VCSE Engineering
VCSE Engineering asks learners to read engineering drawings and technical sources closely, use precise technical vocabulary, write an operations plan and risk assessment, report faults and evaluate the quality of their own work, while the Unit 1 tasks ask them to read a case study and weigh the benefits and challenges of an engineering project in Wales. Numeracy runs through every unit: measuring to tolerances with callipers and micrometers, finding missing dimensions and angles on drawings, converting units, and calculating area, volume, waste, feeds and speeds and Ohm's law, much of it tested in the one hour Unit 3 written test. The single biggest thing KS3 should build is accurate measuring in millimetres against a stated tolerance, together with the confidence to use a formula such as spindle speed or Ohm's law with the right units.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Level 1 and Level 2
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- Medium
- Amount of numeracy work
- High
- Specification
- Open the specification
- Step before
- Foundation Engineering, Entry Level and Level 1
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Introduction to the Engineering Sector: Non-examination assessment 8 hours, 20%, 40 marks, set and marked by WJEC, available via Portal
- Unit 2: Applying Engineering Processes: Non-examination assessment 26 hours, 60%, 145 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC
- Unit 3: Engineering Principles: Written test 1 hour, 20%, 60 marks, set and marked by WJEC, paper format only
Skills that use Conceptual understanding
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Converting units, including imperial to metric and angles
Learners convert units of time, distance, temperature, angles in degrees, minutes and seconds, and electrical units, and convert imperial to metric, decimals to fractions and angle degrees to decimals. Imperial to metric conversion is also named in the Unit 2 technical information.
Numeracy: Measurement, Relationships within the number system, Communicating with symbols, Conceptual understanding
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils convert the sizes on a project drawing between millimetres, centimetres and metres and check each one with a steel rule.
- Year 8
- Pupils convert drill sizes given in fractions of an inch, such as a quarter inch, into millimetres using 25.4 mm to the inch and find the nearest metric drill.
- Year 9
- Pupils convert angles in degrees and minutes into decimal degrees for setting a vice or protractor, and convert soldering and brazing temperatures between Fahrenheit and Celsius.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 3, Section 3.4.1, page 35; Unit 2, Section 2.1.3, page 19
“Learners should be able to convert SI units of measurement”
Progression step 3
I can convert metric units of length to smaller units, e.g. cm to mm, m to cm, km to m.
I can use the language of imperial units in daily use, e.g. miles, pints.
I can use and interpret different representations of fractions, e.g. mixed numbers and improper fractions.
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 use rough metric equivalents of imperial units in daily use.
I can convert temperatures between appropriate temperature scales.
Progression step 5
I can understand and use a variety of compound measures.
I can use appropriate notation, symbols and units of measurement, including compound measures.
I can interpret answers within the context of the problem and consider whether answers, including calculator, analogue and digital displays, are sensible.
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Calculating area, volume and material waste
Learners calculate the surface area and volume of quadrilaterals, triangles, circles and compound shapes in engineering scenarios, including quantities of material, waste and maximising material use through tessellation. This is examined in the Unit 3 written test.
Numeracy: Shape and space, Strategic competence, Conceptual understanding
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils use the area of rectangles to work out how many 50 mm by 30 mm keyring blanks can be cut from a 300 mm by 200 mm sheet of acrylic.
- Year 8
- Pupils tessellate their design shapes on a sheet to get the most parts from it and calculate the percentage of the sheet that is wasted.
- Year 9
- Pupils calculate the volume of a turned aluminium part made from a cylinder with a hole through it, and the volume of metal removed as waste from the starting bar.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 3, Section 3.4.2, page 35
“calculation of waste materials”
Progression step 3
I can measure and calculate perimeter.
I can find areas by counting squares, progressing to calculating the area of squares and rectangles using formulae.
I can find volumes by counting and other practical methods.
Progression step 4
I can find circumferences of circles using my understanding of π (Pi).
I can calculate the areas of two-dimensional simple and compound shapes, including circles.
I can apply the formulae for the volume of simple prisms.
Progression step 5
I can recognise, model and apply the underlying mathematical structures and ideas within problems, in order to formulate and solve them.
I can select, trial and evaluate a variety of possible approaches and break complex problems into a series of tasks.
I can interpret answers within the context of the problem and consider whether answers, including calculator, analogue and digital displays, are sensible.
Good to know
- Numeracy is named in the content itself: learners use "applying numeracy skills to calculate or determine missing or incorrect dimensions where required" (Unit 2, Section 2.1.1, page 19), and Unit 3 lists "GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy" as a linked qualification (page 28).
- No marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar are mentioned. All marks sit under AO1 to AO4 (Section 3.1, page 37), and "The Assessment Pack will include all detailed information relating to assessment." (page 37).
- Calculator use is not stated, although Unit 3 includes feeds and speeds and Ohm's law calculations and "Unit 3 is a written test, available in paper format only." (page 5). Check the Assessment Pack.
- NEA writing may be handwritten: evidence "must be submitted digitally, either as scanned handwritten responses or completed digitally." (page 38).
- Spoken and practical work is evidenced by the teacher: "performance evidence (for example, presentations) must be documented using observation records" (Section 3.3, page 40).
- Appendix A (pages 45 to 47) maps literacy to all three units but the numeracy statistics strand to Unit 1 only, and it lists section "3.4.5" (page 47), which does not exist in the content.
Links with other qualifications
Measuring to tolerances, unit conversions, area and volume and Ohm's law overlap with Mathematics and Numeracy, The Sciences and GCSE Design and Technology. Reading drawings, risk assessments and sector case studies in Wales are shared with VCSE Built Environment.
Source: WJEC Level 1/Level 2 VCSE Engineering specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027, for award from 2029 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).