Skills for Life: Science and Technology in Everyday Life
Science and Technology in Everyday Life is a Pearson Skills for Life unit in which learners use everyday technology for personal tasks such as online forms, shopping and comparing deals, and consider the benefits, risks and legal, ethical and social issues of doing so. It is one 10 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Life Award, Certificate or Diploma, from Entry 1 to Level 2, assessed internally through a centre set assignment. Literacy sits in reading and following on-screen steps, entering details accurately, judging whether online and AI information is reliable, and describing and explaining benefits, risks and choices. Numeracy is light: comparing prices and keeping within a budget, mainly at Level 2.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 10
- 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 listing familiar technologies and taking part in a very simple activity with one, to identifying common technologies, their uses, benefits and risks and completing a basic personal task using technology. Evidence is chosen by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment; Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 10 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at Level 1 (describe) and one at Level 2 (explain) how technology supports everyday tasks, including risks and considerations and, at Level 2, how technology influences personal choices, plus using technology to complete personal tasks. Evidence is chosen by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment; Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 10 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Clarity and vocabulary
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Describing and explaining benefits, risks and issues of technology
Entry learners outline or identify benefits and risks, Level 1 learners describe risks and legal, ethical and social considerations, and Level 2 learners explain these issues and their consequences and propose safe and responsible responses in unfamiliar contexts. This is required by the assessment criteria.
Literacy: Planning and organising for different purposes, audiences and context, Clarity and vocabulary
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils write one benefit and one risk of using a smartphone to pay for things, using the words because and but.
- Year 8
- Pupils give a one minute talk explaining the risks of online shopping, using terms such as privacy, phishing and secure website.
- Year 9
- Pupils write an explanation of the legal, ethical and social issues of sharing a photo online, ending with a safe and responsible response.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 23, Assessment criteria, Entry 2 to Level 2, page 107; Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 2 to Level 2, pages 108 to 109
“explain risks in complex or unfamiliar contexts, and propose safe and responsible responses”
Progression step 3
I can write a comprehensive account of a topic, theme or viewpoint.
I can express issues and ideas clearly using area of learning and experience/discipline-specific vocabulary and examples.
Progression step 4
I can use summary, discussion of issues, detailed explanations and logic when covering a topic.
I have experienced a range of area of learning and experience/discipline-specific and general academic vocabulary, and can use them in my own communication.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfL 23 and carries 10 guided learning hours: "SfL 23 Science and technology in everyday life 10" (Unit summary, page 5). The WJEC unit of the same name is 20 guided learning hours.
- A unit counts once only: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6).
- Pearson's mapping limits the numeracy to "Entering information accurately; comparing prices/features; no explicit calculation focus" (Annexe C, page 164).
- Entry 1 learners may work from "pictures, symbols, and repetition" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 108), so the literacy demand rises steeply from Entry 1 to Level 2.
- Evidence is the centre's choice: "there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (page 108), so explanations can be spoken, recorded or written.
- AI may be used, but "the final submission must be in the learner's own words and reflect their own effort" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 111).
Links with other qualifications
Reading on-screen instructions and judging the reliability of online and AI information supports the non-fiction reading in GCSE English Language and Literature and GCSE Cymraeg Language and Literature, and explaining legal and ethical issues of technology is shared with GCSE Digital Technology and GCSE Computer Science. Comparing prices and choosing within a budget links to the financial literacy in GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy, and the Financial Literacy unit carries fuller numeracy. Compared with the WJEC Science and Technology in Everyday Life unit, the Pearson unit is half the size (10 rather than 20 guided learning hours), and its Level 2 guidance makes price comparison within a budget part of the assessed task, where in the WJEC unit money appears only as examples.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfL 23: Science and technology in everyday life.