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 Clarity and vocabulary
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Talking to customers
When carrying out the activity, learners greet customers, serve them and help sell, from greeting customers when told at Entry 1 to greeting politely and taking money at Entry 2 and serving customers at Level 1. These are examples of the contributions the criteria require.
Literacy: Clarity and vocabulary, Collaborative talk
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils role play greeting a customer at a stall and explaining what is on sale.
- Year 8
- Pupils practise answering customer questions about a product's price and ingredients in pairs, speaking clearly and politely.
- Year 9
- Pupils serve real customers at a school event, adapting how they talk to staff, parents and younger pupils.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfW 13, Essential information for assessment decisions, Entry 1 to Entry 3, page 68, Level 1, page 69
“greeting customers politely and taking money”
Progression step 3
I can speak clearly, recognising the appropriate language for different audiences and purposes, and varying my expression, vocabulary, tone and gestures to engage the audience.
I have experienced speaking with different people in a variety of authentic contexts.
Progression step 4
I can speak clearly, selecting and adapting my language appropriately for a range of audiences and purposes, conveying meaning effectively to the audience.
I have experienced speaking with different people in a variety of authentic contexts.
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.