Introducing Unit Specifications and Unit Assessment Support Packs Philosophy National 5

Unit Assessment  Assessments can be designed to provide evidence for one Unit, as part of a Portfolio or as combined assessments  Flexible and open Evidence Requirements in Units  Greater range of techniques and methodologies for assessment – encouraged through Unit assessment support packages  More opportunities to gather naturally occurring evidence – assessment as part of learning and teaching

Unit Structure NATIONAL 5  develop basic knowledge and understanding of philosophy and philosophers  develop basic thinking, analytical and evaluative skills appropriate to philosophy  encourage learners’ ability to use abstract thought  offer learners insight into the ideas of others which might be different from their own  develop communication skills appropriate to philosophy HIGHER  develop knowledge and understanding of philosophy and philosophers  develop thinking, analytical and evaluative skills appropriate to philosophy  encourage learners to use philosophical techniques, including abstract thought  offer learners insight from the ideas of others which might be different from their own  develop communication skills appropriate to philosophy

Key points: Philosophy Units  standards remain the same  feature the best approaches of the current Philosophy Units  have a hierarchical Unit structure that provide progression from National 5 to Higher  contexts of Arguments in Action, Knowledge & Doubt and Moral Philosophy  has added value assessment that increase personalisation and choice in the Philosophy assignment at National 5

Unit Specifications Evidence Requirements for this Unit:  Assessors should use their professional judgement, subject knowledge and experience, and understanding of their learners, to determine the most appropriate ways to generate evidence and the conditions and contexts in which they are used.  Evidence could be drawn from a variety of activities and presented in different formats – presentations, posters, individual or group tasks.  Assessors should ensure that candidates are assessed only on whether they have met Assessment Standards and not the quality of writing, presentation etc.

Moral Philosophy Unit Specifications  For this Unit learners will be required to explain moral theories by: 1.1describing the main features of a moral theory, making reference to appropriate philosophers 1.2applying the theory to specific moral issues  For this Unit learners will be required to evaluate moral theories by: 2.1describing the strengths and weaknesses of a moral theory 2.2expressing an opinion on the theory with supporting reasons

Alternative Unit Title?

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

UASPs – key features  Valid from August 2013  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

Philosophy UASPs Package 1  Unit by Unit approach – discrete assessment tasks for each Unit and combining of skills within Units N5 Package 2  Portfolio approach across N5 Units Package 3  Combined across Units N5

National 5 Added Value Unit  Makes the Course more than the sum of its parts  Builds on current Course assessment and Group Award approaches  Defined as breadth, challenge and/or application as outlined in Building the Curriculum 5  May involve accumulation, assimilation, integration and/or application of skills, knowledge and understanding  Controlled assessment – setting conducting and marking

Philosophy Assignment  Focus on challenge and application of Philosophical skills  Unit Specification and Unit Assessment Support package  Assesses skills in philosophy  Externally Assessed

N5 Internal Assessment of Course Components  Controlled assessment is SQA’s approach to developing assessments (setting), the conditions of assessment (conducting), and marking assessments (marking).  SQA is introducing controlled assessment for non-question paper components of the Added Value Unit and new National Courses at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher.

Philosophy Unit Assessment EVIDENCE  Candidate written response  Candidate notes used for a presentation  AV recording  Assessor checklist  Observer observation notes

Moving on  Workshop 1 and 2 will give you the opportunity to look at the Unit Specifications and Unit Assessment Support Packages in detail.