1. SQA School Co-ordinator Conference
Ronnie Summers
Head of Qualifications Development (CFE)

2. Overview developments September 2016 - May 2017 course assessment
chronology of information to centres
National 5 Course Specification
support for practitioners
subject teacher comments
strategic and wider issues

3. SQA actions for 2017 and beyond
September CFE Management Board ratified ANQ decision to remove units and their assessment and enhance course assessment.
Timeline:
course documentation will be revised for delivery in the above sessions.
National 5
Session
Higher
Session
Advanced Higher
Session
In addition to modifications to course assessment there will be impact on operational processes, partly as a result of ANQ announcement in March. Information on processes will be shared as soon as it is available.
Publication timeline for National 5
End of January  2017
Early information regarding course assessment modifications
30th April-5th May 2017
Revised mandatory course documents
End of May to end of September  2017
New and/or revised support materials, including specimen question paper and coursework where required

4. What choices did we have after the removal of unit assessment at National 5?
Once the decision is taken to remove unit assessment from the qualification, you need to assess the content which was in the units by different means and SQA had to scope out the options available for each subject to ensure the same level of demand so that the qualification retains the same number of SCQF points. It is a technical adjustment to the assessment for qualifications.

5. Modifications to course assessment
There will be no changes to the aims, rationale or content of the courses. SQA will ensure continuing integrity in terms of validity, reliability, practicability and equity.
Course assessment will be strengthened to ensure breadth of course coverage. The modifications to course assessment will result in one or more of the following:
- extension of the existing question paper
- extension of the existing item of coursework
- new question paper
- new item of coursework
SQA was asked to remove units and unit assessments from National courses. The current course assessment approach requires candidates to complete internally assessed National units and a course assessment, which is normally an examination question paper and/or coursework. Removing the units and unit assessments means that we need to strengthen the course assessments to ensure that they assess the full content of the course and maintain 24 SCQF credit points, and to protect the integrity of National courses.
In many courses we will extend the existing question paper and/or coursework to ensure breadth of course coverage and maintain rigour. In a smaller number of courses we are introducing a new question paper or coursework. This is required where a significant aspect of the course is currently only assessed in the units. For example, practical subjects which are currently assessed by coursework alone may be modified by the addition of a new question paper to assess knowledge and understanding. Similarly, in a small number of subjects some significant skills are currently only assessed within units and this may require the addition of coursework to assess these skills. These changes are now set in place for session 2017/18. They are technical changes which the awarding body itself has to action, and there is a degree of personalisation of the modification depending on the nature of the subject.
The removal of units from courses gives SQA the opportunity to streamline existing course documentation – dealt with in a later slide – identified as an area of concern for practitioners earlier in the year. The revised course documentation will include introductory information, mandatory content and information about course assessment. It will also address issues identified in the subject review reports which were published in May 2016.
The next 4 slides illustrate how this will operate for 4 subjects.

6. Extension of existing question paper
N5 Business Management
3 units ensured breadth of content
with the units removed, sample that content elsewhere
best fit is in an extended QP
from 70 marks to 90 marks
from 90 minutes to 120 minutes
assignment remains worth 30 marks
Example to illustrate each type of change

7. Extension of existing item of coursework
N5 Physical Education- Performance component
a range of performances covered in the units
can you assess individual performance in a QP?
with loss of units, logical to extend the number of Performances from one to two
portfolio extended to cover planning and evaluation which had been in the units
An example to indicate the nature of the change in assessment

8. New question paper – 9 subjects
N5 Hospitality: Practical Cookery
currently, 100% course assessment (Practical Activity)
but underpinning KU sampled through units
logical to add a small QP (I hour) worth 30 marks
coursework worth 70% of final grade
New Question Papers in: Administration and IT; Care; Dance; Fashion and Textile Technology; Hospitality: Practical Cake Craft; Hospitality: Practical Cookery; Practical Electronics; Practical Metalworking; Practical Woodworking

9. New item of coursework N5 Music
composing component currently only assessed via unit
very difficult to incorporate this component into a QP
thus make it a new item in the course assessment and retain this skill

10. Revised National 5 course specification
Course assessment specification
General assessment information
Course support notes
Revised course specification
Practitioners made it very clear to us that the multitude of documents for a subject were not making it easy to find essential information for the operation of the course. Further, many of the documents duplicated content. The documents have been heavily revised and streamlined with much reduction in content – estimated about 75% fewer documents across subjects - and should lead to easier use by practitioners and by candidates.
We have streamlined the course documentation for National 5 by merging the following documents into one course specification and removing duplication of content. Even so, we thought people would appreciate support rather than simply being directed to a new set of documents – and I’ll elaborate on this support in a later slide.
Course support notes will be added as an appendix between the end of May and the end of September 2017.

11. Timeline for National 5 End Jan 2017
Information regarding course assessment modifications
End April 2017 to 5 May 2017
Revised mandatory course documents
End May to Sept 2017
New and/or revised support materials, including specimen question papers and coursework
Publication timeline for National 5
End of January  
Early information regarding course assessment modifications
30th April - 5th May
 Revised mandatory course documents
End of May to end of September  
New and/or revised support materials, including specimen question paper and coursework where required

12. National 5 subject webpages
For illustrative purposes only. The subject page here does not show the left sidebar of headings which will continue. There are toggle tabs for 2016/17 and 2017/18 so that people can move between them given that we have not yet reached the end of the academic year. Please note streamlined contents page.
Three items to draw attention to: Course Report added for Diet 2016 later in the year in Essential Information area; and the Specimen Question Paper and Coursework will be added to the Assessment Area on individual subject pages as they are published between May and September.
A request from the Qualifications Heads of Service – the Course Report contain very valuable and the most up to date information on candidate performance in the last Diet and we are a little surprised that it is not more used by subject departments. Thus grateful if you could flag this up to colleagues back in school.

13. I know this is very small – it is just to show the left hand column of information common to all subject pages.

14. How do we help people understand the modifications to course assessment?
The new course specification document is very much shorter in length than the various documents which it replaces. However, it is still important to respond to queries from practitioners seeking to confirm their understanding of the modifications and what this may mean for them in their classroom practice.

15. Support for practitioners
National 5 CPD webinar programme
National 5 Audio presentations for some subjects
face-to-face Understanding Standards events later in the year
regular updates via Centre News and subject webpages
SQA recognises the need to support practitioners in understanding the Revised Documentation.
Webinars are an opportunity for us to elaborate on the arrangements for each subject, customise it to the needs of subject practitioners and for subject specialists to confirm/ clarify specific questions to practitioners. Practitioners can book on to the webinars via our website. The webinars are running until the end of September For those unable to tune into a webinar session, a recording will be published on our website after the webinar has taken place (no later than six weeks) after it has been edited to rationalise the question and answer section to make it easier to follow. Links to the webinars will be available from the CPD tab on the National 5 subject page.
For subjects which don’t have a webinar planned, we will publish an audio presentation. This covers the same content as a webinar. Audio presentations will be published between the end of May and the end of September 2017.
For a very few subjects, we will hold Understanding Standards events where we think face-to-face contact is essential. .

16. Your questions answered
Q&A document available from
Key headings:
changes to assessment and documents
removal of National 5 units
entry requirements and presentation decisions
grading and Recognising Positive Achievement
support for schools and colleges
Further releases of information in due course
SQA has been able to progress the curricular modifications as a result of the September ANQ announcement to remove units and unit assessment as a mandatory part of the N5 course. However, we are still working through the operational implications that follow on from this decision and we will provide further information on those in due course. We have been receiving lots of enquiries from centres with regard to the changes and we have published answers to these in our Q&A document: Your Questions Answered, which is available on our website.
At present, you need to scroll down the page to find it but we are looking at its placement on the website page.
This is a live document (currently marked April 2017) that will be updated over time as more information becomes available and we will alert centres via Centre News whenever this is updated. It is our intention to answer any questions we receive on the changes as fully as we can on a regular basis a– we know centre co-ordinators will be anxious about any changes to procedures and want time to assimilate them and brief subject staff.
Operational issues part of Neil McGowan’s presentation today in the afternoon.

17. N5 Course Specification - subjects
no substantive change to content apart from Biology
being questioned on this by teachers in some other subjects – reorganisation of content; clarification of content; shift of content from units to coursework and QP, not more content; some further explanation of content may be interpreted as more content (implicit to explicit)
have had a significant number of positive responses
webinars will aid understanding
Computing - a more detailed communication for this subject to follow on Computing subject page
A reminder that SQA is introducing assessment modifications in the subjects at National 5, not a set of new subject qualifications. The change in documentation means that information may not be presented in the same way. This has led some teachers to claim that there is additional content: a simple mapping exercise will probably not capture the content which was previously outlined in the units and course and unit support notes. The webinars and audio material will pick up on this question.
Monitoring a lot of comment from Computing teachers. We are accordingly developing a separate communication for them which should be released in the near future.

18. Strategic & wider issues - background to ANQ
workload issues in SQA units highlighted to DFM
thus ANQ decision taken to remove units and unit assessment from N5-AH courses on a rolling programme
DFM “determined to reduce workload”
if you de-unitise N5 course, Recognising Positive Achievement cannot occur as it is predicated on unit performance
Grade D extension 40-49% as long term replacement for RPA
We felt it was worthwhile giving you some background on the ANQ decisions and thinking to help us continue to work in partnership, as we have the same joint goal to do our best for young people at the qualifications stage, and so that we engage constructively with complex issues.
Really a chronology of thinking in the next few slides to help you understand this changing landscape.

19. Other issues emerging as concerns
candidates not being given 160 hours to complete the course
presentation patterns changing with rise in N5
however, many candidates falling below 40% and many claiming N4 pass by fallback, not outright
accordingly, concerns about learning experiences for such candidates and if impacting on long-term achievement
September -
“the allocation of sufficient time for learning, teaching and assessment for the national courses (a notional 160 hours)”
March – “… a learner’s achievements (including attainment in National Qualifications, by the end of the Senior Phase should become the main focus for all schools, rather than on individual year on year assessment.”

20. Pyramid as a metaphor for breadth and depth in education, solid foundations all round in order to build to the very top.

21. Some statistics entries for N5 rise and then fall over the year
even so, some 20% of N4 awards only achieved by RPA after initial N5 presentation
10% of N5 presentations fall below 40%
this accounts for 30,000 presentations and thus ANQ group questioning learning experience
without RPA, danger that such candidates might have no award
school concerns developing post- Christmas
SQA was asked to provide data around presentation patterns – see above.
The School Liaison Team and I were involved in meeting quite a number of head teacher groups and we noted rising alarm as the implications of the loss of RPA were more fully understood. Much dialogue behind the scenes to try to resolve this so as not to disadvantage candidates.

22. A developing picture – ANQ March 2017
“Schools should, therefore, decide for any given N5 course whether a young person is presented either for units or for the full course award”
“RPA, through fallback to N4, will remain available for an interim period only”
“This pathway should only be used in a very limited number of exceptional circumstances… in discussion with parents and young people.. In the interests of specific individual learners.”
Eventually a temporary position emerged in ANQ statement in March which I’ve quoted above. I think the intention here is to give schools and local authorities a little time to consider whether their presentation practice is in the interest of all members of their school cohort – but I think the statement above indicates that the DFM does expect to see a change in practice in order to continue his wish to see a reduction in workload for candidates and practitioners.
Just to illustrate the nature of some schools’ longer term thinking, one HT made a point about progression pathways – “ I’ve got quite a varied year group, but for those who want to return – whether taking the N4 course, or the free-standing units, or who end with an N5 Grade D – they will all move on to the N5 course presentation next year. Is this as much of an issue as we think if we take the longer view as the paper suggests, rather than over-focussing on year on year presentation?”
However you approach this, I think communicating your strategy clearly with staff and parents is crucial.
Finally, the interim position is contingent upon further consideration of the nature of National 4 assessment, so we might expect more measured consideration of the options in this area at ANQ meetings and further information in due course.
My own team were out doing Fieldwork visits to a number of schools and colleges again this year, and we did speak to S4 pupils as well as S5/6, teachers and senior management about N4. That report will appear in NQ Research area by the end of this term – unfortunately I cannot elaborate on our findings as it needs to be internally approved first.

23. Stay up-to-date
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@sqanews
Scottish Qualifications Authority
You will also receive regular updates through Centre News.

24. Helicopter view has the possibility of a quadruple metaphor – young people coming to qualifications point from different directions; or young people at the centre using qualifications to go in different directions; or the school directing pupils to certain qualifications; or starting out on one major road from the centre, but there are connections to get to another road if you have started out on the wrong path.
It is, both literally and metaphorically, a complex picture!

25. A lot of information to share and assimilate today
And finally….
A lot of information to share and assimilate today
SQA staff will be present throughout the day to pick up individual questions