Welsh Baccalaureate (Welsh Bacc) The Skills Challenge Certificate: Overview and Structure Syllabus

What does the Planning and Organisation skill involve?

Setting objectives, managing time and resources, producing action plans and timelines, monitoring progress, and adapting plans to complete tasks effectively.

What does the Creativity and Innovation skill involve?

Generating original ideas, thinking flexibly, taking appropriate risks and developing new or improved approaches, products or solutions.

What does Personal Effectiveness develop in learners?

Self-awareness, self-management, resilience, working with others, leadership, and taking responsibility for one's own learning and decisions.

Which two skills are most strongly emphasised in the Enterprise and Employability Challenge?

Numeracy (financial/business calculations) and Personal Effectiveness/Creativity, as learners develop and cost an enterprise idea and work with others.

Which skill is central to the Global Citizenship Challenge?

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving — evaluating evidence, perspectives and the reliability of sources about a global issue.

What is internal assessment in the Skills Challenge Certificate?

Assessment carried out by the learner's own centre/teachers against published marking criteria for the challenges that are marked in-house (e.g. Community Challenge and parts of other challenges).

What is moderation in the context of the Skills Challenge Certificate?

The external checking by the awarding body (WJEC/Eduqas) of a sample of internally-marked work to confirm that centres have applied the marking criteria accurately and consistently.

Which awarding body delivers the Welsh Baccalaureate?

WJEC, under the regulation of Qualifications Wales.

What is external assessment in the Skills Challenge Certificate?

Assessment set and marked by the awarding body rather than the centre — used for certain challenges (such as the Global Citizenship and Enterprise challenges) to ensure standardised, comparable judgements.

Which challenges are typically externally assessed at Advanced level?

The Individual Project, the Global Citizenship Challenge and the Enterprise and Employability Challenge are externally assessed, while the Community Challenge is internally assessed and externally moderated.

What is an evidence portfolio in the Skills Challenge Certificate?

An organised collection of a learner's work — plans, drafts, research, products, reflections and final outputs — that demonstrates the skills and meets the assessment criteria for a challenge.

Why is building a well-organised evidence portfolio important?

Because marks are awarded against assessment criteria evidenced in the portfolio; clear, signposted evidence lets assessors and moderators see exactly where each skill and criterion has been met.

What does referencing mean in the Skills Challenge Certificate, and why is it required?

Acknowledging the sources of information, ideas, data and quotations used in work; it is required to give credit, support claims with evidence, and avoid plagiarism.

What is malpractice in the context of the Welsh Baccalaureate?

Any act that undermines the integrity of assessment — e.g. plagiarism, copying, collusion, fabricating evidence, or submitting work that is not the learner's own.

What is plagiarism and how can a learner avoid it?

Presenting someone else's words, ideas or work as one's own; avoided by quoting and paraphrasing properly, citing all sources, and keeping a full reference list/bibliography.

What is the difference between internal assessment and external assessment in the SCC?

Internal assessment is marked by the centre's own teachers (then externally moderated), whereas external assessment is set and marked directly by the awarding body for standardised national consistency.

What is the difference between moderation and external assessment?

Moderation checks the accuracy of marks the centre has already given to internally-assessed work; external assessment is where the awarding body itself marks the work from the start.

What proportion of the Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate does the Individual Project carry, and how is the remaining share split?

The Individual Project is worth 50%; the remaining 50% is split across the three challenges (Enterprise and Employability, Global Citizenship and Community), each contributing a share of the marks.

Why is the Welsh Baccalaureate described as a 'skills-based' qualification?

Because its core (the Skills Challenge Certificate) is assessed primarily on the application of transferable skills through real-world challenges, rather than only on subject knowledge.

How does the Welsh Baccalaureate aim to support progression to higher education or employment?

By developing and evidencing independent research, problem-solving, enterprise and personal effectiveness skills valued by universities and employers, complementing the academic content of Supporting Qualifications.

What kind of output does the Individual Project usually take?

Either an extended written research report or a practical artefact/production accompanied by a written commentary, both supported by an evidence trail of planning and research.

What should a learner include in the planning evidence for a challenge?

Clear aims/objectives, an action plan or timeline, identification of resources, risk or contingency considerations, and ongoing records of monitoring and review of progress.

What is reflective evaluation and why is it assessed in the SCC?

A learner's critical review of what they did, how well it worked, the skills they used and what they would improve; it is assessed because it evidences self-awareness and Personal Effectiveness.

How does Numeracy specifically feature in the Enterprise and Employability Challenge?

Through financial planning and business calculations — for example budgeting, costing, calculating profit, and interpreting financial or market data to justify decisions.

What is meant by a 'global issue' suitable for the Global Citizenship Challenge?

A significant social, economic, political, cultural or environmental issue of worldwide relevance (e.g. climate change, poverty, human rights) that can be investigated from multiple perspectives.

Why must learners evaluate the reliability of sources in their challenges?

To demonstrate Critical Thinking — judging the credibility, bias, currency and relevance of evidence so conclusions are based on trustworthy information rather than unsupported opinion.

What is a bibliography (reference list) and what should it contain?

A list of all sources consulted or cited, giving details such as author, title, date and location (e.g. URL or publisher) so that sources can be traced and credited.

What is collusion as a form of malpractice?

Working with others to produce work that is then submitted as an individual's own when independent work was required — distinct from legitimate collaborative tasks.

How are the six skills assessed across the Skills Challenge Certificate?

They are integrated into the four challenges rather than tested separately — learners demonstrate each skill through the planning, research, products and evaluations they produce for the challenges.

Summarise how the overall Welsh Baccalaureate award is achieved.

By passing the Skills Challenge Certificate (the graded core made up of the Individual Project and the Enterprise, Global Citizenship and Community challenges) together with the required Supporting Qualifications at the appropriate level.