Foundation Public Services
Foundation Public Services is a two unit, portfolio assessed Entry Level and Level 1 qualification for learners aged 14 to 16 interested in the police, fire and ambulance services, councils, the Armed Forces and voluntary groups. Literacy carries almost all of the assessment: learners read case studies and news reports about incidents, use public service terms, write short descriptions and explanations with examples, and speak and listen in role plays, interviews and discussions, with the command words rising from recognise and state to describe and explain. Numeracy is light and sits mainly in setting short and longer term targets with timelines in a personal development plan and in designing a simple questionnaire.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level and Level 1
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- Medium
- Amount of numeracy work
- Low
- Specification
- Open the specification
- Next step up
- VCSE Public Services, Level 1 and Level 2
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Introduction to the Public Services Sector: Centre-marked non-examination assessment, portfolio of evidence from teacher-set activities, maximum assessment time 9 hours (typically 7 to 9 hours), 48 guided learning hours, 72 of the 152 qualification points, criteria at Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3 and Level 1, assessed in the centre and moderated by WJEC, available from summer 2028
- Unit 2: Public Services in Action: Centre-marked non-examination assessment, portfolio of evidence from teacher-set activities, maximum assessment time 15 hours (typically 11 to 15 hours), 72 guided learning hours, 80 of the 152 qualification points, criteria at Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3 and Level 1, assessed in the centre and moderated by WJEC, available from summer 2029
Skills that use Reading strategies
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Reading case studies and news reports about incidents
Suggested tasks have learners read short case studies and printed or online news articles, then identify or describe how public services helped, which services would attend and what role they played. Entry 3 learners annotate a news article in groups, and Level 1 learners explain the roles and resources in several case studies.
Literacy: Reading strategies, Understanding, response and analysis
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils read a short local news story about a house fire and highlight each public service mentioned and one thing each did.
- Year 8
- Pupils read a one page case study of a road traffic collision and fill in a table of which service attended, what it did and what equipment it used.
- Year 9
- Pupils read two news reports of the same flood, annotate the roles of the police, fire service and council, and write a short paragraph on how the services helped the community.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 1, examples of tasks LO1.2 and LO1.4, pages 29 and 31; Unit 2, examples of tasks LO2.2 and LO2.3, pages 51 and 52
“Learners read a short case study and describe how the public service sector supported the person or community”
Progression step 3
I can use a range of strategies for finding information, e.g. skimming for gist, scanning for detail.
I can show understanding of and use the main ideas and significant details in different texts on the same topic.
Progression step 4
I can use a range of strategies, e.g. speed reading, close reading, annotation, prediction, to skim texts for gist, key ideas and themes, and scan for detailed information.
I can read closely, follow up and use additional material in texts to extend my understanding.
Good to know
- Learners can show what they know in speech as well as writing: evidence includes "teacher/assessor questioning" with responses "either written or oral", "video/audio recordings" and witness testimonies (Section 3.3, page 59).
- Support is graded by level: Entry 1 learners get "verbal, visual and practical assistance, use of symbols, or assistive technology", Entry 2 learners may use "scaffolded templates", and Level 1 teachers can advise on "planning and structuring their answers" (Section 3.4, page 60).
- The command words rise across the four bands, from Recognise and State at Entry 1 and 2 to Describe and Explain, "using examples", at Entry 3 and Level 1 (assessment criteria, pages 22 to 27 and 45 to 49).
- The example tasks that hold most of the reading, writing and numeracy "are not mandatory" (Section 2.1, page 10), so teachers choose how much extended writing and data work learners do.
- Each learning outcome is marked in points, "Each Entry 1 criteria is allocated 1 point" up to 4 points at Level 1, and Level 1 needs "80% of the total available points" (Section 4.3, page 64).
- Learners meet the importance of literacy and numeracy in the careers content, which names "GCSE English" and "GCSE Maths" among the qualifications needed for some roles (Unit 1, LO1.5, page 18).
- Appendix A (pages 66 and 67) maps Literacy listening to LO1.6, LO1.7, LO2.3 and LO2.4, reading to LO1.1, LO1.3, LO2.1 and LO2.5, speaking to LO1.6, LO1.7, LO2.4 and LO2.5 and writing to LO1.7 and LO2.4. Numeracy is mapped to LO1.7, LO2.4, LO2.3, LO1.3 and LO2.6, with no Unit 1 link for geometry and measurement.
Links with other qualifications
The specification names VCSE Public Services as the Level 1/2 progression route. The Foundation shares its reading about public services, use of sector vocabulary, written explanations with examples and communication with different audiences. VCSE Public Services steps the literacy up to researching a local wellbeing issue, writing justified recommendations, a project proposal with aims and objectives and an evaluation, and steps the numeracy up sharply to fitness testing against normative data, measuring improvement from a baseline, BMI and resting heart rate, and analysing survey feedback. The reading, writing and discussion of incidents and community issues also build skills for GCSE English Language and Literature and GCSE Social Studies.
Source: WJEC Entry Level/Level 1 Foundation Public Services specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027, for award from 2029 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).