Skills for Life: Sustainability In Action
Sustainability in action is a 20 hour Skills for Life unit, one of many units learners combine into a Skills for Life or Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma. Learners explain what sustainability is and why it matters, find out how it is approached locally, in Wales and abroad, and plan and carry out sustainable actions. Literacy carries most of the unit: giving and explaining examples, reading about the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and other countries, writing an action plan and reviewing it. Numeracy is light: keeping a record of actions over time, with calculating water or energy savings only suggested.
- 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. 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. Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Measurement
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Recording sustainable actions over a period of time
At Level 1 learners carry out their plan over a period of time and maintain a record, and at Level 2 the record must be detailed. The record is required by the assessment criteria, and the amplification suggests charts as one form, so the numeracy is simple counting, dating and charting rather than calculation.
Numeracy: Collecting data, Representing data, Measurement
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils keep a tally chart for a week of how they travel to school and draw a bar chart of the results.
- Year 8
- Pupils plan a two week calendar of recycling checks and record the number of items recycled each day in a table.
- Year 9
- Pupils record their household energy or water readings for a month, choose a suitable graph and describe what changed.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Level 1 and Level 2, learning outcome 4, assessment criterion 4.3, page 6; amplification of learning outcome 4, page 9
“Implement the plan over a period of time and”
Progression step 3
I can collect relevant data to answer posed questions.
I can represent data using:
- lists, tally charts, tables, diagrams and frequency tables
- bar charts, grouped data charts, line graphs and conversion graphs
- pictograms where one symbol represents more than one unit using a key
- Venn and Carroll diagrams.
I can use and interpret calendars, timetables and schedules to plan events and activities, and make calculations as part of the planning journey.
Progression step 4
I can collect both quantitative and qualitative data.
I can select and construct appropriate charts, diagrams and graphs with suitable scales.
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Calculating water and energy savings
A suggested Level 1 and Level 2 activity compares actions such as a shower and a bath and calculates the water or energy saved. This is only a suggested activity, not an assessment criterion, so it is taught rather than assessed.
Numeracy: Calculation, Measurement
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils work out how many litres a dripping tap wastes in a day from a measured amount in one minute.
- Year 8
- Pupils compare the litres used by a five minute shower and a bath and find the difference over a week.
- Year 9
- Pupils calculate the percentage of water saved by switching from baths to showers and convert litres to cubic metres to estimate the cost saving.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Suggested activities for Level 1 and Level 2 learners, page 10
“calculate water/energy savings”
Progression step 3
I can add and subtract numbers using whole numbers and decimals.
I can calculate a percentage, fraction and decimal of any quantity with a calculator where appropriate.
Progression step 4
I can use the common units of measure, convert between related units of the metric system and carry out calculations.
I can express one quantity as a percentage of another.
Good to know
- Unit codes are S625E1, S625E2, S625E3, S625L1 and S625L2, and the unit is 20 GLH in the Skills for Life suite (Unit overview, page 3).
- Spelling is not marked: "Assessor judgements should focus on meeting the standard, not" spelling or presentation (Sources of evidence, page 11), and "extended written work" is not required unless appropriate.
- Evidence can be spoken or visual: "recorded/observed discussions linked to real-life sustainability issues" are listed as evidence (Sources of evidence, page 11), and the portfolio "is not limited to paper-based materials" (specification section 4.1, page 18).
- Suggested assessment tasks "are not mandatory"; teachers may adapt them or devise their own (specification section 4.1, page 18).
- AI tools may be used only if acknowledged: learners "cannot be credited for any work they produce for assessment which is not their own" (specification section 4.6, page 21).
- Plural criteria mean at least two: "a plural reference within assessment criterion refers to a minimum of two" (page 6).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names GCSE Geography as a linked WJEC qualification; explaining sustainability, reading case studies from Wales and other countries and interpreting simple records all reinforce Geography work on climate change and resources. Within the Skills Suite, the pack suggests delivering it alongside Community participation, Home management and maintenance, Practical gardening, Skills in the natural environment and Sustainable economic development, which share planning, recording and reviewing practical sustainable activities.
Source: WJEC Sustainability in action 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).