Foundation Humanities
WJEC Entry Level/Level 1 Foundation Humanities is a two year, 120 hour course for learners aged 14 to 16, assessed entirely by portfolio across two of five subject units (Business, Geography, History, Religious Studies and Social Studies) and the mandatory Unit 6 on sustainable communities in Wales. Literacy carries the course: learners read different types of evidence, compare perspectives, use key terms, explain causes and impacts, and write informed viewpoints, with discussion and presentations where tasks ask for them. Numeracy is light and depends on the units chosen: revenue, costs, profit and loss and pricing in Business, temperature and rainfall data in Geography, and measuring a campaign's success in Social Studies.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level and Level 1
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- High
- Amount of numeracy work
- Low
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Business (optional): Portfolio of six tasks (non-examination assessment), suggested timing approximately 8 hours, 35%, 60 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC
- Unit 2: Geography (optional): Portfolio of six tasks (non-examination assessment), suggested timing approximately 8 hours, 35%, 60 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC
- Unit 3: History (optional): Portfolio of six tasks (non-examination assessment), suggested timing approximately 8 hours, 35%, 60 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC
- Unit 4: Religious Studies (optional): Portfolio of six tasks (non-examination assessment), suggested timing approximately 8 hours, 35%, 60 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC
- Unit 5: Social Studies (optional): Portfolio of six tasks (non-examination assessment), suggested timing approximately 8 hours, 35%, 60 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC
- Unit 6: Creating sustainable communities in Wales (mandatory): Portfolio of six tasks (non-examination assessment), suggested timing approximately 7 hours, 30%, 50 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC. Learners take two of Units 1 to 5 plus Unit 6, ideally in the final year
Skills that use Measurement
-
Comparing temperature and rainfall data
Unit 2 asks learners to understand how temperature and precipitation vary between two contrasting locations in Wales, between places and over time. Learners read and compare climate figures and graphs for places such as a coastal and a mountainous area.
Numeracy: Representing data, Interpreting data, Measurement
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils read the highest and lowest temperatures from a climate graph of their town and say which month is wettest.
- Year 8
- Pupils draw a climate graph for a coastal and a mountain location in Wales, with bars for rainfall and a line for temperature.
- Year 9
- Pupils calculate the mean and range of monthly temperature and the total yearly rainfall for two Welsh locations and use them to explain the difference.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 2, Section 2.2.1, page 16
“how temperature and precipitation vary across two contrasting locations in Wales”
Progression step 3
I can represent data using:
- lists, tally charts, tables, diagrams and frequency tables
- bar charts, grouped data charts, line graphs and conversion graphs
- pictograms where one symbol represents more than one unit using a key
- Venn and Carroll diagrams.
I can extract and interpret information from an increasing range of diagrams, timetables and graphs (including pie charts).
I can measure and record temperatures involving positive and negative readings.
Progression step 4
I can construct and interpret graphs and diagrams (including pie charts) to represent discrete or continuous data, choosing an appropriate scale.
I can use mean, median, mode and range to compare data (continuous and discrete), and can choose the most appropriate average.
Good to know
- Appendix A (pages 35 and 36) maps Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing to all six units. For numeracy it maps the number system and statistics strands to all units, mathematical proficiency to every unit except Unit 4, and geometry and measurement to Units 2, 3, 5 and 6.
- The only explicit calculation in the content is in Business: "Learners should know that Revenue - Cost = Profit or Loss." (Unit 1, Section 1.1.2, page 12). Calculator use is not mentioned.
- No marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar are mentioned. Marks sit under AO1 (40%), AO2 (30%) and AO3 (30%) (Section 3.1, page 27), and "The Assessment Pack will include all detailed information relating to assessment." (page 27).
- Spoken work is evidenced by the teacher: "Where required, performance evidence (e.g. presentations) must be documented using observation records" (Section 3.4, page 29), and "Written evidence must be annotated to show how it meets the marking criteria." (page 29).
- Learners can redraft once: teachers "may allow a learner one opportunity to improve their evidence and resubmit it", but feedback must "avoid directing learners on how to improve their mark" (Section 3.5, page 29).
- The content uses four stems that set the depth of reading and writing, from "Learners should be aware of" to "Learners should be able to" (How to read the amplification, page 11).
Links with other qualifications
Each optional unit leads towards the matching GCSE, Business, Geography, History, Religious Studies or Social Studies, which the specification calls "a broad basis for progression onto GCSEs in the Humanities area" (page 9). Those GCSEs step up the same literacy, from reading a few sources to judging bias and reliability, and from short viewpoints to extended evaluative writing. GCSE Business extends profit and loss to break-even, cash flow and income statements, and GCSE Geography and GCSE Social Studies extend climate and campaign data to averages, percentages and graphs. The reading, writing and speaking here also support GCSE English Language and Literature.
Source: WJEC Entry Level/Level 1 Foundation Humanities specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027, for award from 2029 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).