Skills for Work: Enterprise Venture
Enterprise venture is a Skills for Work unit in which learners help choose an idea for a product or service, plan it, run it for real as a team and review how it went. It is one 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Work Award, Certificate or Diploma, achieved at one level from Entry 1 to Level 2. Literacy sits in discussing and choosing the idea, talking to customers, writing promotional material and explaining strengths and areas for development. Numeracy sits in the guidance examples: setting a price and sales target, a budget at Level 2, a timeline with dates, handling money, counting items sold and using sales figures to review the activity.
- 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
- Medium
- 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: contribute to developing, planning and carrying out an enterprise activity, from a limited contribution with support at Entry 1 to at least three ways each in planning and carrying out at Entry 3, and state, outline or identify its strengths (and at Entry 3 areas for development). Evidence is internally assessed by the centre, with Pearson standards verification. Graded Pass or Fail. 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: contribute in at least four (Level 1) or five (Level 2) ways each to planning and carrying out an enterprise activity, and describe (Level 1) or explain (Level 2) its strengths and areas for development using different sources of feedback. Evidence is internally assessed by the centre, with Pearson standards verification. Graded Pass or Fail. 20 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Calculation
-
Setting a price and a sales target
Learners help set a target, such as selling 20 cards at Entry 2, decide on a price at Entry 3, choose an appropriate price and a simple sales goal at Level 1, and set a clear sales target at Level 2. These are examples of planning contributions in the guidance.
Numeracy: Financial literacy, Logical reasoning, Calculation
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils compare the prices of similar items in three shops and suggest a fair price for their own version.
- Year 8
- Pupils work out the cost of making one item and set a selling price that makes a profit, then calculate how many they must sell to reach a target.
- Year 9
- Pupils test three possible prices for a product, calculate the profit at each for a sales target, and justify their final choice.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 13, Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 2 and Entry 3, page 68, Level 1 and Level 2, page 69
“helping to set a simple sales goal, choosing an appropriate price”
Progression step 3
I can make comparisons between prices and understand which is best value for money.
I can use profit and loss in buying and selling calculations.
Progression step 4
I can justify my procedures, predictions and conjectures.
I can use efficient methods for multiplication and division of whole numbers and decimals, including decimals such as 0.6 or 0.06.
-
Budgeting and handling money
Learners take money and count items sold when carrying out the activity, and at Level 2 prepare a simple but realistic budget. Handling money appears from Entry 2. These are examples of the planning and delivery contributions the criteria require.
Numeracy: Financial literacy, Calculation
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils practise giving change from £5 and £10 notes using play money at a pretend stall.
- Year 8
- Pupils record sales and takings for a tuck shop session in a table and check the cash matches the total.
- Year 9
- Pupils plan a budget for a fundraiser listing costs and expected income, then compare it with the real takings afterwards.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 13, Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 2 and Entry 3, page 68, Level 1 and Level 2, page 69
“serving customers, handling money, keeping count of items sold”
Progression step 3
I can add and subtract totals less than £100 using correct notation, e.g. £28.18 + £33.45.
I can realise that budgeting is important.
I can plan and track money and savings by keeping accurate records.
Progression step 4
I can appreciate the basic principles of budgeting, saving (including understanding compound interest) and borrowing.
I can use efficient written methods to add and subtract numbers and decimals of any size, including a mixture of large and small numbers with differing numbers of decimal places.
Good to know
- The unit is "Unit SfW 13: Enterprise venture" with 20 guided learning hours (Unit summary, page 5).
- The review rises by level, from stating "at least one strength" at Entry 1 to giving "clear reasons for what worked well and what could be improved" at Level 2 (Essential information for assessment decisions, pages 68 and 69).
- Most numeracy is given as examples, marked "e.g.", such as "preparing a simple but realistic budget" at Level 2, so a learner could meet the planning criterion through other contributions (Essential information, page 69).
- Annexe C lists numeracy links of budgeting, costs and price, sales targets, recording sales, profit or loss and charts from feedback and sales data (Annexe C, page 121).
- Team work needs individual evidence, because "achievement cannot be inferred from performance" (Assessment requirements, page 9).
- AI may be used only if acknowledged, and "the final submission must be in the learner's own words" (page 70).
Links with other qualifications
Pricing, budgets and profit link with GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy and GCSE Business, and the WJEC Skills Suite units Business Finance and Financial Literacy cover the same money skills in more depth. Discussing ideas, customer talk and evaluation link with GCSE English Language and Literature and the WJEC Customer Service and Teamwork units. The WJEC Enterprise venture unit is also 20 hours and also requires a real activity, but it requires a written plan that includes a justified price and a pitch to an audience, so it carries more formal writing and speaking; the Pearson unit lists pricing, budgets and promotion only as examples of planning contributions.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Work Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications Specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfW 13: Enterprise venture.