Core Skills: Essential Skills Units and Workplace Assessed Units

Essential Skills Units

• Developing Essential Skills SCQF level 3 (HC4P 43)
• Developing Essential Skills SCQF level 4 (HC4P 44)
• Developing Essential Skills SCQF level 5 (HC4P 45)

Assessment Support Packs for these units are available on the SQA Secure Website, in the 'Other' section.

Essential Skills constituents

• personal and learning skills
• literacy and numeracy
• Core Skills: Communication, Numeracy, Problem Solving, Information Technology, Working with Others
• employability skills
• vocational skills specific to particular occupations or sectors

Workplace Assessed Core Skills Units

Workplace Assessed Core Skills Units allow candidates to be assessed in the workplace against the Core Skills standards.

Centres delivering the Workplace Assessed Core Skills Units should gather most of the candidates' evidence in a workplace setting. Simulation of workplace evidence should be by exception.

Unit specifications and assessment support packs

• Workplace Core Skills unit codes (74 KB)
• Unit specifications and assessment support packs
• Guide to Assessing Workplace Core Skills (624 KB)

Modern Apprenticeships Core Skills

Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) are developed and awarded by sector skills councils (SSCs).

MA frameworks describe what Core Skills are included in the Modern Apprenticeships and whether or not separate certification is needed.

Core Skills mappings carried out by SSCs cannot be used as evidence towards achievement of the Core Skills units. If the MA framework states that a Core Skill is embedded (and does not require separate certification), but the centre wants to enter their candidates for the Core Skill unit anyway, the candidates must be assessed against the unit standards and evidence must be gathered in the normal way.

• Modern Apprenticeship frameworks

Core Skills Profile

Centres should check each candidate's Core Skills Profile to see what Core Skills they may have already achieved and at what level, before the candidate commences the MA. SSCs will accept the Core Skills Profile as evidence of Core Skills attainment, which may mean that some candidates do not have to undertake Core Skills Units as part of their MA.

Each of the Core Skills is broken down into components on the Core Skills Profile.

A candidate's Core Skills Profile must show that the candidate has achieved both components (or all three for Problem Solving) at the level required by the MA framework. Core Skills components achieved at a higher level than that required by the MA framework will also be accepted.