Leadership

Boosting Effectiveness and Confidence at GCSE

Students are challenging themselves and improving their career and life-related skills with ASDAN’s new Certificate of Personal Effectiveness course. Martina Veale shows how it has made a difference for students at Hockerill Anglo-European College.
Students Working Together In Lesson

ASDAN is an education charity and awarding organisation that’s focused on giving all learners the opportunity and tools to discover, develop and make full use of their potential. This ethos inspired the creation of our Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (CoPE) course, which was designed to allow schools to deliver an engaging and effective complement to GCSE that boosts confidence, engagement and motivation. 

The Certificate of Personal Effectiveness (CoPE) is a nationally recognised qualification consisting of three levels. The qualification offers imaginative ways of accrediting young people’s activities. It encompasses a wide range of personal qualities, abilities and achievements of young people, as well as introducing them to new activities and challenges.

The course helps young people develop six skills that support progression and are important in the workplace:

  • teamwork
  • independent learning
  • problem solving
  • research
  • discussion
  • oral presentation

Schools choose to deliver three modules from a list including Communication, Vocational Preparation, Work-Related Learning and Enterprise, International Links and Independent Living. Students produce a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate their achievements.

How are schools using it?

Hockerill Anglo-European College—a high-performing, Ofsted-rated Outstanding school in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire—has seen a real difference in pupil performance across GCSE subjects since introducing the programme as a GCSE option in 2010.

‘For our school, CoPE is an engaging and effective complement to GCSE that boosts progression and confidence,’ explains Assistant Principal, Alison McCulloch, who teaches CoPE in collaboration with a colleague.

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