help with too much work, then explain when they would talk in person instead.
Show the specification wording and the DCF statements
Where it is in the specification: Level 1 and Level 2, learning outcome 3, assessment criterion 3.2, page 8; amplification of learning outcome 3, page 12
“Describe effective communication strategies for building professional relationships.”
Progression step 3
I can show an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of communication and when it is appropriate to use each, e.g. explain when video conferencing may be more appropriate than e-mail, and vice versa; explain the pros and cons of using instant messaging in social contexts; talk about purpose and audience.
Progression step 4
I can act appropriately online, keeping myself safe and behaving in a responsible manner.
Good to know
- Unit codes run from Entry 1 to Level 2: "Unit Codes S667E1 S667E2 S667E3 S667L1 S667L2" (Unit overview, page 3).
- No digital resources are needed: "Assessment of this unit should not require any specific resources." (Resources required for assessment, page 16), and the unit is delivered in "standard classroom environments" (page 15).
- Evidence can be digital. Sources of evidence include "recording of practical demonstrations of evidence, such as role-plays or discussions" and "annotated photographic evidence of sorting/matching activity" (Sources of evidence, page 14), and the specification says the portfolio "is not limited to paper-based materials" (Section 4.1, page 18).
- Writing is kept light: "extended written work is not required unless appropriate" (Sources of evidence, page 14).
- AI rules apply to the portfolio. AI misuse includes "Using AI to complete parts of the assessment so that the work does not reflect the learner's own work, analysis, evaluation or calculations." and "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 optional: "These tasks are not mandatory." (Section 4.1, page 18). Every digital activity in this file is a teacher's choice, not a requirement.
- Appendix A of the specification maps this unit to Literacy only among the integral and cross-curricular skills, and does not tick Digital Competence (Appendix A, page 30).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names Customer service, Fairness and inclusion in the workplace, Rights and responsibilities in the workplace, Understanding the changing labour market and Working in Wales as closely related Skills for Work units, and the Skills for Life unit Mental health and wellbeing covers stress, wellbeing and seeking help from a personal angle. Ideas about wellbeing, stress and support also sit in GCSE Physical Education and Health and GCSE Health and Social Care and Childcare, and the employer and employee view of motivation and productivity links with GCSE Business. On the digital side, the screen time and online behaviour points connect with the citizenship work in GCSE Digital Technology and the Online safety unit.
Source: WJEC Wellbeing and work 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).