1. Qualifications Update: Higher Geography Jane Henderson QDM Qualifications Update: Higher Geography Jane Henderson QDM

2. Coherent progression from National 5 to Higher Relevant, challenging and enjoyable contexts Opportunities for candidates to show the breadth and depth of what they know Opportunities for candidates to show the application of their Geography skills Personalisation and choice for learners in the Assignment Key messages

3. Units combine skills and knowledge and offer flexibility in how evidence is gathered, to challenge and motivate learners Knowledge and understanding and the application of skills build progressively up levels in Unit and in Course assessment Maintains many of the best aspects of current Higher while offering new learning contexts that ensure the continuing high quality and currency of Geography Key messages

4. As part of developing assessment materials, feedback from SQA development team, Qualification Design team, Principal Assessor and the question paper team identified a small number of amendments to clarify and improve: – Unit Outcomes and Assessment Standards – Description of mandatory content in the Course Assessment Specification Amendments to mandatory documents

5. Forthcoming and previously published Unit Assessment Support Packs are based on the amended Unit Specifications Specimen Question Paper published February 2014 will align with the amended Course Assessment Specification Final versions of Higher mandatory specifications – in all subjects – published in May 2014 Next steps

6. Use valid and reliable assessments -SQA-produced Unit Assessment Support Packs -Centre devised assessments that have been prior verified -Your own significantly original assessments – strongly advise you have these prior verified Making assessment judgements -SQA packs are designed on a pass/fail basis -Use Judging Evidence Tables to make assessment judgments against Assessment Standards -Judging Evidence Tables have commentary on how to meet each Assessment Standard -A task/activity can meet most or all of the Unit Outcome and Assessment Standards -Indicate on candidate’s work that Unit Assessment Standards have been met Unit Assessment complementing learning and teaching -Unit Assessment is open and flexible -Assessment should allow you space to prepare for Added Value/Course Assessment Key messages Key messages from Verification (Round 1)

7. Assessment Support Schedule 2013/14 Sept 13 CfE Update Letter Oct 13 Unit Assessment Support (Package 1) Feb 14 Unit Assessment Support (Package 2) Feb 14 Higher Specimen Question Paper Mar 14 Higher Assignment (General Information and Assignment Task) Apr 14 Unit Assessment Support (Package 3) May 14 Update Mandatory Documents June 14 Update Unit Assessment Support

8. Geography Unit Assessment Higher Elaine Walls QDC Geography Unit Assessment Higher Elaine Walls QDC

9. Unit assessment Supports assessment as part of learning and teaching Is flexible in the ways in which evidence can be generated Open in the context which is used and in the form of the evidence

10. Unit Assessment Support packages – purpose Assess your candidates Adapt in line with your own assessment strategy Help you develop your own assessments

11. Unit Assessment Support Packages – key features Tell you – with examples – how to judge evidence against Assessment Standards Provide further clarification of the Assessment Standards Encourage and support professional judgment Include advice on adapting to different contexts

12. Unit assessment support packages - approaches Unit by Unit approach – discrete assessment tasks for each Unit Combined approach – groups Outcomes and Assessment Standards from different Units Portfolio approach – evidence generated Assessment Standard by Assessment Standard

13. Assessment Package 1 Physical EnvironmentsHuman EnvironmentsGlobal Issues You can use the illustrative examples provided and adapt these to suit the contexts that your learners have studied. N3N3 Mapping skills Rivers and valleys Research skills UK and Brazil: population and land use Use of numerical and graphical information Climate change N4N4 Mapping skills Glaciated uplands Research skills Population and land use Use of numerical and graphical information Health: Cholera N5N5 Mapping skills Coastal landscapes Research skills UK and India: population, traffic and land use Use of numerical and graphical information Environmental hazards: earthquakes and volcanoes H Mapping Skills Glaciated uplands Research Skills Housing and land degradation Use of numerical and graphical information Development and health (malaria)

14. Assessment Pack 2 3 Tasks – Task 1 - links – Also includes advice on how to adapt the task – Evidence in one form may be supplemented with evidence in other forms

15. Document read-through Overview of Assessment – Contains an outline of the example task – Also includes advice on how to adapt the task – Evidence in one form may be supplemented with evidence in other forms

16. Document read-through Assessment Conditions – Level of teacher/lecturer support should be appropriate but evidence must be the candidate's own work – When group work is used, evidence of individual achievement is required – Centres responsibility to ensure that all evidence is the individual candidate’s work

17. Document read-through Assessment Conditions (continued) – SQA has left the conditions of assessment at Unit level open and flexible – Candidates should have sufficient time to complete the task – Candidates should have access to appropriate resources to undertake the assessment – Do not inflate the standard by applying conditions not required by the Assessment Standards – Consistency in the application of these conditions National 3 – Higher

18. Document read-through Evidence to be gathered – A range of possible forms of evidence may be appropriate – Keep accurate records of the evidence gathered and the assessment decisions made – Only need sufficient evidence to show achievement of the Assessment Standards once

19. Document read-through Judging Evidence – Table tells you how to judge evidence against the Assessment Standards – Illustrations of possible candidate responses – Approach used can change, Assessment Standards do not change – Columns 1 – 3 are fixed, column 4 will vary with the task

20. Document read-through Re-assessment arrangements – Assessment should be carried out when the individual candidate is ready – If a candidate fails to provide evidence for all the Assessment Standards, it is only necessary to re- assess the individual Assessment Standard that they have yet to achieve

21. Document read-through Examples of recording documentation – Exemplar tables for recording candidate’s/group’s achievement of Assessment Standards – These can be adapted as required

22. Document read-through Assessment Task – Aligns with the prompts in the Overview of Assessment section – Exemplifies one context in which Unit assessment may take place

23. Workshop 1 Use the materials provided: In groups of 2-3 discuss: – The assessment task in the Unit Assessment Support provided – How to generate evidence for the UAS provided – How to make assessment judgements for the UAS provided

24. Workshop 1 Use the materials provided: read the UASP (10 mins) focus on the candidate task and the judging the evidence table In groups of 2-3 discuss: how you would use or adapt the task provided (20 minutes) how column 4 illustrates the standard defined in column 3 (15 minutes) the ways in which Unit assessment fits in with your overall assessment strategy (15 minutes) what will you take back to your centre to support others?

25. Geography Higher Course Assessment Alan Barclay QDC Geography Higher Course Assessment Alan Barclay QDC

26. Context and Rationale for development of Higher Geography Level of demand benchmarked against SCQF level 6 as in current Higher Progression and articulation from National 5 and on to Advanced Higher CfE principles e.g. personalisation and choice, importance of developing geographical skills Opportunity to refresh and update content and contexts Consistency with other Highers as appropriate FIOCA provides further detail

27. Process of Development Course Specification – Aims and rationale of the Higher Geography Course Unit Specifications – Skills developed across all Units and assessed within specified contexts with flexibility to suit the circumstances of centres Course Assessment Specification – Requirements for Question Paper and Assignment – application of skills to mandatory content

28. Added Value Makes the Course more than the sum of its parts Builds on current Course assessment and Group Award approaches Defined as breadth, challenge and application as outlined in Building the Curriculum 5 May involve accumulation, assimilation, integration and/or application of skills, knowledge and understanding Uses one or two of 7 defined assessment methods

29. Adding Value – National 4, National 5, Higher For National 4, the added value is assessed in the Added Value Unit - not graded For National 5 and Higher (and Advanced Higher) the added value is assessed in the Course Assessment - graded A - D (as at present)

30. Higher – Course Assessment Two components – Question Paper: 60 marks - 66% (75% at National 5) – Assignment 30: marks - 33% (25% at National 5) Skills and knowledge and understanding will have equal importance across course assessment as a whole Both components will be externally marked

31. Higher – Question Paper Four sections: Physical and Human Environments each worth 15 marks: Global Issues – 20 marks, choice of two from five; Application of geographical Skills Section -10 marks Mandatory content will be sampled Will assess the skills of analysing and evaluating, and draw on detailed knowledge and understanding of complex issues as well as applying mapping skills and the use of numerical and graphical information Greater emphasis on knowledge and understanding than skills Range of marks in the Specimen Question Paper – 4-10

32. Higher – Question Paper In the Physical Environments and Human Environments section, there will be no choice of questions In Global Issues, candidates will answer two from the five parts; some of these options will be familiar, others are new In the Application of Geographical Skills Section, candidates will be given a scenario within which to apply their geographical skills using maps and other sources of information

33. Higher – Question Paper A limited range of command words/question stems will be used in the paper for extended response questions: Explain … Account for … Analyse … Evaluate … Discuss … To what extent … Greater clarity and support for centres in general marking principles and detailed marking instructions as to how these questions will be marked

34. Higher – Question Paper “Explain” questions require candidates to… Make key aspects of the topic or issue plan or clear. Relate cause and effect and/or make relationships clear. SQA Guidance

35. Higher – Question Paper “Analyse” questions require candidates to… Identify parts, the relationship between them, and their relationships with the whole. Draw out and relate implications. SQA Guidance Analysis will derive from a body of knowledge and understanding.

36. Higher – Question Paper “Evaluate” questions require candidates to… Make a judgement based on criteria. SQA Guidance Evaluation will derive from a body of knowledge and understanding. Candidates will make a judgment(s), reach a conclusion(s), make evaluative comments

37. Higher – Question Paper “Discuss” questions require candidates to… Communicate ideas and information on a subject, considering different views on an issue Analysis and evaluation will derive from a body of knowledge and understanding.

38. Higher – Question Paper “To what extent” questions require candidates to… Make a judgment based on criteria which may be quantitative in nature Evaluation will derive from a body of knowledge and understanding.

39. Higher – Question Paper Application of Geographical Skills Section question will require candidates to… Apply skills to a range of detailed/complex sources Sources will include map evidence and a range of written, numerical and graphical information

40. Controlled Assessment Where the assessment method is not a question paper, SQA has introduced the concept of controlled assessment to ensure fairness and reliability Three stages of assessment: Setting, Conducting, Marking the assessment Each will have a defined level of control: SQA-led activity, Shared responsibility between SQA and centres, Centre-led Subject-specific decisions, but mostly SQA-led activity in initial years

41. Higher – Assignment Opportunity for learner personalisation and choice Candidates will have an open choice of Geographical topic or issue Marked out of 30 Externally marked Evidence produced in controlled conditions in up to one hour 30 minutes Assesses their research skills, which may include fieldwork where appropriate, and the results of their research

42. Higher – Assignment Greater emphasis on skills than knowledge and understanding – marks awarded for research skills SQA will provide General Assessment Information and the Assessment Task Task does not change from year to year Detailed marking instructions available and can be shared with candidates Guide to candidates will be provided as at National 5

43. Workshop 2 Use the materials provided: In groups of 2-3 discuss: – the requirements of the Higher Course assessment – How these requirements build on the Higher Units – How these requirements build on National 5 Materials provided: – Further Information on Course Assessment – Assignment read across document

44. Workshop 2 Use the materials provided: read the FIOCA (10 mins) In groups of 2-3 discuss: the relationship between assessment at Unit level and Course level (10 minutes) aspects of your current practice which you plan to continue (15 minutes) aspects of your current practice which you plan to change (15 minutes) what will you take back to your centre to support others? (Add key points to Worksheet)