Focus Awards Limited · RQF Level 3
Focus Awards Level 3 Diploma in Playwork (RQF)
You don’t just earn this. You learn to use it, one-to-one, on your own real work.
- LevelRQF Level 3
- Total credits65
- Guided learning477 hours
- Units in this qualification24
Awarded by Focus Awards Limited · on the Ofqual register
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What you’ll learn
What each unit actually teaches you to do
The Focus Awards Level 3 Diploma in Playwork (NVQ) aims to develop skills, knowledge, and understanding of playwork principles, including safeguarding and promoting positive relationships.
These are the units Focus Awards Limited registers against this qualification. It is a catalogue, not a syllabus. Which of them you take depends on the combination the qualification requires, and that is set by the awarding body rather than by us. Every unit here is regulated, and every one you earn is yours to keep.
Administer playwork provisionReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
You'll learn to administer playwork provision by implementing access procedures, recording key information accurately, and following safeguarding and emergency protocols to ensure the safety and well-being of children and young people.
What you'll be able to do
- Implement access procedures for playwork provision, ensuring that all children and young people can participate safely and equitably
- Accurately record key information relating to children and young people's attendance, activities, and any relevant incidents or observations
- Understand how to implement access procedures for playwork provision, including registration, safeguarding, and emergency protocols
- Understand how to record key information relating to children and young people, ensuring confidentiality, accuracy, and compliance with relevant regulations
Allocate and monitor the progress and quality of work in own area of responsibilityReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
You'll learn to plan, brief, and monitor work for colleagues, considering individual skills and workloads. The unit includes providing support and feedback, prioritising tasks, and understanding organisational contexts for work allocation and monitoring.
What you'll be able to do
- Plan work effectively for colleagues, taking into account their skills, experience, and workload
- Brief colleagues clearly and concisely on planned work, ensuring they understand the objectives, tasks, and deadlines
- Monitor colleagues’ work regularly, providing constructive feedback and identifying any issues or concerns
- Support colleagues in their work by providing guidance, resources, and encouragement
- Understand the specific sector context for allocating and monitoring work in their own area of responsibility, including relevant regulations and industry standards
- Understand the organisational context for allocating and monitoring work in their own area of responsibility, including policies, procedures, and reporting lines
- Understand how to plan work effectively for colleagues, considering factors such as workload, skills, and deadlines
- Understand how to brief colleagues clearly and concisely on planned work, ensuring they understand their roles and responsibilities
- Understand how to monitor work carried out by colleagues, providing feedback and identifying areas for improvement
- Understand how to support colleagues in their work, providing guidance, resources, and encouragement to help them achieve their goals
Contribute to an organisational framework that reflects the needs and protects the rights of children and young peopleReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
You'll explore how to contribute to an organisational framework that reflects and protects the needs and rights of children and young people. The unit includes researching relevant legislation, consulting stakeholders, and promoting diversity and inclusion within play environments.
What you'll be able to do
- Research the needs and rights of children and young people within a specific context.
- Research relevant legislation, policies, and procedures related to children and young people's needs and rights.
- Consult with children and young people to gather information about their needs and rights.
- Consult with relevant stakeholders, such as parents, carers, and other professionals, regarding children and young people's needs and rights.
- Contribute to the development and implementation of procedures that reflect children and young people's needs and rights.
- Evaluate existing procedures to ensure they meet the needs and protect the rights of children and young people.
- Promote a diverse and inclusive play environment that caters to the individual needs of all children and young people.
- Promote equality and respect for diversity within the play environment.
Contribute to evaluating, developing and promoting servicesReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
It teaches you to contribute to the evaluation, development, and promotion of services within an organisation. You'll understand evaluation methods, suggest improvements, and collabourate with colleagues to enhance service provision effectively.
What you'll be able to do
- Contribute to the evaluation of service provision
- Develop and improve services
- Contribute to the promotion of services
- Understand how to carry out evaluations
- Understand how to make improvements to services
- Know which individuals in the organisation to work with in relation to different activities
Develop and maintain a healthy, safe and secure play environment for children and young peopleReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
This unit covers the establishment and maintenance of a healthy, safe, and secure play environment for children and young people. You'll learn to implement health and safety policies, conduct risk assessments, and manage procedures for accidents and emergencies.
What you'll be able to do
- Establish a healthy, safe and secure environment for children and young people, adhering to relevant regulations and best practices
- Maintain a healthy, safe and secure environment for children and young people through regular monitoring, risk assessment, and preventative measures
- Implement clear and effective procedures for responding to accidents, injuries, illnesses, and other emergencies that may arise
Develop and promote positive relationships in a play environmentReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
You'll learn to develop and promote positive relationships with children, young people, and adults in a play environment. The unit covers building trust, adapting communication, modelling positive behaviour, and supporting relationship development.
What you'll be able to do
- Develop positive and supportive relationships with children and young people in a play environment, building trust and rapport
- Communicate effectively with children and young people in a play environment, using appropriate language and communication styles
- Support children and young people in developing relationships in the play environment, facilitating positive interactions and resolving conflicts
- Communicate effectively with adults in the play environment, including parents, carers, and other professionals, to ensure consistent support for children's play
Engage in personal development in health, social care or children’s and young people’s settingsReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
You'll engage in personal development by reflecting on their practice, evaluating performance, and identifying the knowledge, skills, and behaviours required for competence. The unit includes developing and implementing a personal development plan.
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the knowledge, skills, and behaviours required for competence in own work role within health, social care or children’s and young people’s settings.
- Reflect on own practice, identifying areas for improvement and development.
- Evaluate own performance against agreed standards and objectives.
- Agree a personal development plan with a supervisor or mentor, identifying specific learning goals and activities.
- Use learning opportunities and reflective practice to contribute to ongoing personal development and improve performance in the workplace.
Engage with parents, carers and families in a play environmentReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
You'll learn to build positive, respectful relationships with parents, carers, and families in a play environment. The unit covers effective communication techniques and supporting parenting within the boundaries of the playworker role.
What you'll be able to do
- Develop positive and respectful relationships with parents, carers and families
- Communicate effectively with parents, carers and families, using appropriate methods
- Support effective parenting as a playworker, within the boundaries of own role and responsibilities
- Understand how to develop positive and respectful relationships with parents, carers and families, building trust and rapport
- Understand how to communicate effectively with parents, carers and families, adapting communication styles to meet individual needs
- Understand how to support effective parenting as a playworker, signposting to relevant support services where appropriate
Inclusive play, working with disabled children and young peopleReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
This unit focuses on developing and implementing inclusive play practices for disabled children and young people. You'll learn to adapt activities, create supportive environments, manage inclusive play, and promote positive attitudes towards disability.
What you'll be able to do
- Develop inclusive play practice, adapting activities to meet individual needs
- Implement inclusive play practice, ensuring all children and young people can participate
- Help develop an environment which supports inclusive play, removing barriers to participation
- Manage inclusive play, addressing any challenges that may arise
- Understand the relevance of individual attitudes in relation to disabled people, promoting positive attitudes and challenging discrimination
- Understand the current legal and theoretical framework for inclusion, including relevant legislation and guidance
- Understand how to differentiate between effective and ineffective practice in relation to inclusive play, identifying areas for improvement
Manage a budgetReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
This unit covers the preparation, monitoring, and revision of budgets in accordance with organisational requirements. You'll learn to justify budget assumptions, report variances, and understand the context of budgetary control within their organisation.
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare a budget in line with organisational requirements
- Monitor financial performance against a budget, identifying variances
- Revise a budget in response to changing circumstances
- Understand the context for budgetary control within own organisation, including relevant policies and procedures
- Understand how to prepare budgets, taking into account relevant factors
- Understand how to monitor financial performance against a budget, identifying and reporting on variances
Organise and supervise travelReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
It teaches you to organise travel arrangements and supervise journeys safely and effectively. You'll plan logistics, manage budgets, comply with legal and organisational requirements, and respond appropriately to incidents during travel.
What you'll be able to do
- Organise travel arrangements efficiently and effectively
- Supervise journeys responsibly, ensuring the safety and well-being of all involved
- Follow all relevant legal and organisational requirements relating to travel arrangements and supervision
- Understand the key considerations when organising travel arrangements, including safety, cost, and accessibility
- Understand the organisational and legislative requirements that govern travel, including safeguarding and insurance
- Understand the supervisory responsibilities required during journeys, including risk assessment and emergency procedures
Plan for and support children and young people’s self-directed playReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
You'll learn to collect and analyse information on children and young people's play needs and preferences. The unit covers planning, preparing, and supporting self-directed play spaces that are stimulating, safe, and accessible.
What you'll be able to do
- Collect comprehensive information on children and young people’s play needs and preferences
- Analyse the collected information to identify patterns and trends in children and young people’s play needs and preferences
- Plan play spaces that are conducive to children and young people’s self-directed play, taking into account their needs and preferences
- Prepare play spaces to ensure they are safe, stimulating, and supportive of children and young people’s self-directed play
- Support children and young people’s self-directed play by providing appropriate resources and guidance
- Support children and young people to manage risk effectively during self-directed play, promoting their independence and resilience
Promote own organisation in the communityReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
You'll learn to promote their organisation within the community by identifying promotional opportunities, adapting communication for diverse audiences, and establishing collabourative relationships with relevant organisations and individuals.
What you'll be able to do
- Identify opportunities for promoting the organisation within the community
- Promote the organisation effectively to relevant audiences
- Establish positive and productive working relationships with other relevant organisations
- Understand how to develop and maintain links with relevant organisations and individuals
- Understand different methods for promoting the organisation and their relative effectiveness
- Understand how to adapt work practices to suit the needs of different individuals and/or organisations
Provide learning opportunities for colleaguesReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
It teaches you to encourage and support colleagues' learning and development. You'll help identify learning needs and styles, plan and implement learning activities, and review progress to promote continuous professional development.
What you'll be able to do
- Encourage learning and development in colleagues
- Help colleagues to identify their learning needs and styles
- Help colleagues to plan and implement learning and development activities
- Help colleagues to implement learning opportunities effectively
- Help colleagues to review and update their learning and development plans
- Understand how to encourage learning and development in the workplace
- Understand how to help colleagues identify their individual learning needs and preferred learning styles
- Understand how to help colleagues to plan their learning and development activities
- Understand how to help colleagues to implement learning and development opportunities
- Understand how to help colleagues review and update their learning and development plans to ensure continued progress
- Understand the specific sector in which they are providing learning opportunities to colleagues, including relevant regulations and best practices
- Understand the organisational context in which they provide learning opportunities to colleagues, including policies, procedures, and available resources
Recruit, select and keep colleaguesReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
This unit equips learners with the knowledge to identify recruitment needs, plan and contribute to recruitment and selection processes, and support colleague retention within sport, leisure, and recreation organisations. Emphasis is placed on fairness and effectiveness.
What you'll be able to do
- Identify recruitment and selection needs within a sport, leisure and recreation organisation
- Plan a recruitment and selection process that is fair, transparent and effective
- Contribute to the recruitment and selection of people for identified vacancies, following organisational procedures
- Contribute to the retention of colleagues by supporting a positive and inclusive work environment
- Understand own sector context for recruitment, selection and retention, including relevant legislation and best practice
- Understand own organisational context for recruitment, selection and retention, including policies and procedures
- Understand how to identify recruitment and selection needs based on organisational objectives and workforce planning
- Understand how to plan recruitment and selection processes, including advertising, shortlisting, interviewing and assessment
- Understand how to contribute to the recruitment and selection of people for identified vacancies, including participating in interviews and providing feedback
- Understand how to contribute to the retention of colleagues, including providing support, training and development opportunities
Understand Children and Young People’s Self-Directed PlayReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
You'll explore the nature and importance of freely chosen, self-directed play for children's development. The unit covers key concepts such as intrinsic motivation and balancing health, safety, and welfare with stimulation, challenge, and risk.
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the fundamental nature of freely chosen, self-directed play and its importance in child development
- Understand the key concepts involved in children and young people’s play, including intrinsic motivation, autonomy, and the process of exploration
- Understand how to balance the requirements for health, safety and welfare with the need for stimulation, challenge and appropriate risk-taking opportunities in play
- Reflect on observations of children and young people’s play, analysing their behaviour and identifying learning opportunities
Understand Health, Safety and Security in the Play EnvironmentReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
This unit covers health, safety, and security requirements within a play environment. You'll understand legal and organisational policies, risk assessment methods, and how to respond effectively to accidents and emergencies.
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the legal and organisational requirements for health, safety and security in the play environment
- Understand the specific health, safety and security procedures that should be followed in a play setting
- Understand how to assess potential risks to health, safety and security in a play environment
- Understand how to respond appropriately to accidents and other emergencies that may occur in a play environment
- Understand the importance of hygiene practices and how to implement them effectively in a play environment
Understand How to Plan for and Support Children and Young People’s Self-Directed PlayReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
This unit provides learners with knowledge of how to plan for and support children and young people's self-directed play. You'll consider individual needs and interests, create suitable play spaces, and help manage risk during play activities.
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how to plan for children and young people’s self-directed play, considering their individual needs, interests, and developmental stages
- Understand how to create stimulating and accessible play spaces for children and young people’s self-directed play, ensuring they are safe, inclusive, and promote exploration
- Understand how to support children and young people’s self-directed play, providing encouragement, resources, and appropriate levels of intervention
- Understand how to help children and young people manage risk during play, enabling them to assess and respond to challenges in a safe and supported environment
Understand How to Safeguard the Wellbeing of Children and Young PeopleReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
This unit focuses on safeguarding children and young people's wellbeing in play settings.
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of safeguarding in a playwork context.
Understand How to Support Positive Outcomes for Children and Young People.Real unit · Focus Awards Limited
It teaches you to understand how social, economic, and cultural factors impact the outcomes and life chances of children and young people. You'll examine how practitioners can positively influence these outcomes and address barriers to promote equality.
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how the social, economic and cultural environment can impact on the outcomes and life chances of children and young people
- Understand how practitioners can make a positive difference in outcomes for children and young people
- Understand the possible impact of disability, special requirements (additional needs) and attitudes on positive outcomes for children and young people
- Understand the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion in promoting positive outcomes for children and young people
Understand Playwork PrinciplesReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
You'll gain an understanding of Playwork Principles, including the role of play in children and young people's physical, intellectual, and social development. The unit also covers the rights of children in relation to play and the support role of the playwork team.
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the fundamental role of play in children and young people's development.
- Understand the need for play in supporting children and young people's social, emotional, and cognitive growth.
- Understand the specific rights of children and young people in relation to play, as outlined in relevant legislation and conventions.
- Understand how to advocate for children and young people's right to play.
- Understand the role of the playwork team in creating and maintaining a supportive play environment.
- Understand how the playwork team can facilitate and extend children and young people's play experiences.
- Understand the importance of observation and reflection in supporting children and young people's play.
Understand Relationships in the Play EnvironmentReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
It teaches you to understand how to develop positive, supportive relationships with children and young people in a play environment. You'll explore communication strategies and support children in forming relationships with others.
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how to develop positive and supportive relationships with children and young people in a play environment
- Understand how to support effective communication with children and young people, taking into account their individual needs and abilities
- Support communication with children and young people, using appropriate methods and adapting to different situations
- Understand how to support children and young people in developing positive relationships with others, promoting social skills and cooperation
- Understand how to communicate effectively with adults, including parents, carers, and other professionals, to support children's play and development
Understand the Organisational Framework for PlayReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
You'll gain knowledge of the rights of children and young people within a playwork context, including relevant legislation and guidance. The unit covers safeguarding practices and how to contribute to policies and procedures that promote well-being through play.
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the rights of children and young people in a playwork context, in accordance with relevant legislation and guidance
- Understand how to contribute to the development of strategies, policies and procedures that reflect children and young people’s rights, promoting their well-being
Work with colleagues in a playwork teamReal unit · Focus Awards Limited
You'll explore how to contribute effectively to a playwork team by supporting colleagues, participating in team activities, and responding to conflict. The unit emphasises collabouration, positive relationships, and addressing individual needs within the team.
What you'll be able to do
- Contribute effectively to the work of a playwork team
- Provide support to colleagues in a playwork team, promoting positive working relationships
- Respond appropriately to conflict situations within a playwork team
- Understand how to contribute to the work of a playwork team, adhering to team objectives
- Understand how to provide support to colleagues in a playwork team, recognising their individual needs
- Understand how to respond to conflict in a playwork team, using appropriate conflict resolution techniques
The honest bit
You’ve started things before
Most courses were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.
There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.
And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.
Your passport
Every credit is a stamp you keep
Level 3 credits are regulated. They don’t vanish when a subscription ends or a website closes. They travel to any employer, and Zavmo keeps the map of what you’ve earned and what’s next.
Administer playwork provisionAllocate and monitor the progress and quality of work in own area of responsibilityContribute to an organisational framework that reflects the needs and protects the rights of children and young peopleContribute to evaluating, developing and promoting servicesDevelop and maintain a healthy, safe and secure play environment for children and young peopleDevelop and promote positive relationships in a play environmentEngage in personal development in health, social care or children’s and young people’s settingsEngage with parents, carers and families in a play environment
Each stamp is a real unit registered against this qualification.
Who’d teach you this
The Evidence Evaluator
Assessor
Helps you show what you can actually do, gathering the evidence that proves it as you learn.
Meet all twelve tutorsWhere this connects
Where these credits take you
A qualification is never a dead end here. See the jobs its credits open, the national occupational standards its units map to, and the future skills they quietly build.
Focus Awards Level 3 Diploma in Playwork (RQF)
- Carry out playwork in prisons
- Communicate and promote the work being undertaken in your playwork setting
- Contribute to supporting disabled children and young people in the playwork setting
- Contribute to the development and review of policies and procedures relating to the rights of children and young people
- Develop and enhance relationships in the playwork setting
- Develop, maintain and sustain adventure playgrounds
- Enable access to future learning and development opportunities
- Facilitate inclusive playwork practice to meet the needs of disabled children and young people
Skills it covers
What the job actually needs. These are the standards the units are built against, in the words employers and awarding bodies already use for the work itself.
Carry out playwork in prisonsCommunicate and promote the work being undertaken in your playwork settingContribute to supporting disabled children and young people in the playwork settingContribute to the development and review of policies and procedures relating to the rights of children and young peopleDevelop and enhance relationships in the playwork settingDevelop, maintain and sustain adventure playgroundsEnable access to future learning and development opportunitiesFacilitate inclusive playwork practice to meet the needs of disabled children and young peopleInfluence learning opportunities that support personal and social developmentManage and enhance internal and external relationships specific to playworkManage staff in the playwork settingManage, develop and review play provisionOrganise and supervise travelPlan and implement your professional development in playworkPromote the needs, interests and rights of individuals and groups in the communityPromote your organisation and its services to stakeholdersProvide Learning Opportunities for ColleaguesProvide Learning Opportunities for Colleagues+2 more
How you’ll actually learn this
One-to-one, on your own real work
A qualification is usually something done to you: sit the class, sit the exam, hope it sticks. Here it’s the opposite. You learn it one-to-one with a companion, on your own real work, and you keep going until you can use it, not just recall it.
One-to-one, on your real workNo lectures, no past-papers. Every unit is practised on the actual tasks your job throws at you, a tutor beside you, not a video in front of you.
Taught to the top, not the testMost courses stop at remembering. Your companion keeps climbing: analysing, judging, creating. That’s the part a machine can’t do for you.
Credits you keep, a map that continuesEvery unit is regulated and yours for good. The day you finish, Zavmo already knows the next role your new credits open.
Applied to your own work
Learners will develop skills to administer playwork provision by implementing access procedures, recording key information accurately, and following safeguarding and emergency protocols to ensure the safety and well-being of children and young people.
How the thinking builds
- Remember
- Understand
- Apply
- Analyse
- Evaluate
- Create
Built for Focus Awards Level 3 Diploma in Playwork (RQF)
24 units in this credential, in the order it lists them, awarded by Focus Awards Limited.
- Administer playwork provision
- Allocate and monitor the progress and quality of work in own area of responsibility
- Contribute to an organisational framework that reflects the needs and protects the rights of children and young people
- Contribute to evaluating, developing and promoting services
- Develop and maintain a healthy, safe and secure play environment for children and young people
- Develop and promote positive relationships in a play environment
and 18 more in the full unit list below.
One to one, not one to many
No two people run this the same way
A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.
- Your actual work Every unit is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
- What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
- The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
- How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
- Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.
See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.
Why it sticks
Most courses stop at remembering
There’s a well-known ladder of how deeply you learn something, called Bloom’s Taxonomy. Most courses get you up the first two rungs: you remember some facts, you pass a test, you forget it. Real skill lives at the top. Judging, deciding, creating. And this isn’t a generic ladder: every rung has a named Zavmo tutor who walks you up it.
- 6CreateThe Creative Catalyst
- 5EvaluateThe Evidence Evaluator
- 4AnalyseThe Analyst
- 3ApplyThe Coach
- 2UnderstandThe Connector
- 1RememberThe Builder
Where most courses leave you Where Zavmo takes you
Why this matters: AI can already remember and understand for you. What it can’t do is
take your real problem and judge the right call. So the only learning worth paying
for is the learning that takes you to the top. That’s exactly what a tutor doing it with
you, on your real work, is for.
The value
Why the companion is worth £70 a month
You’re not paying for the units. They’re regulated, and the same wherever you earn them. You’re paying for the one thing that decides whether you actually get there: a companion that makes them stick, on your real work.
That is one-to-one on this qualification, every day, on the work you already do, for £70 a month. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it. Billed monthly, cancel any time and billing stops.
Earned on your own work, taught to the top.
Everything you just read, learned one-to-one on the job you already do. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it.
Build my plan, freeNo card. See how this qualification maps onto your role and meet the tutors who’d teach it, free. The learning begins when you subscribe. It’s £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.