Blog
27/01/2025
Personal effectiveness qualifications to foster self-awareness for future success
ASDAN is enhancing its personal effectiveness offer to better equip learners with essential life skills, bridging the gap between academic learning and practical demands of the real-world.
At the heart of this initiative is the development of new qualifications, launching in September 2025. These qualifications are designed to build learners’ self-awareness whilst offering flexibility within the curriculum framework.
Evidence of positive impact on GCSEs
Research continues to validate the impact of ASDAN’s flagship qualification, the Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (CoPE). Our curriculum models consistently demonstrate a positive influence on GCSE outcomes and learner engagement, significantly improving academic performance, particularly for learners facing societal, cultural and political barriers.
Feedback from education practitioners – both those new to and experienced in delivering CoPE – has been instrumental in shaping the renewed personal effectiveness offer. The research highlights how these qualifications benefit learners experiencing economic disadvantage, those with low prior attainment, and individuals with special educational needs (SEND). Importantly, the qualifications have been shown to foster engagement, confidence, and motivation – skills that are fundamental for long-term success in education and beyond.
Six skills at the heart of ASDAN education
ASDAN’s pedagogy is built around six core skills, designed to be universally applicable across personal and professional contexts. These skills are the foundation of ASDAN’s updated personal effectiveness qualifications, which will be available from Entry Level 3 to Level 3.
In a world where adaptability, empathy, and resilience are critical, these six skills provide learners with a roadmap for navigating life’s challenges:
- Learning
- Communication
- Decision-making
- Thinking
- Teamwork
- Self-awareness
Dr. Zoë Elder, ASDAN’s Associate Director of Professional Learning and Innovation, emphasises the lasting value of these skills: “They’re universal, not limited by time or situation, making them vital for learners in any context.”
These refreshed core skills address the unique demands of today’s world, equipping learners with the critical thinking, decision-making, and teamwork capabilities required to thrive in diverse environments.
Developing self-sufficient learners
A major innovation in the updated framework is the addition of self-awareness as a core skill. This goes beyond building resilience or encouraging positive mental health. It focuses on empowering learners to recognise and manage their emotional and physical states, enabling them to stay healthy and productive as they work toward their goals.
Self-awareness equips learners to recognise their strengths and challenges and develop strategies to manage stress and setbacks. It also fosters a positive mindset, enabling learners to approach both opportunities and challenges with confidence.
In an increasingly digital world, ASDAN’s six core skills provide learners with a practical toolkit to manage their wellbeing whilst meeting the demands of life, learning, and future employment.
Flexible curriculum to empower both learners and educators
The new personal effectiveness qualifications will offer greater flexibility, allowing educators to tailor the learning experience to meet individual learners’ needs. A diagnostic tool will support this personalised approach by identifying areas for growth.
ASDAN’s commitment to digitising all resources means learners can take greater ownership of their progress through digital portfolios, supported by their teachers. This move aligns with our mission to create more self-sufficient learners whilst easing the administrative burden on educators.
Teachers will also be able to design their own activities within the new framework, to better meet the needs of their setting and the diverse needs of their learners.
As ASDAN approaches its 35th anniversary, we are proud to build on decades of expertise in learner-centred education. Our legacy of working collaboratively with education professionals enables us to empower learners from all backgrounds to develop the skills, compassion, and resilience they need to thrive in adulthood
We look forward to sharing our new personal effectiveness qualifications with you in September 2025.