diff --git a/lib/navigationlib.php b/lib/navigationlib.php
index f56a6ef65c7..09cfc188f1e 100644
--- a/lib/navigationlib.php
+++ b/lib/navigationlib.php
@@ -116,6 +116,8 @@ class navigation_node implements renderable {
     public $forceopen = false;
     /** @var array An array of CSS classes for the node */
     public $classes = array();
+    /** @var array An array of HTML attributes for the node */
+    public $attributes = [];
     /** @var navigation_node_collection An array of child nodes */
     public $children = array();
     /** @var bool If set to true the node will be recognised as active */
@@ -559,6 +561,16 @@ class navigation_node implements renderable {
         return true;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Adds an HTML attribute to this node.
+     *
+     * @param string $name
+     * @param string $value
+     */
+    public function add_attribute(string $name, string $value): void {
+        $this->attributes[] = ['name' => $name, 'value' => $value];
+    }
+
     /**
      * Removes a CSS class from this node.
      *
@@ -2290,6 +2302,7 @@ class global_navigation extends navigation_node {
                     null, $section->id, new pix_icon('i/section', ''));
                 $sectionnode->nodetype = navigation_node::NODETYPE_BRANCH;
                 $sectionnode->hidden = (!$section->visible || !$section->available);
+                $sectionnode->add_attribute('data-section-name-for', $section->id);
                 if ($this->includesectionnum !== false && $this->includesectionnum == $section->section) {
                     $this->load_section_activities($sectionnode, $section->section, $activities);
                 }
diff --git a/lib/templates/navbar.mustache b/lib/templates/navbar.mustache
index c1834d84c19..6e94273bfe4 100644
--- a/lib/templates/navbar.mustache
+++ b/lib/templates/navbar.mustache
@@ -68,11 +68,21 @@
         }}{{#get_items}}
             {{#has_action}}
                 <li class="breadcrumb-item{{#is_hidden}} dimmed_text{{/is_hidden}}">
-                    <a href="{{{action}}}" {{#is_last}}aria-current="page"{{/is_last}} {{#get_title}}title="{{get_title}}"{{/get_title}}>{{{get_content}}}</a>
+                    <a href="{{{action}}}"
+                        {{#is_last}}aria-current="page"{{/is_last}}
+                        {{#get_title}}title="{{get_title}}"{{/get_title}}
+                        {{#attributes}}{{name}}="{{value}}" {{/attributes}}
+                    >
+                        {{{get_content}}}
+                    </a>
                 </li>
             {{/has_action}}
             {{^has_action}}
-                <li class="breadcrumb-item{{#is_hidden}} dimmed_text{{/is_hidden}}"><span>{{{text}}}</span></li>
+                <li class="breadcrumb-item{{#is_hidden}} dimmed_text{{/is_hidden}}">
+                    <span {{#attributes}}{{name}}="{{value}}" {{/attributes}}>
+                        {{{text}}}
+                    </span>
+                </li>
             {{/has_action}}
         {{/get_items}}{{!
     }}</ol>
diff --git a/lib/tests/navigationlib_test.php b/lib/tests/navigationlib_test.php
index ed875a7a8e1..dc38ebfcfb9 100644
--- a/lib/tests/navigationlib_test.php
+++ b/lib/tests/navigationlib_test.php
@@ -152,6 +152,22 @@ class navigationlib_test extends \advanced_testcase {
         }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Test the add_attribute method.
+     * @covers \navigation_node::add_attribute
+     */
+    public function test_node_add_attribute(): void {
+        $this->setup_node();
+
+        $node = $this->node->get('demo1');
+        $this->assertInstanceOf('navigation_node', $node);
+        if ($node !== false) {
+            $node->add_attribute('data-foo', 'bar');
+            $attribute = reset($node->attributes);
+            $this->assertEqualsCanonicalizing(['name' => 'data-foo', 'value' => 'bar'], $attribute);
+        }
+    }
+
     public function test_node_check_if_active() {
         $this->setup_node();
 
diff --git a/lib/upgrade.txt b/lib/upgrade.txt
index 3d02d603ede..e93d1c78735 100644
--- a/lib/upgrade.txt
+++ b/lib/upgrade.txt
@@ -92,6 +92,7 @@ information provided here is intended especially for developers.
   - `question_fix_top_names`
 * Added a new parameter to `core_renderer::container` and `core_renderer::container_start` to allow for the addition of
   custom attributes.
+* Added a new method `navigation_node::add_attribute()` to allow adding HTML attributes to the node.
 
 === 4.3 ===