Design and Manufacture and Graphic Communication

Key points Design and Manufacture and Graphic Communication offered National 4 – Advanced Higher The structure in terms of documents is similar for both These qualifications are live for National 4 and National 5

Key documents Course Specification Unit Specifications Course Assessment Specifications Unit Assessment support packs 1-3 Specimen Question Paper Added Value Unit Assessment / Coursework Assessments Course and Unit support notes

Information on documents Course, Unit and Course Assessment Specifications Any specification document is mandatory. Unit Specifications show the Outcomes and Assessment Standards candidates must provide evidence for. Course Assessment Specifications (CAS) Nat 5 and Added Value Unit Specification (Nat 4) detail how the Course will be assessed, what methods will be used. At National 5 it also includes information on the areas which can be assessed in an examination and in the Course work

Unit Assessment SQA have provided three packs (approaches) for Unit Assessment: The combined approach The Unit by Unit approach The Portfolio approach

Using Unit Assessments Unit Assessments provide examples of tasks which can be used to gather evidence for assessment against the Standards. These tasks can be used as they are or adapted to meet the needs of centres and candidates. They are not learning and teaching activities – they are assessment tasks – but at the same time can utilise naturally occurring evidence. Centres can also create their own materials for assessment – which supports the philosophy of Building the Curriculum 5 Centres can request prior verification if they wish Assessment packs should be treated as secure documents – don’t leave them in public view please They are held on the secure area of SQA

Different approaches Combined Unit - groups Outcomes and Assessment Standards from across the different Units Unit by Unit approach - discrete assessment tasks for each Unit Portfolio approach – naturally occurring evidence – where evidence will be gathered as learning and teaching progresses

Mandatory assessment information Each pack contains Assessment Judgement Tables for evidence– these are mandatory Any tasks which a centre creates must be able to provide evidence which can be judged against these evidence tables Combined and Unit by Unit presents the tables in relation to the tasks and the Standards covered within each task – with advice on the specific nature of evidence for those tasks Portfolio presents the table in the order of the Assessment Standards in the Unit Specification – with generic advice

Evidence retention Further information will become available to centres in due course – detailing the format of evidence which is acceptable Candidate evidence must be retained for verification purposes There are three windows planned for verification activities – beginning in November Some advice is given in the Unit Assessments

Adding Value – National 4, National 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) and also has an examination

Added Value Assessments In the first years of implementation centres are required to use the Added Value Unit Assessments and Course work provided by SQA National 5 will always be issued by SQA Banks of assessments have been produced for both the National 4 Added Value unit and the National 5 Course work assignments. For both subjects the assessments are similar at both level or based upon the same theme. They are assessed differently at Nat 4 and Nat 5 National 4 is a Unit – like other Units it has Assessment Standards – it is a pass or a fail using assessment judgements National 5 has specific marking instructions and is graded A-D These are found on the secure website area of SQA

Important changes to documents In both Design and Manufacture and in Graphic Communication UASP 1 & 2 have been updated to have consistency in layout / recording documents etc. Following implementation events and feedback – additional information and clarifications have been made to some of the tasks Assessment Bank items have been added – there will be a total of three for each Course and Unit support notes have been updated slightly

Important differences for Design and Manufacture Important to note that Design and Manufacture assignments are not intended to be as time consuming or potentially as complex as the Standard Grade Practical Abilities project They are an opportunity for candidates to show application, independence and engagement – hence they are not a laborious task

Important differences for Graphic Communication All Added Value assignments (Nat 4 or Nat 5) are linked to a brief or a theme – candidates cannot produce discrete and unrelated graphics Centres should look to the Further advice on course coverage in the Course Assessment Specification for further information on content differences.

Higher Implementation Events Similar round of implementation events for Higher Design and Manufacture – 18 th /19 th Nov 2013 – Glasgow – 20 th Nov 2013 – Stirling – 21 st Nov 2013 – Aberdeen Graphic Communication – 24 th /25 th Feb 2014 – Glasgow – 26 th Feb 2014 – Stirling – 27 th Feb 2014-Aberdeen

Subject questions?