qualifications update: modern studies qualifications update: modern studies

Qualifications Update:Modern Studies

Qualifications Update:Modern Studies

Developing qualificationsDeveloping qualifications

• Progression

• More open and flexible requirements

• Assessment which supports learning

• Refreshed and relevant contexts for learning

• Personalisation and choice• Robust and credible

CfE Levels

early years

1

2

3

4 SCQFLevels

12

3

4

Continues to 12

≈

Relationship between CfE and SCQF LevelsRelationship between CfE and SCQF Levels

National 5 Specimen Question Paper Key pointsNational 5 Specimen Question Paper Key points

• More marks available for in-depth analysis building a link to Higher• More marks available in skills questions for the development of individual

points• Flexible routes to full marks in skills questions (change from Standard Grade)• Investigative skills taken out of the Standard Grade question paper and now

assessed in the assignment• Modern Studies skills may be sampled in any section of the question paper• Added Value is captured in an assignment at National 4 in the Added Value

Unit and by a question paper and a Coursework assignment at National 5 • These provides opportunities for personalisation and choice as well as

challenge and application

Unit StructureUnit Structure

National 3 National 4 National 5

Democracy in Scotland and the United Kingdom



Social Issues in the United Kingdom



International Issues International Issues International Issues

Added Value Unit: Assignment

Jane Henderson

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New Quality Assurance arrangementsNew Quality Assurance arrangements• Will cover new National 1 to National 5 from 2013/14

• New arrangements will promote shared understanding of national standards through a collaborative and partnership approach

• New ‘Nominee’ role - provides a pool of nationally trained experts

• Increased verification in the first 3 years, then an approach based on information gathered

• Verification in Nov/Dec, Feb and Apr/May - allows for early identification of issues and support/guidance to be given

Unit Assessment Support Packs - key messagesUnit Assessment Support Packs - key messages• Are available on the SQA Secure Website, are

confidential documents and should be treated as such and held securely

• Use one of three approaches to generating evidence:• Unit by Unit approach • Combined approach• Portfolio approach

• Assessors may use the assessments provided in UASPs • as they are• to adapt• to develop your own assessments They will be made available in Word format for this purpose

Unit Assessment Support Packs - key messagesUnit Assessment Support Packs - key messages• Valid from August 2013

• encourage professional judgement • allow assessors to chose appropriate contexts and forms of

evidence • support, motivate and challenge learners

• Each pack provides details of • a broad based task• type of evidence to be gathered • how this is to be judged against assessment standards

an example of a Candidate Assessment and how it should be assessed

• Most important aspect for SQA is that standards are met and that all evidence is authentically the candidate’s own work

Unit Assessment Support Packs - key messagesUnit Assessment Support Packs - key messages

•Assessment approaches should support and be consistent with learning and teaching approaches and the needs of individual candidates•Assessment judgements are made on a pass fail basis•Contexts may be changed to suit or be made more relevant to candidates, but must of the same level of demand and difficulty•Where assessment is by observation or oral questioning, evidence should include assessor comments that show clearly the basis on which assessment judgments have been made•UAS packs also include examples of recording documentation: assessors may adapt these to suit local needs and approaches

Assessment Support Schedule 2012/13 Assessment Support Schedule 2012/13

Oct 12 to Mar 13 N3 to N5 Unit Assessment Support (Package 1)

Feb 13 N3 to N5 Unit Assessment Support (Package 2)

Feb 13 N5 Specimen Question Paper

Apr 13 N3 to N5 Unit Assessment Support (Package 3)

Apr 13 N5 Specimen Coursework

Apr 13 N4 Added Value Assessment Support

Modern StudiesUnit Assessment

National 3 to National 5

Modern StudiesUnit Assessment

National 3 to National 5

Unit assessmentUnit assessment• Flexible and open Assessment Standards and Evidence

Requirements in Units

• Greater range of techniques and methodologies for assessment – encouraged through Unit assessment support packages

• Assessments can be designed to provide evidence across more than one outcome or Unit – combined assessments

• More opportunities to gather naturally occurring evidence – assessment as part of learning and teaching

Unit Assessment Support Unit Assessment Support packages – purpose packages – purpose

Assessment support packages will be provided which you can use to:

•Assess your candidates

•Adapt for your own assessment programmes

•Help you develop your own assessments

Unit Assessment Support Unit Assessment Support packages – key featurespackages – key features

• Valid from August 2013

• Designed to encourage professional judgement

• Provide broad-based tasks – allow assessors to choose appropriate context and forms of evidence

• Show range of approaches to generating assessment evidence

• Give information on the type of evidence which could be gathered and how this is to be judged against Assessment Standards

Unit assessment support Unit assessment support packages - approachespackages - approaches

Package 1 • Unit by Unit approach – discrete assessment

tasks for each UnitPackage 2 • Combined approach – groups Outcomes and

Assessment Standards from different UnitsPackage 3 • Portfolio approach – gathering evidence

assessment standard by assessment standard

Assessment Package 1Assessment Package 1Democracy in Scotland and the United Kingdom


International Issues

You can use the illustrative examples provided and adapt these to suit the contexts that your learners have studied or the kind of approach that would suit them best

N3

Responses to questionsAccuracy/BiasLocal councils

Oral presentationDecision makingSocial inequality: Child poverty

Visual productConclusionsWorld power - Brazil: socio/economic progress

N4

Visual productBias/ExaggerationWork of MPs

Responses to questionsDecision makingCrime and law: prisons/police

Oral presentationConclusionsWorld issue: child soldiers

N5

Oral presentationExaggeration/ SelectivityVoting systems

Visual productDecision makingSocial inequality: gender

Responses to questionsConclusionsWorld issue: terrorism

Assessment Package 1Assessment Package 1• Although a range of approaches to gathering

evidence for Unit assessment have been illustrated:• the standard applied is the same irrespective of the

approach taken• it is the Modern Studies skills, knowledge and

understanding which are being assessed – do not inflate the demands of the Unit

• there should be consistency in conditions across different techniques

• all approaches should be manageable for learners and centres

Key points from Unit Assessment Key points from Unit Assessment Support packsSupport packs

• Overview of assessment• States purpose of

assessment• Gives description of

assessment task• Indicates flexibility of task

and opportunities for adaptation

• Suggests prior learning• Suggests approaches to

generating evidence


• Assessment conditions• Candidates should have sufficient

time to complete the task• Level of teacher/lecturer support

should be appropriate for level but evidence must be the candidate's own work

• When group work is used –evidence of individual achievement is required


• Evidence to be gathered• Sufficient for QA purposes but not burdensome• Practical approaches to retaining evidence e.g.

candidate responses/product, assessor checklists, supplementary material


• Teacher prompts and questioning may be used to:• Confirm evidence is

candidate’s own work• For clarification/confirmation

of standard being met• To supplement

oral/visual/written presentation if necessary


• Judging evidence• Standards need to be consistently

applied, irrespective of the approach taken to generating evidence

• General principles and specific exemplification given

• Candidates may provide evidence of meeting the standard outwith the specific prompt – this should be credited


• Reassessment• SQA policy continues to

apply• Only need to reassess

specific Outcomes or assessment standards not yet met


• Recording documentation• Exemplars given• Centres should adapt, as

required to meet their own needs


• Assessment for candidates - task• Illustrative only• Centres encouraged to adapt to their own

contexts

Workshop 1Workshop 1• Task 1• Use the materials provided:• Democracy in Scotland and the United Kingdom:

National 3, 4 and 5• Social Issues in the United Kingdom: National 4• International Issues: National 5

• In small groups of 2-3, discuss• The assessment tasks illustrated• Approaches to generating evidence• Making judgements

• How could you use, adapt or model the Unit Assessment materials to support you in your own centres?

Modern StudiesAdded Value Assessments:

- National 5 Course Assessment- National 4 Added Value Unit

Modern StudiesAdded Value Assessments:

- National 5 Course Assessment- National 4 Added Value Unit

Adding Value – National 4, Adding Value – National 4, National 5National 5

• Each Course at National 4 and National 5 includes assessment of Added Value

• For National 4, the added value is in an Added Value Unit - not graded

• For National 5, the added value is in the Course Assessment - graded A - D (as at present)

– Question Paper

– Assignment

Added ValueAdded Value• Makes the Course more than the sum of its parts• Builds on current Course assessment and Group

Award approaches • Defined as breadth, challenge and/or application as

outlined in Building the Curriculum 5• May involve accumulation, assimilation, integration

and/or application of skills, knowledge and understanding

• Uses one or two of 7 defined assessment methods

Controlled AssessmentControlled Assessment• Where the assessment method is not a question paper,

SQA has introduced the concept of controlled assessment to ensure fairness and reliability

• 3 stages of assessment: Setting, Conducting, Marking the assessment

• Each will have a defined level of control: SQA-led activity, Shared responsibility between SQA and centres, Centre-led

• Subject-specific decisions, but mostly SQA-led activity in initial years

National 5 – Course AssessmentNational 5 – Course Assessment• Two components

– Question Paper (75%)

– Assignment (25%)

• Broad parity between skills and knowledge and understanding across the whole course assessment

• Externally assessed

• Graded A-D

National 5 – Question PaperNational 5 – Question Paper• Draws on topics, approaches and formats familiar

from Standard Grade Credit and Intermediate 2

• Out of 60 marks

– Greater emphasis on knowledge and understanding than skills (34 marks: 16 marks)

– Range of marks – 4, 6, 8, 10

• Three sections each worth 20 marks: Democracy in Scotland and the United Kingdom; Social Issues in the United Kingdom; International Issues

• Each section has two options

• Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

National 5 – Question PaperNational 5 – Question PaperKnowledge and Understanding Questions•Individual developed points in describe questions may be awarded up to 3 marks and in explain questions may be awarded up to 4 marks

– Describe questions out of 4 or 6 marks

– Explain questions out of 6 or 8 marks

•More open questions where candidates may demonstrate their knowledge of specific contexts studied e.g. the impact of social inequality on specific groups or a recent world issue

•Flexibility in the routes to achieve full marks

National 5 – Question PaperNational 5 – Question PaperSource based skills questions •May be assessed in any section of the paper and this will change from year to year

– detecting and explaining exaggeration or selectivity in the use of facts

– making and justifying a decision

– drawing and supporting conclusions

•Use of real life contexts and ‘enhanced reality’ as appropriate

•Credit for answers which show good use of sources and links between sources

•Flexibility in the routes to achieve full marks

National 5 – AssignmentNational 5 – Assignment• Opportunity for learner

personalisation and choice

• Out of 20 marks

• Externally assessed

• Controlled assessment in up to 1 hour

• Greater emphasis on skills than knowledge and understanding (14 marks: 6 marks)

National 5 – AssignmentNational 5 – Assignment• Template for ‘write-up’ of

Assignment Report• Use of specified resources in

assessment• Brief available on-line – does

not change from year to year• Generic marking instructions

available on-line

National 4 Added Value Unit National 4 Added Value Unit AssignmentAssignment

• Opportunity for learner personalisation and choice

• Flexibility in how the learner presents findings

• Internally assessed by centres and externally quality assured by SQA

• Conducted under some supervision and control

National 4 Added Value Unit National 4 Added Value Unit AssignmentAssignment

• Support materials produced by SQA to provide advice and guidance on:– the degree of support which may

be provided– assessment conditions– nature and amount of evidence to

be retained for quality assurance purposes

– making assessment judgements

Relationship between National 4 and Relationship between National 4 and National 5 AssignmentNational 5 Assignment

• Designed to provide progression and articulation

• Aim to support learners moving between levels and provide flexibility for centres

Relationship between National 4 and Relationship between National 4 and National 5 AssignmentNational 5 Assignment

• No automatic ‘fall-back’ to level below

• Necessary to show attainment of assessment standards of N4 Added Value Unit; – met assessment standards of AVU at N4– retain evidence – subject to quality assurance

Workshop 2Workshop 2Task 2•Use the materials provided:– Further information on Course assessment at N5– Assignment read across document

•In small groups of 2-3, discuss– National 4 Added Value Unit– National 5 Course Assessment

• Question Paper• Assignment

– Relationship between the N4 AVU Assignment and the N5 Course work component - Assignment

qualifications update: modern studies qualifications update: modern studies

Documents

unit approach

united kingdomsocial

united kingdomdemocracy

assessment standards

av unit

skills questions

candidate assessment

highermore marks available