Skills for Work: Building a Growth Mindset
Building a Growth Mindset is a Pearson Skills for Work unit in which learners find out which skills and strategies build a growth mindset and the benefits and opportunities it brings in learning, work and situations such as receiving critical feedback. It is one 10 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Life or Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, assessed internally by the centre. Literacy sits in listing, outlining, describing and explaining ideas with examples, applying them to personal situations, and selecting information from sources. There is no numeracy in the assessment criteria, and Pearson's own mapping records no direct numeracy link.
- 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 the skills needed to build a growth mindset and its benefits, to outlining skills, strategies, benefits and opportunities, to identifying ways to build a growth mindset and its benefits in different contexts. Evidence is internally assessed by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment, and quality assured by Pearson through standards verification. 10 guided learning hours. Graded Pass or Fail.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: describing, then explaining, how a growth mindset can be built and the benefits and opportunities it can have for an individual in different contexts and situations. Evidence is internally assessed by the centre, which sets and marks the assessment, and quality assured by Pearson through standards verification. 10 guided learning hours. Graded Pass or Fail.
Skills that use Collaborative talk
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Discussing and presenting ideas
Pearson's mapping lists discussion and presentation among the literacy links for this unit. Because learners must show the criteria have been met independently, group discussion supports teaching but is not itself assessed.
Literacy: Collaborative talk, Listening to understand
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils discuss in groups whether mistakes help us learn, with each pupil taking a role such as note taker or timekeeper.
- Year 8
- Pupils listen to a partner's story of a challenge, ask one question about it and share how the partner's view differs from their own.
- Year 9
- Pupils debate in groups which growth mindset strategy works best for exams, listen to different views and agree a recommendation to present to the class.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Annexe C: Evidence for Units mapped against Curriculum for Wales Cross-curricular skills frameworks, SfW 7, Literacy Links, page 119; Section 4, Assessment of units, page 9
“write, discussion, presentation, research, describe, explain”
Progression step 3
I can contribute to group discussion in different roles, taking responsibility for completing the task well.
I can listen to others’ ideas/presentations, and understand that they may have a different perspective to my own, in order to respond appropriately.
Progression step 4
I can recognise a range of options for action and reach agreement to achieve the aims of the group.
I can listen to gain different people's views and ideas on various subjects, using them to arrive at my own conclusions.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfW 7 and is worth "10" guided learning hours (Unit summary, page 5), half the 20 hours of the WJEC unit of the same name.
- The criteria set minimum numbers of examples, for example Level 1 learners "describe at least four ways that individuals can develop a growth mindset to overcome barriers and improve outcomes" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 41).
- Pearson records "No direct link" to numeracy for this unit (Annexe C, page 119), and the Annexe B table ticks only literacy and digital (page 116).
- Evidence is flexible: "there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 41), so explanations can be written or spoken.
- AI tools must be acknowledged: "If AI is used, the final submission must be in the learner's own words and reflect their own effort" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 42).
- The Entry 2 guidance contains wording errors, "can have on for an individual" and "identify least two" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 41).
Links with other qualifications
The WJEC Skills for Work unit Building a Growth Mindset covers similar ground but is 20 hours, has four learning outcomes and includes tracking a habit over a week, which gives it a small numeracy element that the 10 hour Pearson unit does not have. Writing and talking about thoughts, feelings and responses to setbacks builds on WJEC GCSE English Language and Literature, the wellbeing focus links to GCSE Physical Education and Health and the Skills for Life unit Mental health and wellbeing, and the reflective writing supports the WJEC Skills for Work units Overcoming barriers and Personal development planning, and the Personal Project.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Work Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfW 7: Building a growth mindset.