VCSE Public Services
VCSE Public Services asks learners to read and judge sources on a local wellbeing issue, write proposals, evaluations and justified recommendations, and adapt spoken and written communication for different audiences, with analysis and evaluation (AO3) carrying 34% of the qualification and 80% of the marks coming from NEA. Numeracy depends on the optional unit: Unit 3 is built on measuring fitness, comparing results with public service standards and normative data and measuring improvement from a baseline, while Unit 4 asks for interpreting local demographic data and analysing survey feedback. The single biggest thing KS3 should build is the habit of collecting real data, working out what has changed and writing a justified conclusion that quotes the figures.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Level 1 and Level 2
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- High
- Amount of numeracy work
- Medium
- Specification
- Open the specification
- Step before
- Foundation Public Services, Entry Level and Level 1
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Introduction to the Public Services Sector: External sector test 1 hour, 20%, 50 marks, set and marked by WJEC, paper-based or on-screen
- Unit 2: Public Services in Action: External NEA 5 hours, 20%, 62 marks, set and marked by WJEC, set brief with five tasks that changes each year
- Unit 3: Wellbeing and Fitness for Public Services (optional, taken instead of Unit 4): NEA 11 hours (not including the six-week health and fitness training programme), 60%, 98 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC
- Unit 4: Citizenship and Community within Public Services (optional, taken instead of Unit 3): NEA 10 hours (not including the small-scale community or school-based wellbeing project), 60%, 98 marks, set by WJEC, marked by the centre and moderated by WJEC
Skills that use Representing data
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Collecting and analysing survey feedback
To review their Unit 4 project, learners collect participant feedback, for example through questionnaires or surveys, and analyse the data collected to judge how far the aims and objectives were met.
Numeracy: Collecting data, Representing data, Interpreting data
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils tally the answers to a five-question survey about a lunchtime club and draw a bar chart of the most popular activities.
- Year 8
- Pupils survey a year group before and after a recycling campaign and show the change with a pair of bar charts and percentages.
- Year 9
- Pupils design a feedback questionnaire with rating questions for a peer buddy scheme, present the results in a suitable chart, and write conclusions that note the limits of a small sample.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit 4, Section 4.3.4, page 56
“analysing data collected to support the review”
Progression step 3
I can collect relevant data to answer posed questions.
I can select and construct appropriate charts, diagrams and graphs with suitable scales.
I can represent data using:
- lists, tally charts, tables, diagrams and frequency tables
- bar charts, grouped data charts, line graphs and conversion graphs
- pictograms where one symbol represents more than one unit using a key
- Venn and Carroll diagrams.
Progression step 4
I can collect own data for a survey, e.g. through designing a questionnaire.
I can construct and interpret graphs and diagrams (including pie charts) to represent discrete or continuous data, choosing an appropriate scale.
I can draw conclusions from data and recognise that some conclusions may be misleading or uncertain.
Progression step 5
I can collect data in a suitable way according to my hypothesis.
I can select and construct appropriate charts, diagrams and graphs with suitable scales.
I can interpret mathematical information; drawing inferences from graphs, diagrams and data, including discussion on limitations of data.
Good to know
- Literacy and numeracy are named as essential skills for the sector: 'Learners should know the entry requirements and essential skills needed to progress into public service roles' (Unit 1, Section 1.5.2, page 24).
- Analysis and evaluation carry the most weight of any objective: 'Analyse and/or evaluate information, evidence or ideas, to make connections and/or form reasoned judgements within public services contexts' is AO3, 34% overall (page 58).
- The only examination is short and mostly objective: 'Section A covers AO1 and will include a range of objective question types' (page 59), so extended writing sits in the NEA units.
- Spoken work can count but must be recorded: 'performance evidence (for example, presentations) must be documented using observation records' (page 61).
- Numeracy depends on the route: 'Centres/Learners may then choose either Unit 3 or Unit 4.' (page 6). Unit 3 is far more numerate than Unit 4, and the specification names no calculator or spreadsheet requirement.
Links with other qualifications
The Unit 3 fitness testing, normative data and percentage improvement work matches GCSE Physical Education and Health, and the Unit 4 source reading, local demographic data and justified recommendations overlap with GCSE Social Studies and Geography, so these departments can share one KS3 approach to data and evaluative writing.
Source: WJEC Level 1/Level 2 VCSE Public Services specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027, for award from 2029 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).