New Qualifications in Philosophy Higher Philosophy Support Meeting Hutchesons’ Grammar School Thursday 22 January 2015

Aims of the event To…:  raise awareness of the role of the SIM  to gauge the level of engagement with new courses  to highlight key differences between new and old courses  to ascertain development and/or support needs

The role of the SIM The Subject Implementation Manager in Philosophy is  a new SQA role  introduced in August 2014  to assist with the transition to new courses  to respond to subject specialist enquiries  to provide support to Centres  to review/amend Philosophy documentation

Areas of change A number of Centres have started on new N5 and Higher Philosophy. Aspects of these courses that are new include:  some content  some skills  some aspects of internal/external assessment  the assignment

Changes in content (1) Some specific content from the ‘old’ Higher has been removed, e.g.:  false dilemma (mandatory at N5), argument from ignorance  Foundationalism, Coherentism, JTB & Gettier  Metaphysics  Descartes’ Meditation 6 + Hume’s Enquiry Section IX

Changes in content (2) Some specific new content has been added, e.g:  Fallacies - appeals to emotion  Philosophical techniques - thought experiments, analogical arguments, counter examples, appeals to intuition  ‘Other factors’ – confirmation bias, plausibility of claims, ambiguity  study of Hume and Descartes is now mandatory  greater emphasis on ideal and preference satisfaction utilitarianism

Greater focus on skills A number of more challenging skills are introduced in the new Higher course specification, e.g.:  explaining implications and consequences of arguments and theories  presenting arguments using argument diagrams  analysing and evaluating epistemological and moral theories  applying knowledge to evaluate theories  expressing reasoned and well-structured conclusions (20 mark essay only)

Assessment The new Higher involves changes to Unit assessment and significant changes to Course assessment:  Unit assessment – UASPs available, pass/fail only, subject to new SQA external verification using Nomineesexternal verification  Course assessment – added value (breadth, depth, application)  QP worth 60 marks – three sections have 20 marks each (one 20 mark essay per exam)  Assignment of 30 marks marked by SQA

Assignment Possibly the biggest change from the ‘old’ Higher:  Pupils have a free choice of philosophical question  Evidence to be produced independently  Research with ‘reasonable assistance’ from teacher  Conducted under ‘some degree’ of supervision and control  Externally assessed by SQA

SIM Support I am available on Thursdays and Fridays* to:  visit Centres to support individual teachers/depts  attend subject group/network meetings  provide telephone/ support  collect, collate and make available examples of good practice  provide guidance on content/skills/assessment*  general enquiries should be made through mycentremycentre  etc