2. Introducing Unit Specifications and Unit Assessment Support Packs National 3, 4 and 5

3. Unit Assessment  Assessments can be designed to provide evidence across more than one Unit or Outcome – 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

4. Unit Structure National 3National 4National 5 Democracy in Scotland and the United Kingdom Social Issues in the United Kingdom International Issues Added Value Unit:Assignment

5. Key points: Modern Studies Units  Scope for flexibility and choice  Emphasis on skills development and the application of these skills  have a hierarchical Unit structure that provide progression from National 3 to Higher  contexts of Democracy in Scotland and the United Kingdom ; Social Issues in the United Kingdom and International Issues covered  has added value assessment at N4 and N5

6. Unit Specifications Democracy in Scotland and the United Kingdom (N5) Outcome 2 Draw on a detailed knowledge and understanding of democracy in the Scottish and United Kingdom political systems by : 2.1 Giving detailed descriptions of a political issue which draw on a factual and theoretical Assessment knowledge of democracy in Scotland and/or Standards the United Kingdom 2.2 Giving detailed explanations relating to a political issue in Scotland and/or the United Kingdom

7. 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.

8. Unit Specifications  Assessment evidence can be drawn from a variety of activities and presented in a variety of formats. All the evidence does not need to be from one activity, but can be assembled from a variety of tasks and assessments carried out during the duration of the Course  Evidence may be presented for individual Outcomes or gathered for the Unit, Units or Course as a whole by combining assessment holistically.

9. 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

10. UASPs – key features  Valid from August 2013  Designed to encourage professional judgement  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

11. MODERN STUDIES UASPs Package 1  Unit by Unit approach N3, N4 and N5 illustrating how centres can generate evidence of achievement of the standard in each of the three units. Package 2  Combined assessment illustrating how evidence of Outcomes could be generated from more than one unit Package 3  Portfolio approach illustrating how portfolios can be produced which meet the Outcomes for all the units in the course

12. National 4 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

13. N4 AV Unit: Modern Studies Assignment  Focus on researching and making use of information  And applying knowledge and understanding to address a chosen issue  Assesses skills in making a choice, collecting evidence, organising information, describing and explaining  Identify and explain bias or exaggeration OR make a decision and give justifying reasons OR draw a conclusion and give supporting evidence.  Presentation of findings  Internally marked pass or fail

14. 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.

15. N4 Added Value Unit Controlled assessment This Assignment is:  set by centres within SQA guidelines  conducted under a high degree of supervision and control.  Evidence will be internally marked by centre staff in line with SQA marking instructions.  Marking will be quality assured by SQA.  achievement will be recorded.  Evidence will be retained

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