Practical Craft Skills

CPD Presentation

Unit Specifications and Unit Assessment Support Packs (UASP)

National 3, 4 and 5

Aims

To provide an understanding of:

The structure and content of the new NQ Unit Specifications and Unit Assessment Support Packs (UASPs) for your subject at SCQF levels 3 to 5

How to gather evidence and make assessment judgments in your subject

Learning Objectives

By the end you will be able to:

Understand the key SQA assessment documentation for Practical Technologies

Understand the structure and content of the Unit Specifications and UASP

Understand the structure and content of the National 4 Added Value Unit and National 5 Practical Activity

Unit Assessment

Assessments can be designed to provide evidence across more than one Unit or Outcome – combined assessments

Greater range of techniques and methodologies for assessment – encouraged through the UASP

More opportunities to gather evidence as part of learning and teaching

Available UASP

National 3 National 4 National 5

Unit by Unit Unit by Unit Unit by Unit

Portfolio Portfolio Portfolio

Combined Approach Combined Approach Combined Approach

Practical Technologies UASP

Unit by Unit Unit by Unit approach National 3,4 and 5 – discrete

assessment tasks for each Unit and combining of skills within Units for National 5

Portfolio Allows identification and gathering of different types of

evidence which meet Outcomes and Assessment Standards.

Combined Approach This pack is designed to provide an efficient means of

generating assessment evidence for Outcomes across more than one Unit.

Key points: Practical Technology Units standards remain consistent feature the best approaches of the current Practical

Technology Units have a hierarchical Unit structure that provide

progression from National 3 to National 5  worksheets documenting completion of the various

assessment tasks physical model created to meet Outcomes Candidate log documenting the candidate’s

achievement of the Outcomes

Unit Specifications

Evidence Requirements:Assessors should use their professional judgment, subject knowledge and experience, and understanding of their learners, to determine the most appropriate ways to present evidence and the conditions and contexts in which they are used. The tasks are designed to be either completed and documented during the course of learning and teaching activities, or set as specific assessment tasks. Evidence may also be gathered for individual Outcomes where appropriate.

Unit Specifications

Learners will be required to provide evidence of skills by:

Completed evidence, signed and dated worksheets

Practice joints/test pieces

The physical model

The completed Candidate Log (new area of the Course)

UASPs can be used to:

Assess your candidates

Help you develop your own assessments

UASP - purpose

Designed to encourage professional judgment

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

UASP – key features

Makes the Course more than the sum of its parts

Builds on current Course Assessment

Defined as breadth, challenge and/or application as outlined in Building the Curriculum 5

Involves accumulation, assimilation, integration and/or application of skills, knowledge and understanding

Controlled assessment

National 4 Added Value Unit

To generate assessment evidence for the Outcome and Assessment Standards by means of a practical activity

physical product

record of progress (with new area)

candidate assessment record

National 4 Added Value Unit – Practical Activity

SQA is maintaining controlled assessment for non-question paper examination in this Course.

Assessors should judge the evidence for each Assessment Standard

– Additional guidance– Safe working practice– Adherence to tolerances– Functional Dimensions (only in metalwork)

National 5 Internal Assessment - Practical Activity

Controlled assessment

This practical activity is: set by SQA- must use a task from the bank available from SQA’s secure site conducted under a controlled condition in the workshop and classroomevidence will be internally marked by centre staff in line with SQA marking instructions Internal marking will be quality assured by SQAPractical Activity Assessment Record

National 5 – Practical Activity

Example: A Practical ActivityAssessment Record

Candidate details

Total award out of 80

No grades or percentages

National 5 - Grade Agreements

Example of external verification report

Outcome of Verification

Identified minor issues with either the validity or the reliability of the centre’s approaches or assessment judgements, but these do not warrant a hold on certification being placed.

Accepted with recommendations

When issues have been identified with the validity and/or the reliability of the centre’s approach or assessment judgements

re-assess all candidates at the level where these approaches have been not accepted

Not Accepted

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