Understanding Standards: Nominee Training Event Childcare and Development (Higher)

Aims of the Day To support Nominees in their understanding of national standards by: Reviewing candidate evidence Discussing the evidence and associated assessment standards with colleagues. Asking questions and seeking clarification about National Standards Reviewing key messages from verification 15/16.

Overview of documentation Course Support Notes Advice and guidance on approaches to learning, teaching and assessment. Unit Support Notes Course Assessment Specifications Mandatory course assessment requirements.

Overview of documentation (cont) Unit Specifications Mandatory requirements for each unit. Course Assessment Specifications Mandatory information about courses: rationale, structure, high-level skills, knowledge and understanding. Unit Assessment Support Packages Builds on assessment guidance in the unit specification and exemplifies standard required.

Unit Assessment Assessments can be unit-by-unit, combined or portfolio. Assessments can be designed to provide evidence across more than one unit or outcome – portfolio and combined assessments Flexible and open evidence requirements in units Greater range of techniques and methodologies for assessment – encouraged through Unit Assessment Support Packages (UASPs) More opportunities to gather naturally occurring evidence – assessment as part of learning and teaching

Unit Assessment Support Packages - purpose Unit Assessment Support Packages can be used to: Assess your candidates Adapt for your own assessment programmes Help you develop your own assessments

Prior Verification Free service available to all centres and local authorities. Recommended when centres develop their assessments or significantly amend UASPs. Purpose is to ensure that assessments are valid, reliable, practicable, equitable and fair. Requests can be submitted for any unit. If demand increases Prior Verification training will be provided for Senior Team Leader then nominees.

UASPs – key features Valid from August 2014 Designed to encourage professional judgement and responsibility. 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

Review Report Aim - To reduce the volume of reassessment required. Action Plan: Child Development - candidates do not need to be re assessed for assessment standard 1.4 if they have not met requirements. Services for Children and Young People – candidates do not need to be re assessed for assessment standard 1.4 if they have not met requirements. Child Development: Theory – all standards must be achieved. Extra commentary To be added for assessment standard 1.1 of the Services for Children and Young People unit to help direct candidates to services rather than professionals.

Verification Round 1 taking place in February 2017 Consider if a centre’s assessment approach is valid in relation to the qualification criteria. Take a holistic view Recognise different approaches Review with an open mind using a values based approach: Trusted Progressive Enabling

Making Evidence-Based Assessment Decisions Verification has the following outcomes, which are applied to each level in the sample: Accepted indicates that you agree that:   the approaches to assessment for all candidates at that level are valid the assessment judgements for all candidates at that level are reliable, consistent, and in line with the Assessment Standards

Making Evidence-Based Assessment Decisions At each level in the sample, if there is one discrepancy at one of the levels, your verification decision for that level must be Accepted* or Not Accepted. Accepted* indicates that overall the approaches to assessment and assessment judgements at that level are in line with national standards (i.e. certification can proceed) but there are some recommended actions that relate to:   the approaches to assessment; and/or the assessment judgements

Making Evidence-Based Assessment Decisions Not Accepted indicates that there was a significant issue at that level with:   the approach to assessment; and/or the centre’s assessment judgements and that this warrants a hold being placed on certification until corrective action is taken and verified by SQA.

Summary of Key Messages 15/16 Overall improvement in personal research and referencing. Centres should use the prior verification service to ensure candidates are not over assessed and that assessments are not overly prescriptive. In assessment standards requiring analysis and evaluation many candidates perform poorly. In assessment standard 1.1 of Services for children and Young people, candidates tended to focus on the role of professionals – increased commentary for this will be added to the UASP. Lack of rigorous IV processes in a few centres.

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