WJEC and ACT launch wellbeing qualification for young people

WJEC, Wales’ largest awarding organisation, has collaborated with ACT, Wales’ leading training provider to create a Self-Development and Wellbeing qualification targeted at young people. This sector leading qualification is the first of its kind for ACT and WJEC and directly addresses the issues and barriers to learning that many young people today now face.

The qualification units were devised around ACT’s wellbeing wheel which encompasses a range of topics from emotional resilience to personal identity, hygiene and more. The qualification units support learners’ personal growth as well as their engagement with learning and is also unitised and credit-based, allowing for flexibility and customisation to individual or groups of learners needs.

Created over a two-year period, the qualification is directly informed by the issues many young people present when joining the Welsh Government’s Jobs Growth Wales+ (JGW+) programme. Delivered by ACT, JGW+ is a training and development programme for 16–19-year-olds helping them acquire the skills, qualifications, and experience to get a job or get into further training. Understanding that no one person is the same, JGW+ is entirely unique and tailored to suit the needs of the individual learner.

The Self-Development and Wellbeing qualification is delivering to its first cohort of learners this month, with units available at Entry 3 and/or Level 1 which provides flexibility to select units at the appropriate level to each learner.

Speaking about the qualification, Bryan Davies, Subject Officer for the qualification at WJEC, said: “We’re passionate about providing Wales’ learners with the opportunity to reach their potential, but understand that not all learners follow the same education path.  That’s why we’re really excited to be part of a partnership focused on developing alternative routes to employment through qualifications such as these.

‘Working alongside colleagues at ACT we’ve been able to create an innovative and engaging qualification which we’re confident will have a positive impact and will help learners to develop many of the skills they need for today’s workplace.

Also commenting, Lewis Bowden, Operational Manager for JGW+ said, “We are incredibly excited about the qualification and what it will mean for our learners. It’s the first of its kind and directly deals with the issues we see impacting young people today. It’s been great to work alongside WJEC to create such a fantastic and robust qualification and we look forward to seeing it’s impact as we begin delivering to learners.”

To find out more about ACT, JGW+ and other work-based learning opportunities available, please visit www.acttraining.org.uk