Skills for Life: Online Safety
Online Safety is a Skills for Life unit in which learners find out what online safety means, recognise risks such as scams, phishing and cyberbullying, protect their personal information, and learn how to report unsafe activity. It is one 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Skills for Life or Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, from Entry 1 to Level 2. Literacy sits in reading suspicious messages and sources critically, using vocabulary such as phishing and malware, and describing and explaining risks, consequences and reporting routes in speech or writing. There is no numeracy in the assessment criteria.
- 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): Four learning outcomes covering what online safety means, online risks and unsafe behaviour, staying safe online, and getting help and reporting. 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: Four learning outcomes covering online safety in different contexts including the Children's Code, recognising online risks, demonstrating safe online practices and explaining why they matter, and getting help and reporting. Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Purpose
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Talking through help, reporting and safe responses
Learners discuss and state when to ask for help, who can help and how to report unsafe activity, and at Level 2 explain different reporting methods and their potential outcomes. Suggested activities use role play, scenario discussions and group presentations, but the criteria only require that learners can give the information in some form.
Literacy: Collaborative talk, Purpose
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils role play a conversation in which one tells a trusted adult about an upsetting message and the other asks helpful questions.
- Year 8
- Pupils discuss scenario cards in groups and agree who to tell and how to report each one, then share their decision with the class.
- Year 9
- Pupils present to the class the reporting routes for one platform and one organisation such as Childline, explaining what happens after a report and answering questions.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Entry Level, learning outcome 4, assessment criteria 4.1 to 4.3, page 6; Level 1 and Level 2, learning outcome 4, assessment criteria 4.1 to 4.3, page 8; suggested activities, page 13
“group discussion and presentation: explain different reporting methods and potential outcomes”
Progression step 3
I can contribute to group discussion in different roles, taking responsibility for completing the task well.
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 recognise a range of options for action and reach agreement to achieve the aims of the group.
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
- The unit codes are S620E1, S620E2, S620E3, S620L1 and S620L2, and the overview lists "GLH 20" (Unit overview, page 3).
- Written work can be short: "extended written work is not required unless appropriate", and judgements should not focus "on spelling or presentation unless specifically assessed" (Sources of evidence, page 13).
- Evidence can be spoken or recorded, for example "Audio or video description of actions taken in scenario tasks" (Sources of evidence, page 13).
- Suggested assessment tasks "are not mandatory", and teachers may adapt them or devise their own (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 4.1, page 18).
- AI tools may be used only if acknowledged: "Copying or paraphrasing whole responses of AI-generated content" is malpractice (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 4.6, page 21).
Links with other qualifications
Online Safety sits closest to GCSE Digital Technology and GCSE Computer Science, which both teach data protection and cyber security threats such as phishing and malware; the pack also names the General Foundation Qualification in Digital Technology. Reading online texts critically for bias and misinformation links to GCSE English Language and Literature and GCSE Social Studies, and the wellbeing and reporting content links to GCSE Physical Education and Health. Within the Skills Suite the pack names Science and technology in everyday life, Digital film and media, Mental health and wellbeing, Personal safety, and Using IT in the workplace as closely related units.
Source: WJEC Online safety 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).