Skills for Life: British Sign Language
British Sign Language is a Skills for Life unit in which learners meet and greet deaf people, fingerspell names, use numbers, describe weather and transport, and give and follow directions in BSL. It is one 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Skills for Life or Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, and each level achieved counts. Literacy is the core: BSL is a visual language, so the Literacy speaking and listening statements cover producing and receiving signs, and fingerspelling moves between English spelling and BSL. Numeracy is light: signing numbers up to 60, with time, money and dates in the amplification.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- 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
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): Six learning outcomes (interacting with people, fingerspelling, numbers, weather, transport and directions), each with assessment criteria at Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3. Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: Six learning outcomes (meeting people, fingerspelling, numbers, weather, transport and directions), each with assessment criteria at Level 1 and Level 2. Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours, and unlike other units each level achieved counts towards the qualification.
Skills that use Vocabulary, spelling, grammar
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Fingerspelling names and places with the manual alphabet
Learners fingerspell and recognise words with the BSL manual alphabet, moving from a three letter word at Entry 1 to unfamiliar names at Entry 3 and familiar place names, received accurately with clarification strategies, at Level 2. Fingerspelling turns English spelling into BSL and back again. Producing and recognising fingerspelt words is required by the assessment criteria.
Literacy: Translanguaging, Vocabulary, spelling, grammar
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils learn the manual alphabet and fingerspell three letter words from a picture card for a partner to write down.
- Year 8
- Pupils fingerspell each other's first names and the names of pets or siblings, checking each letter against a written copy.
- Year 9
- Pupils fingerspell Welsh and English place names such as Abertawe and Cardiff at speed, and the receiver asks for a repeat or confirms the spelling before writing it.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Entry Level, learning outcome 2, assessment criteria 2.1 to 2.4, pages 5 and 6; Level 1 and Level 2, learning outcome 2, assessment criteria 2.1 and 2.2, page 8
“Fingerspell your own name and familiar place names clearly and accurately.”
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 codes are S603E1, S603E2, S603E3, S603L1 and S603L2, and the unit is 20 guided learning hours (Unit overview, page 3).
- Unlike every other unit, levels add up: "Learners can complete the British Sign Language unit at multiple levels, and each unit will count towards the GLH required for the qualification" (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 2.2, page 10).
- Staffing is a real requirement: "For Level 1 and 2, teachers must hold a nationally recognised qualification at or above the level they are delivering or be native users of BSL" (Resources required for delivery, page 15).
- BSL has no written form, as the overview notes: "BSL is not a written language" (Unit overview, page 3). Evidence such as "video recordings of learners signing conversations or presentations in BSL" (Sources of evidence, page 14) therefore carries most of the literacy work.
- Suggested assessment tasks "are not mandatory" and teachers may adapt them or write their own (specification, section 4.1, page 18).
- AI rules apply to the portfolio: misuse includes "Failing to acknowledge use of AI tools when they have been used as a source of information" (specification, section 4.6, page 21).
- Appendix A maps the unit to Creativity and innovation and Personal effectiveness, not to Literacy or Numeracy, even though the learning outcomes are language and number work (specification, Appendix A, page 28).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names Looking after others, Teamwork, Understanding self and others, Values for life, Overcoming barriers, Community participation and Equality, diversity and inclusion as closely related Skills Suite units. The topics of greetings, personal details, numbers, time, weather, transport and directions are the same everyday topics taught in GCSE French, GCSE German, GCSE Spanish and GCSE Core Cymraeg, so learners can carry language learning strategies across. The focus on inclusive communication links with GCSE Health and Social Care and Childcare, and number work for time and money links with GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy.
Source: WJEC British Sign Language (BSL) unit delivery and assessment pack, read with the WJEC Entry 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life and Skills for Work specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).