ASDAN’s employability-focused non-regulated programme. Workright is built around the practical skills and dispositions a young person needs to enter, hold, and progress in employment — covering job search, application, interview, workplace conduct, and rights at work.
For NEO, Workright is one of the most directly commissioner-relevant ASDAN routes, particularly for learners on EHCPs whose Year 11 transition plan or post-16 plan centres on supported employment, supported internship, or apprenticeship pathways.
Module clusters
Workright is structured around the work cycle:
- Self-awareness for work — strengths and skills inventory; sensory and cognitive working preferences; recognising what kinds of work suit the learner
- Sector exposure — exploring industries; understanding what different jobs actually involve; recognising the range of roles in any given sector
- Job-search skills — using job boards, the National Careers Service, sector-specific channels; networking; recognising scams and exploitation
- Application skills — CV writing; covering letters; application forms; portfolios for creative and trade routes
- Interview skills — preparation, the interview encounter itself, follow-up, handling rejection
- Workplace conduct — punctuality, communication, working in teams, taking direction, managing mistakes, asking for help
- Rights at work — contracts, payslips, the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage, breaks and working hours, holiday entitlement, sick pay, statutory protections, what to do when something is wrong
- Progressing in work — appraisals, learning on the job, CPD, the long-arc of a working life
Why this is well-suited to the NEO cohort
Workright fits the cohort because:
- Concrete and forward-looking. Where some curriculum content can feel abstract or backward-looking for disengaged learners, Workright is about the next thing
- Builds dignity. The “rights at work” component matters especially for learners who may be entering employment without family-knowledge of their rights — this is curriculum work that protects them
- Portfolio-evidenced. Application drafts, recorded mock interviews, sector-research write-ups, workplace-visit reflection are the natural evidence forms
- Cross-stages well into life-and-work canonical content. Workright is the qualification-bearing companion to NEO’s Life and Work — Employability canonical strand
Tests canonical
- Life and Work — Employability (the primary canonical match — directly mirrors Workright’s structure)
- Life and Work — Citizenship (rights at work; statutory protections)
- Life and Work — Financial literacy (payslips; tax; National Insurance)
- Life and Work — Independent living (managing the working day; commute; energy and recovery)
- KS3 CEIAG / KS4 CEIAG (Gatsby Benchmarks 4, 5, 6 in particular — encounters with employers and workplaces)
Cornerstone fits
- Reflection (●●●) — self-understanding, future-thinking, reviewing performance
- Connection (●●●) — interview practice, workplace relationships, networking
- Creativity (●) — for some learners, especially in creative-sector routes
Preparing for Adulthood (PfA) anchor
Workright maps most directly onto the Employment PfA outcome and contributes to Independent Living through the practical skills around managing the working week. See PfA outcomes.
NEO operational note
For learners on EHCPs whose post-16 plan involves supported employment or supported internship, Workright provides commissioner-recognisable evidence of work-readiness without requiring exam attainment. NEO co-ordinates Workright delivery alongside the practitioner-led careers conversation that runs through KS4.
Source
ASDAN — Workright overview (publicly available). Course handbook required for outcome-level tagging.