National 4 People and Society

Over the next year, SQA will develop Course and Unit assessment support for every Course from National 2 to National 5 to help teachers and lecturers in the delivery and assessment of the new qualifications.

This assessment overview outlines what support materials will be produced and when.

• N4 People and Society Assessment Overview

• N4 People and Society Course Specification

• People and Society Making Decisions (National 4) Unit Specification
• People and Society Investigating Skills (National 4) Unit Specification
• People and Society Added Value (National 4) Unit Specification
• People and Society Comparing and Contrasting (National 4) Unit Specification

• National 4 People and Society Course and Unit Support Notes

National 4 Added Value Unit assessment

What is the National 4 Added Value Unit assessment?

This document describes the requirements of the National 4 Added Value Unit assessment that candidates will undertake as part of their National 4 Course from Session 2013/14.

The National 4 Added Value Unit assessment will be externally verified by SQA and conducted and internally marked and verified in centres under the conditions specified by SQA. You can find out more about added value at www.sqa.org.uk/cfeassessment.

Centres must use the SQA-developed assignment to assess the National 4 Added Value Unit in Sessions 2013/14 and 2014/15.

The assignment is now available and is valid from August 2013, for use in Session 2013/14. To access this document please speak to your SQA Coordinator. This document should be read in conjunction with the National 4 Added Value Unit Specification.

What's next?

Where appropriate, following the development of the National 4 Added Value Unit assessment, the National 4 Added Value Unit Specification will be updated with further information and clarification on assessment requirements. This updated version will be available by the end of June 2013.

National 2 to National 5 Unit assessment

SQA has developed three packages of assessment support for Units in the new National Courses, from National 2 to National 5. Packages 1, 2 and 3 are now available. They are held securely and teachers/lecturers can arrange access to them through their SQA Co-ordinator.

All packs are valid from August 2013 and must therefore be treated as confidential and held securely.

What are they?

Assessment support is designed to encourage professional judgement and to support learning and assessment that will motivate and challenge learners. The packs will help practitioners to deliver and assess the new National Qualifications. Find out more on our assessment support policy.

Who are they for?

The packs are for assessors in schools and colleges. Assessors may use the assessments provided in Unit Assessment Support packs as they are, adapt/modify them, and/or use them to develop their own assessments.

What do the packs contain?

Each pack provides details of an assessment task or tasks, shows approaches to generating evidence, and shows how the evidence that is gathered can be judged against the Unit Outcomes and Assessment Standards.

There are three packages of Unit Assessment Support for each Course. According to the needs of the Course, these may include:

• Unit-by-Unit approach - the Unit Assessment Support is for each Unit in a Course. Normally it will cover all of the Outcomes and Assessment Standards.
• Combined approach – this supports the use of a combined approach to assessment which can be a very effective approach to gathering evidence for assessment across a number of Units of a Course.
• Portfolio approach – this supports a portfolio approach to assessment by providing information on judging evidence for assessment normally covering all Outcomes and Assessment Standards for all the Units in a Course.

The second and third packages of Unit Assessment Support include packs which demonstrate the use of combined and portfolio approaches in assessment.

The packs do not have marks or threshold/cut-off scores; they have an explanation of how assessment judgements are to be made against Assessment Standards.

Where assessment is conducted through observation or oral questioning, evidence should include assessors' comments and other relevant supportive evidence that shows clearly the basis on which assessment judgements have been made.

Most packs also include examples of recording documentation; however, assessors may adapt these to suit local needs and approaches.

Each pack also has information in an appendix which can be detached and given to candidates.

To access packages 1, 2 and 3 of Unit Assessment Support, please speak to your SQA Co-ordinator.