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Award of Personal Effectiveness

Q

What is it?

The Award of Personal Effectiveness is a nationally recognised qualification, available at Levels 1, 2 and 3. It can accredit many of the imaginative and diverse activities undertaken by learners, both inside and outside of school. Assessment is based on a portfolio of evidence. The AoPE assessment units encourage the development of the skills required for progression to further education, training or employment.

AoPE is a shorter version of the Certificate of Personal Effectiveness, sits within the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) and is approved as eligible for use in Foundation Learning provision at Level 1.

Read the full specifications for AoPE L1, AoPE L2 and AoPE L3.

Who is it for?

AoPE is suitable for a wide range of learners, within and beyond the 14-19 age group of students. The opportunity to choose the context in which the learner studies makes AoPE particularly attractive to those in secondary schools and non-formal education.

AoPE offers the opportunity for progression to other ASDAN qualifications, such as CoPE or Wider Key Skills.

Facts and figures

  • AoPE Level 3 is worth 8 UCAS points for students entering higher education from 2017. Download information about changes to the UCAS points tariff for 2017 entry.
  • Following amendments to the school and college performance tables in England, qualifications that do not rely on a written examination for assessment purposes, such as ASDAN qualifications, do not, themselves, contribute to the tables.  There is however strong evidence that ASDAN qualifications improve performance in English and Mathematics, which have a double weighting in school performance measures such as Progress 8.
  • In Wales and Northern Ireland, ASDAN qualifications can contribute towards school/college performance measures. Download this information sheet for details.

Requirements

Students must complete six curriculum credits’ worth of challenges (60 hours) from the student book at Levels 1 & 2 or 80 hours of challenges at Level 3. They also need to develop and demonstrate personal effectiveness skills through the curriculum in the chosen student book. Students will use the AoPE recording documents to show that they have met the criteria for sufficient assessment units to achieve eight qualification credits:

  • Introduction to working with others (L1)/Team Working (L2, L3)
  • Planning and reviewing learning (L1, L2, L3)
  • Dealing with problems in daily life (L1, L2)/Tackling problems (L3)
  • Planning and carrying out research (L1, L2)/Research skills (L3)
  • Group discussion (L1, L2)
  • Preparing for and giving a presentation (L1, L2)/Improving skills in preparing and presenting information (L3)
  • Developing self (L1, L2)
  • Learning through work experience (L3)
  • Career exploration (L3)

Units and Standards

Download the AoPE Levels 1-3 standards only.

Please note that centres registered to deliver AoPE will be able to access a full copy of the standards with guidance, which provides key information on how to interpret and implement the unit standards. Download sample units from the AoPE Levels 1-3 standards with guidance.

Supporting resources

The following flowcharts demonstrate the requirements for completing AoPE at Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. A pilot project in Coventry explored the use of AoPE Level 3 across several schools; read the summary report here.

Getting started

For centres new to ASDAN, your first step is to complete the Centre Registration Form.

Once your registration has been processed, you must upload specified policies and procedures as part of the ASDAN centre approval process. Once these have been accepted you will be able to access candidate registration for ASDAN qualifications.

Current ASDAN centres need to ensure that AoPE is added to their centre's registration.

Following registration, you will be able to purchase candidate registrations and access additional resources and guidance via the members area.

Training and support

All centres running AoPE must have an ASDAN-trained co-ordinator; ASDAN provides introductory training workshops and can arrange in-house training.

Free regional support meetings are held every term and are open to any staff involved in delivering AoPE.

Assessment

After students' work has been internally moderated, centres must register candidates for external moderation, which is carried out by post. ASDAN will issue certificates following successful external moderation.

Costs

All prices shown below are per learner, unless otherwise stated.


Item Price
AoPE Level 1 and 2 candidate registration (one per learner, includes student book and certification) £29.95
AoPE Level 3 candidate registration (one per learner, includes student book and certification) £33.25
AoPE Levels 1, 2 and 3 standards with guidance £8.40

 

All prices valid from 1 September 2020 until 31 August 2021. Prices are shown exclusive of VAT. 

What next?

You may also be interested in...

Certificate of Personal Effectiveness Level 1 and 2

Short Courses (multiple titles)

Wider Key Skills