Skills for Work: Career Creativity
Career creativity is a Skills for Work unit in which learners explore jobs and ways of working, including freelance, portfolio and self-employed work, recognise their own strengths and interests, and plan steps towards a future job or opportunity. It is one 10 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Skills for Work, or Skills for Life and Work, Award, Certificate or Diploma, from Entry 1 to Level 2. Literacy carries the unit: describing, comparing and evaluating ways of working, talking and writing about personal strengths and aspirations, and writing a career action plan. Numeracy is light, limited to timescales for goals and understanding work patterns.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- 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
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): Three learning outcomes with assessment criteria at Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3 (unit codes S654E1, S654E2, S654E3). Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 10 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: Three learning outcomes with assessment criteria at Level 1 and Level 2 (unit codes S654L1, S654L2). Evidence goes in a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 10 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Understanding, response and analysis
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Reading job profiles and career case studies
Suggested Level 1 and Level 2 activities include analysing case studies of people who created their own career opportunities and researching creative and non-traditional pathways, using resources such as Careers Wales job profiles. Reading supports the criteria on describing pathways but is not assessed on its own.
Literacy: Reading strategies, Understanding, response and analysis
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils read a short job profile and highlight what the job involves and how to get into it.
- Year 8
- Pupils read two case studies of people who turned a hobby into paid work and list what they did the same and differently.
- Year 9
- Pupils research a creative career from several sources and summarise the pathways, pay and future demand in a one page fact file.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Suggested activities, page 9; Resources available to support delivery, page 10
“analyse case studies of individuals who have created their own career opportunities”
Progression step 3
I can use a range of strategies for finding information, e.g. skimming for gist, scanning for detail.
I can make use of reference/digital sources to select, summarise and synthesise information, referencing as appropriate.
Progression step 4
I can research a wide range of reference and digital sources to develop a full understanding of a topic or issue.
I can summarise, synthesise and analyse information to gain in-depth understanding, e.g. of causes, consequences, patterns, using different sources.
Good to know
- Unit codes are S654E1, S654E2, S654E3, S654L1 and S654L2, and the unit is 10 GLH in the Skills for Work suite (Unit overview, page 3).
- Plural criteria mean at least two: "If not specified, then a plural reference within assessment criterion refers to a minimum of two." (pages 5 and 6).
- Evidence may be "verbal, written, practical, or visual", extended written work "is not required unless appropriate", and judgements should not focus on "spelling or presentation unless specifically assessed" (Sources of evidence, page 9).
- Reflections can be spoken: the pack lists "written or audio recorded reflections" and "short presentations or verbal explanations (live or recorded)" as evidence (page 9), and the specification accepts "video/audio recordings" (Section 4.1, page 18).
- Suggested assessment tasks "are not mandatory"; teachers may use, adapt or replace them (Section 4.1, page 18).
- AI misuse is malpractice, including "Copying or paraphrasing whole responses of AI-generated content." (Section 4.6, page 21). Reflections and plans must be the learner's own.
- "Assessment of this unit should not require any specific resources." (Resources required for assessment, page 11).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names Building a growth mindset, Enterprise venture, Exploring career pathways, Jobs of the future, Personal development planning, Understanding the changing labour market and Working in Wales as closely related Skills Suite units, and points to GCSE Art and Design and the VCSE in Creative and Media Production and Technology for creative careers. Describing, comparing and evaluating ways of working, and reflective writing about strengths and goals, support GCSE English Language and Literature, and self-employment links with GCSE Business.
Source: WJEC Career creativity 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).