Skills for Life: Art and Crafts
Arts and crafts (Unit SfL 1) is one 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Life Award, Certificate or Diploma, from Entry 1 to Level 2. Learners practise art or craft techniques and materials and produce a 2D or 3D piece on a given topic, with a portfolio of exploratory work from Level 1. Centres set and mark the assessment, Pearson verifies it, and the unit is passed once at one level. Literacy demand is low because the criteria are practical: literacy sits in explaining choices when prompted, Level 2 research and optional annotation. Numeracy is light, limited to the scaling, proportion and area Annexe C suggests.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- Low
- Amount of numeracy work
- Low
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): One practical assessment criterion at each of Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3, rising from demonstrating a few basic skills in a given arts or crafts activity, to demonstrating a range of skills and techniques to produce a piece of 2D or 3D artwork or craft on a given topic. The centre chooses the evidence, sets and marks the assessment, and Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours, graded Pass or Fail at the level achieved.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One practical assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: learners develop a portfolio of exploratory skills (Level 1) or of techniques, stylistic approaches and exploratory skills (Level 2) and produce a final piece of 2D or 3D artwork or craft. The centre chooses the evidence, sets and marks the assessment over a number of sessions, and Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours, graded Pass or Fail at the level achieved.
Skills that use Calculation
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Using scale, proportion and area in 2D and 3D work
Annexe C names scaling, proportions and area as the numeracy link, for example enlarging a design or working out how much material a surface needs. Learners at every level produce a 2D or 3D piece, but no criterion requires measurement or calculation. This is taught rather than assessed, and the numeracy demand is low.
Numeracy: Calculation, Shape and space
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils enlarge a small drawing onto a bigger sheet using a grid, making each square twice the size.
- Year 8
- Pupils measure a board, calculate its area, and work out how many square tiles of a given size they need for a mosaic.
- Year 9
- Pupils use a ratio to scale a design up for a 3D card model, check measurements with a ruler and calculate the area of card needed.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 1, assessment criteria Entry 2 to Level 2, page 12; Annexe C, page 160
“Techniques for producing art and craft, portfolio building, planning and creating a final piece.”
Progression step 3
I can use ratio and proportion to calculate quantities.
I can find areas by counting squares, progressing to calculating the area of squares and rectangles using formulae.
Progression step 4
I can use ratio and proportion including map scales.
I can calculate the areas of two-dimensional simple and compound shapes, including circles.
Good to know
- Arts and crafts is Unit SfL 1 (printed "SfL1" in the unit summary) with 20 "Unit GLH" (Unit summary, page 5), and "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6).
- Evidence does not have to be written: "For this unit there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (page 13), and examples include "observation records, witness testimony, and products of learners' work" (Assessment requirements, page 9).
- At Entry 2 the teacher draws out the reasoning: "Prompts and probes should be used to elicit responses about the learner's decision-making process" (Entry 2 essential information, page 13).
- "Learners can be assessed in Welsh or English" (Language of assessment, page 8).
- The teaching content is in a separate document: "This can be found in the Teaching and Learning Support document for this unit" (Unit content, page 13).
- AI must be acknowledged: "If AI is used, the final submission must be in the learner's own words and reflect their own effort" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 15).
- The annexes give the numeracy and literacy links only in outline: "Scaling, proportions, area" and "Annotating work, research, planning notes" (Annexe C, page 160); none of these appears in the assessment criteria.
Links with other qualifications
Arts and crafts leads naturally into GCSE Art and Design, where annotating and explaining development work is assessed, and links with the Foundation in Expressive Arts, the Foundation in Design and Technology and the VCSE in Creative and Media Production and Technology. Talking about ideas with subject vocabulary builds on GCSE English Language and Literature, and scaling a design draws lightly on the ratio and area work in GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy. Within the WJEC Skills Suite, Digital Film and Media and Career Creativity are natural partners. Compared with the WJEC Arts and crafts unit, also 20 hours, whose learning outcomes ask learners to know what art and craft is and to express and present ideas, Pearson's version is almost entirely practical, with one criterion per level about producing work and a portfolio, so it makes lighter literacy demands.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications Specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfL 1: Arts and crafts.