Skills for Life: Music, Dance and Drama
Music, dance, and drama is a Pearson Skills for Life unit in which learners take a performance or production role in a music, dance or drama production, work with others to prepare and rehearse, and demonstrate a range of preparation and performance skills. It 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. Literacy sits in communicating and working with others in discussion and rehearsal, and in outlining, describing or explaining what is expected in their role; Annexe C adds reading scripts and writing rehearsal notes and reflective logs. Numeracy is light and not assessed: timing, counting beats and rhythm patterns.
- 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: demonstrate a few basic skills, an adequate range of skills (two or three) or a range of performance skills and techniques (three or four) in a role in a music, dance or drama performance. Centres choose the type of evidence and set and mark the assessment, adapting Pearson's Authorised Assignment Brief or devising their own, internally verified and quality assured by Pearson standards verification. 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: describe (Level 1) or explain (Level 2) and undertake preparation for a performance or production role in a music, dance or drama production, demonstrating a range of competent (Level 1) or effective (Level 2) preparation and performance skills and techniques. Centres choose the type of evidence and set and mark the assessment, internally verified and quality assured by Pearson standards verification. Graded Pass or Fail. 20 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Measurement
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Timing, counting beats and rhythm patterns
Annexe C links the unit to timing, counting beats and rhythm patterns, for example counting in a dance sequence, keeping a steady beat or timing entrances and the length of a performance. This is suggested by the cross-curricular mapping only; no assessment criterion requires numeracy, so it is low.
Numeracy: Measurement, Strategic competence, Conceptual understanding
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils clap a four beat rhythm pattern, then write it as counts and add one bar of their own.
- Year 8
- Pupils build an eight count dance phrase, write the counts on a grid and time the whole routine with a stopwatch.
- Year 9
- Pupils plan the running order of a ten minute showcase, timing each item and adjusting the order so it fits the time exactly.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 19, Annexe C, Numeracy Links column, page 163
“Timing, counting beats, rhythm patterns”
Progression step 3
I can carry out practical activities involving timed events and explain which unit of time is the most appropriate.
I can prioritise and organise the relevant steps needed to complete the task or reach a solution.
Progression step 4
I can prioritise and organise the relevant steps needed to complete the task or reach a solution.
I can draw on my understanding of the basic structures of mathematics and can apply them in different contexts.
Good to know
- The unit is listed as "SfL 19 Music, dance, and drama" with a Unit GLH of 20 (Unit summary, page 5). It counts towards the Pearson Skills for Life qualifications, for example C00/5444/1 "Pearson Entry Level 3 Skills for Life Award" (Qualification titles, page 3).
- A unit counts only once: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6, and Assessment of units, page 9), so schools should decide which level each learner is working towards.
- Learners do not have to perform on stage: they "will take part in either a performance or production role" (Essential information for assessment decisions, Level 2, page 93), so the spoken demand of a role varies.
- Evidence is flexible: "there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (page 92), so a learner's explanation of their role can be spoken or recorded rather than written.
- The required teaching content is in a separate document: it "can be found in the Teaching and Learning Support document for this unit" (Unit content, page 92).
- AI must be acknowledged: "If AI is used, the final submission must be in the learner's own words" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 93).
- Learners "can be assessed in Welsh or English", and in British Sign Language as a reasonable adjustment (Language of assessment, page 8).
- The Entry 3 essential information appears to have words missing: "they may need some help or a team, demonstrating a range of appropriate performance skills" (page 92).
Links with other qualifications
Discussion, script reading and explaining a role carry over to WJEC GCSE Drama, GCSE Music and GCSE Dance, to the WJEC VCSE in Performing Arts and the WJEC Foundation in Expressive Arts, and speaking clearly and writing reflective logs support GCSE English Language and Literature. Counting beats and rhythm patterns link to GCSE Music. Within the WJEC Skills Suite, Teamwork shares the collaborative talk. Compared with the WJEC Music, dance and drama unit, where literacy includes subject vocabulary and a separate outcome on reflecting on and evaluating performances, the Pearson unit's literacy lies mainly in communicating with the group and describing or explaining one's own role, with reflection mentioned only in the Level 2 support guidance. Both versions keep numeracy light.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfL 19: Music, dance, and drama.