Understanding Standards: Nominee Training Event Drama National 4, Higher and Advanced Higher

Aims of the Day To support Nominees in their understanding of national standards by: reviewing candidate evidence discussing this evidence and associated assessment standards with colleagues asking questions and seeking clarification about national standards to provide you with materials and experience to enable you to cascade this information to colleagues in your local authority

By the end of the day, we hope that you will: have a greater insight into how to apply the national standard by using the Unit Assessment Support Packs (UASP) successfully have a greater insight into the hierarchical nature of the assessment standards and how these are applied feel confident in sharing this knowledge with colleagues in your local authority

Guidance on Knowledge and Skills Centres should be aware that although the mandatory knowledge and skills set is similar across the hierarchical units, there are differences in the: Depth of the underpinning knowledge and understanding Complexity of applied skills Complexity of the concepts/responses generated

Hierarchies This is the term used to describe the new courses and units which form a sequence involving two or more levels. As assessors we must ensure that the content/contexts at one level is not repeated as a learner progresses on to the next level in the hierarchy. It follows that learners could be best served by being exposed to different and more demanding contexts for teaching and learning, and a variety of assessment tools to avoid repetition.

Approaches to Assessment Each Unit is assessed holistically on a pass/fail basis. Learners are required to generate evidence that meets the minimum requirements of all the assessment standards for each of the outcomes. For each assessment standard or where there is an integrated approach to assessment, the evidence should again, be assessed holistically.

Unit Assessment Support Packs The SQA Unit Assessment Support Packs are there to guide and support you in your approach to assessment and how you go about making assessment judgements. As assessors it is important to be clear about which UASP we are using to approach assessment standards and judge them. Lacking clarity here can often lead to confusion. Please ensure the most up-to-date version of UASPs are being used. SQA UASPs are available for download from SQA Secure.

How far have we come in terms of Understanding Standards? Please encourage colleagues to engage with the following support areas: SQA Verification web pages to guide and support centres through the process of submitting candidate evidence for External Verification. Clarification of the process involved in Visiting Verification for National 4 Added Value Unit.

SQA Understanding Standards web pages where exemplar candidate evidence is published to support centres in their development of approaches to assessment. To date this evidence demonstrates approaches to assessment from National 3 to Higher Drama, encompassing a range of assessment standards. As we move into year 4 of the new qualifications, further evidence will be published to support our on-going understanding of national standards.

Prior Verified materials Prior Verified materials. Centres who have chosen to devise their own instruments of assessment (in order to meet the needs of their candidates) and this results in significant changes being made which alters the nature of the assessment, are strongly advised to submit these for review using SQA prior verification service. All successfully prior-verified materials will receive an ‘Approved’ certificate from SQA. SQA will publish all appropriate materials on its’ Secure website with the centres permission. Drama Audio Presentation is on SQA Website.

Key Messages SQA produce A Key Message Report for each verification group after each round of activity. These are designed to give centres subject specific messages drawn from the external verification activity. These reports are published by SQA on subject specific pages of SQA’s website. Both these and generic Key Message reports are designed to support the delivery and assessment of the new qualifications. The messages within the report are designed to support centres to prepare candidate evidence for verification in a clear and accessible format.

Workshop 1 Advanced Higher Drama Drama Skills Drama: Production Skills (Please refer to Workshop 1 Task sheet) You will be issued with commentaries to accompany the materials once you have reviewed the evidence.

Feedback from Workshop 1 Issue of candidate evidence commentary Questions

Workshop 2 Higher Drama Drama Skills Drama: Production Skills (Please refer to Workshop 2 Task sheet) You will be issued with commentaries to accompany the materials once you have reviewed the evidence.

Feedback from Workshop 2 Issue of candidate evidence commentary Questions

Workshop 3 National 4 Drama Drama Skills Drama: Performance (Added Value Unit) (Please refer to Workshop 3 Task sheet) You will be issued with commentaries to accompany the materials once you have reviewed the evidence.

Feedback From Workshop 3 Issue of candidate evidence commentary Questions

Workshop 4 Assessment Standard Design Collaborative work on approaches to assessment and criteria for judging evidence (Please refer to Workshop 4 Task Sheet)

Sharing Good Practice from Workshop 4 Please use this time to gather pictures/ discuss issues/ask questions with regard to the materials created Questions

Successfully Understanding Standards The following strategies will help support centres develop approaches to and make valid assessment judgements: Engaging with the Prior Verification service where appropriate. Referring to ‘Drama Common Questions’ document. This document has been created and developed on an on-going basis to provide answers to questions asked by practitioners in relation to delivery of both internal unit assessment and external course assessment.

Internal Quality Assurance Processes Centre staff are reminded that all centres offering SQA qualifications must have an effective internal quality assurance system which ensures that all candidates are assessed accurately, fairly and consistently to national standards. Please refer to SQA quality assurance webpages for further guidance. SQA have developed the Internal Verification Toolkit to support centres in their approach to implementing effective internal quality assurance. http://www.sqa.org.uk/IVToolkit/

Plenary Here is the opportunity to clarify any further aspects of your role as Nominee Have we achieved our objectives? Thank you for your commitment and support in the Understanding Standards events and quality assuring our new qualifications.

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