Skills for Life: Basic First Aid
Basic first aid (Unit SfL 2) 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 identify hazards, treat minor injuries, use the recovery position, call for help and carry out CPR, mostly in simulated incidents. Centres set and mark the assessment, Pearson verifies it, and the unit is passed once at one level. Literacy sits in naming items and injuries, following spoken instructions, giving clear facts on an emergency call, and describing or explaining the first aider's role and procedures at Level 1 and Level 2. Annexe C records no direct numeracy link, and none is assessed.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- Medium
- Amount of numeracy work
- Low
- 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: learners state (Entry 1), outline (Entry 2) or identify (Entry 3) and demonstrate the use of simple or basic first aid resources and procedures, including the recovery position at every level and starting CPR from Entry 2, usually in a simulated incident. 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 assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: learners describe and demonstrate (Level 1) or explain and demonstrate (Level 2) the first aider's role, situations, procedures and resources, including treating bleeding or burns, the recovery position, calling the emergency services, CPR and the use of an AED. 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 Purpose
-
Giving clear information when calling for help
Entry 1 learners know how to alert an adult, Entry 3 learners give basic facts such as the location and time of the injury and request an AED, Level 1 learners give clear instructions on calling the emergency services, and Level 2 learners add detailed facts about the casualty and their injury or condition. Learners usually show this in a simulated incident or role play. This is set out in the essential information for assessment decisions.
Literacy: Clarity and vocabulary, Purpose
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils practise telling a partner the school's full address and clear directions to a room, as if guiding a visitor.
- Year 8
- Pupils role play reporting a minor accident to a teacher, saying what happened, where, when and who is hurt, in a clear order.
- Year 9
- Pupils carry out a mock emergency call from a prompt sheet, giving the location, the casualty's condition and a request for an AED, then review a recording for clarity.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 2, Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 1, page 17, Entry 3 to Level 2, page 18
“give basic facts about the injury, such as the location and time of the injury, and request an AED code”
Progression step 3
I can speak clearly, recognising the appropriate language for different audiences and purposes, and varying my expression, vocabulary, tone and gestures to engage the audience.
I can organise talk so that different audiences in different contexts can follow what is being said, including using formal language.
Progression step 4
I can speak clearly, selecting and adapting my language appropriately for a range of audiences and purposes, conveying meaning effectively to the audience.
I can organise talk effectively to respond to how listeners are reacting by adapting what I say and how I say it.
Good to know
- Basic first aid is Unit SfL 2 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).
- It is not a workplace first aid certificate: "Completing this unit does not replace a formal licence to practise First Aid Qualification" (Unit SfL 2, page 16).
- Much of the communication is spoken and practical: Entry 3 learners "give basic facts about the injury, such as the location and time of the injury" (page 18), and Level 2 learners give "detailed facts about the casualty and their injury or condition" when calling the emergency services (page 18).
- 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 17), but "achievement cannot be inferred from performance" (page 9), so spoken work needs observation records or recordings.
- "Learners can be assessed in Welsh or English" (Language of assessment, page 8).
- AI must be acknowledged: "If AI is used, the final submission must be in the learner's own words and reflect their own effort" (page 19).
- Annexe C gives "No direct link" for numeracy for this unit (page 160).
- The essential information contains typing errors, for example "one or two the dangers" (Entry 1) and "show how to put clean a small cut" (Entry 2) (page 17).
Links with other qualifications
Describing and explaining procedures and giving clear information in an emergency sit well beside GCSE Health and Social Care, and Childcare, the VCSEs in Public Services and Sport and Leisure, and the matching Foundations, and Annexe E points to careers in health, social care and the emergency services. Clear speaking and careful listening in role play build on GCSE English Language and Literature. Within the WJEC Skills Suite, Personal Safety, Looking After Others and Mental Health and Wellbeing are natural partners. Compared with the WJEC Basic first aid unit, also 20 hours and organised into four learning outcomes, Pearson's version has one criterion per level, specifies the details learners give on an emergency call at each level, and asks for written or spoken description at Level 1 and explanation at Level 2.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications Specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfL 2: Basic first aid.