Skills for Life: British Sign Language
British Sign Language is a Pearson Skills for Life unit in which learners learn fingerspelling, greetings, Wh- questions, numbers, time, dates and directions in BSL, and learn about Deaf awareness, Deaf culture in Wales and Deaf inclusion. It is one 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Life or Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, assessed internally by the centre. Literacy is the core: BSL is a visual language, so the speaking and listening statements cover producing and receiving signs, fingerspelling moves between English spelling and BSL, and learners describe and explain Deaf culture. Numeracy is light: signing numbers, times, dates and simple prices, and giving directions from maps.
- 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, moving from stating the role of BSL in the Deaf community and using basic fingerspelling and signs, to outlining Deaf awareness and short exchanges, to identifying aspects of Deaf culture and short conversations. Evidence is internally assessed by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment, and quality assured by Pearson through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours. Graded Pass or Fail.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: describing aspects of Deaf communication and using BSL in everyday conversation, then explaining aspects of inclusive Deaf communication and using more detailed BSL. Evidence is internally assessed by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment, and quality assured by Pearson through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours. Graded Pass or Fail.
Skills that use Vocabulary, spelling, grammar
-
Fingerspelling names, places and brands
Entry 1 learners fingerspell their own names and short place names, Entry 2 learners fingerspell place names and brands when the words are written down, and Entry 3 learners fingerspell brands from a written cue. Learners move letter by letter between written English and the BSL manual alphabet, which is required by the assessment criteria.
Literacy: Translanguaging, Vocabulary, spelling, grammar
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils fingerspell their first name and the name of their town to a partner, who writes down each letter to check the spelling.
- Year 8
- Pupils take turns fingerspelling Welsh place names from a list, such as Aberystwyth, while their partner writes the word and checks it against the list.
- Year 9
- Pupils fingerspell brand names from flashcards at speed, then swap roles and read a partner's fingerspelling without the card, noting which letters caused confusion.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 3, assessment criterion Entry 1, page 21; Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 1 to Entry 3, pages 22 to 23
“Learners can fingerspell place names and brands if the words are written down.”
Progression step 3
I can receive information in one language and adapt it for various purposes in another language.
I can use strategies to correctly spell polysyllabic, complex and irregular words in the context of each area of learning and experience.
Progression step 4
I can apply my translanguaging skills to support my learning in familiar and new languages.
I can use a variety of strategies and resources to spell familiar and unfamiliar vocabulary and area of learning and experience/discipline-specific words correctly.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfL 3, listed in the unit summary as "SfL 3 British Sign Language (BSL) 20" guided learning hours (Unit summary, page 5).
- Unlike every other Pearson unit, BSL "can be retaken at multiple levels in order to achieve a higher level", but "GLH will only contribute to the overall qualification claim once" (Rules of Combination, page 6). This differs from the WJEC unit, where each level achieved counts towards the qualification GLH.
- Support decreases by level: "Entry 1 learners will perform tasks with considerable support and emphasis on repetition and, mimicry", while Level 2 learners manage conversations independently (Levels of supervision and support, page 24).
- Evidence is flexible: "there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 22).
- Pearson maps the unit to the Languages, Literacy and Communication statements "Languages connect us" and "Expressing ourselves through languages is key to communication" (Statements of 'what matters' mapping, page 25).
- AI tools 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 24).
Links with other qualifications
The closest comparison is the WJEC Skills for Life unit British Sign Language, also 20 hours. WJEC organises its unit into six learning outcomes (meeting people, fingerspelling, numbers, weather, transport and directions) and each level achieved adds GLH, while Pearson has a single criterion per level, adds more explanation of Deaf awareness, Deaf culture in Wales and inclusion, and counts the GLH only once. Fingerspelling and moving between English and BSL build on the translanguaging in WJEC GCSE English Language and Literature and the modern foreign language GCSEs in French, German and Spanish, and the time, date and direction work links lightly to GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfL 3: British Sign Language (BSL).