Skills for Life: Skills in the Natural Environment
Skills in the Natural Environment is a Pearson Skills for Life unit in which learners learn outdoor survival skills or sustainable living practices, such as building a shelter, filtering water, foraging safely, planting and composting, and take part in, then plan and lead, an activity outdoors. 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, assessed internally through a centre set assignment. Literacy sits in naming, describing and explaining survival skills and natural features, following instructions outdoors, and planning and leading an activity. Numeracy is light and optional: map scales and planning time and resources where used.
- 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 listing simple survival skills and features of the natural environment and taking part in a simple outdoor activity, to identifying survival skills and their purposes and taking part in a basic survival or sustainable-living activity. Evidence is chosen by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment; Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at Level 1 (describe the importance of survival skills and sustainability, then plan and take part in a basic survival or sustainable-living activity) and one at Level 2 (explain survival skills and sustainability principles, then independently plan and carry out such an activity). Evidence is chosen by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment; Pearson quality assures it through standards verification. 20 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Connectives and syntax
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Explaining the importance of survival and sustainability skills
Level 1 learners describe why survival and sustainability skills matter, for example for safety, independence, resilience and being prepared in an emergency. Level 2 learners explain survival skills and sustainability principles, show a confident understanding of environmental issues and show awareness of broader sustainability goals. This is required by the Level 1 and Level 2 assessment criteria.
Literacy: Planning and organising for different purposes, audiences and context, Connectives and syntax
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils write three sentences explaining why knowing how to find clean water matters, using because.
- Year 8
- Pupils write a paragraph on why composting helps the environment, linking their points with connectives such as therefore and as a result.
- Year 9
- Pupils write an organised explanation of two survival skills and two sustainability principles, linking each to a wider sustainability goal.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 24, Assessment criteria Level 1 and Level 2, page 112; Essential information for assessment decisions, Level 1 and Level 2, pages 113 to 114
“describe the importance of survival and sustainability skills for the natural environment”
Progression step 3
I can write a comprehensive account of a topic, theme or viewpoint.
I can use an increasing range of connectives to organise my ideas in sentences, paragraphs and whole texts.
Progression step 4
I can use summary, discussion of issues, detailed explanations and logic when covering a topic.
I can use a range of connectives specifically when organising my ideas in whole texts for different purposes.
Progression step 5
I can write extended pieces which include detailed evidence and information for different purposes and audiences within and across different disciplines.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfL 24 and carries 20 guided learning hours: "SfL 24 Skills in the natural environment 20" (Unit summary, page 5), the same size as the WJEC unit of the same name.
- A unit counts once only: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6).
- Pearson's mapping lists the literacy links as "Plans/notes/logbooks; describing features and purposes; reflection on environmental impact", and qualifies the numeracy links, map scales and planning resources and time, with "(where used)" (Annexe C, page 164).
- Entry learners can show understanding without writing: Entry 1 learners can "recognise and list at least two simple survival skills" with "prompts and physical support" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 113).
- Evidence is the centre's choice: "there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (page 113), and "observation records, witness testimony" are accepted forms of evidence (Internal assessment, page 9).
- 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 114).
Links with other qualifications
Describing and explaining natural features, environmental issues and sustainability supports the explanatory writing in GCSE Geography and GCSE English Language and Literature, and the ecology links to the biology in GCSE The Sciences and GCSE Integrated Science. Map scales are shared with GCSE Geography and GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy. Leading an activity and giving instructions outdoors links with the WJEC Foundation and VCSE in Sport and Leisure, and within the Skills Suite the unit pairs with Sustainability in Action and Practical Gardening. Compared with the WJEC Skills in the Natural Environment unit, also 20 guided learning hours, the Pearson unit asks for less analysis of human impact on ecosystems but more planning, as Level 2 learners plan and lead or manage their own activity; neither unit assesses numeracy directly.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfL 24: Skills in the natural environment.