Capstone Pathways

Choose a pathway. Use only supplied, public, fictional, or safely prepared synthetic material.

All pathways use the same rubric and required artefacts.

Pathway 1: Research and synthesis

Produce a short evidence-based briefing from a small approved source pack.

Suitable examples:

• Compare three publicly documented community programmes.
• Summarise a supplied set of fictional project reports.
• Explain differences between two current official guidance documents.

The workflow must separate search or retrieval, source selection, extraction, synthesis, claim verification, and approval.

Pathway 2: Writing or communication

Produce a communication from approved facts for a defined audience.

Suitable examples:

• Public event announcement from a supplied event record.
• Beginner guide from an approved policy excerpt.
• Internal update from fictional project notes.

The workflow must prevent invented facts, preserve source boundaries, check audience/accessibility, and require approval before sharing.

Pathway 3: Planning or analysis

Produce a bounded plan or comparison that supports, but does not replace, a human decision.

Suitable examples:

• Compare fictional venue options against approved requirements.
• Build a study plan from a supplied calendar and topic list.
• Analyse synthetic feedback themes and propose questions for an owner.

The workflow must distinguish evidence, calculation, analysis, recommendation, and formal decision.

Unsuitable capstone tasks

Do not use tasks involving real people’s rights, health, safety, employment, education access, finance, legal position, security access, or confidential records. Do not enable automatic publication, payment, rejection, deletion, account change, or external communication.

If a chosen idea requires such data or action, reduce the scope, use synthetic material, choose a human-led simulation, or select another pathway.