Award of Personal Effectiveness
About this course
ASDAN’s Award and Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (AoPE and CoPE) qualifications are closed to new learner registrations in England, Northern Ireland and international settings.
Centres in Wales can continue to register learners until 30 September 2026.
Centres with existing learners can continue to deliver AoPE and CoPE in line with the relevant specifications and certification deadlines.
ASDAN members approved to deliver AoPE or CoPE are automatically approved to deliver PEQ, except for centres in Wales.
Who is AoPE for?
AoPE Levels 1, 2 and 3 are available in England, Northern Ireland and internationally. AoPE Levels 2 and 3 only are available in Wales.
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.
Facts and figures
- AoPE Level 3 is worth 8 UCAS points for students entering higher education from 2017.
- 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 eight credits (80 hours) at Levels 1 & 2 and nine credits (90 hours) 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 the required number of 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 documents can be downloaded for free:
Full qualification specifications
The following flowcharts demonstrate the requirements for completing AoPE at Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3.
Assessment resources
- AoPE completed example assessment plans
- AoPE L1 assessment plans
- AoPE L2 assessment plans
- AoPE L3 assessment plans
Assessment planning guidance and an Assessment checklist are available from the Course resources section of this page and from ASDAN Qualifications Centre Guidance.
All candidate registration costs shown below are per candidate, unless otherwise stated.
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Award of Personal and Social Effectiveness: | |
| Level 1 and 2 | £34 |
| Level 3 | £38 |
Products can be purchased below.
Public funding for ASDAN qualifications delivered in the UK
Many ASDAN qualifications are fully funded by the UK Government.
Whether you are an employer, a learner or a training provider, the following websites will provide you with more information on the different types of public funding in the UK for ASDAN qualifications.
- England - Education and Skills Funding Agency, ESFA
- Wales - Qualifications in Wales, QiW
- Northern Ireland - Department for the Economy
Products
Course resources
Qualifications internal quality assurance guidance
Qualifications internal quality assurance cycle
Qualifications internal quality assurance pre-delivery check (with guidance)
Qualifications internal quality assurance sampling plan
Qualifications internal quality assurance feedback report template
Qualifications internal standardisation meeting template
Qualifications EQA/external moderation sample centre checklist
Digital sampling guidance
CoPE Level 2: Suggested problems
CoPE Level 1: Approved problems
Learning log
Scheme of work template
This template can be used to plan and create a scheme of work for any ASDAN programme or qualification. Also included is a completed example showing a scheme of work for Module 3 of the Personal Development Programmes.