Main navigation:
Breadcrumb navigation:

Choose a subject

Sub navigation:

In this section

Unit Specifications

Unit Specifications define the mandatory requirements for each Unit. They give more detail about what is required for each Unit in the Course. These documents follow on from the Course Specification documents which defined the mandatory requirements for the Course.

The key sections of the Unit Specification document are the outcomes (of the Unit) and assessment standards. The documents also include information on the aims of the Unit, recommended entry, equality and inclusion, evidence requirements and a list of the skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work that should be developed in the Unit.

Unit Specifications describe the standards required to achieve the Unit and the competence the learner must show to pass the Unit. Units are awarded on a pass/fail basis. They can be assessed on a Unit-by-Unit basis or by combined/holistic assessment.

The Units for the new qualifications are more skills-based, less prescriptive, and more user-friendly. Unit Specifications are more flexible and open allowing assessors to exercise their professional judgement.

We will provide rigorous external quality assurance, including external verification, to ensure assessment judgements are consistent with national standards.  We will communicate our Quality Assurance approaches in Autumn 2011.

To provide progression, Units are being developed in hierarchies where it is appropriate for the subject. Hierarchy is the term used to describe Courses and Units which are developed to have a common and sequential structure. For example, Courses in a hierarchy will have a common set of Units. The difference between the levels in a hierarchy is normally the degree of difficulty from one level to another.

The next documents to be published, the Course Assessment Specifications, will define how the Course should be assessed and give the mandatory assessment requirements.

National 4 Added Value Unit Specification

National 4 Added Value Unit Specifications are published at the same time as the other Unit Specifications for National 4 Courses.

Added value assesses breadth, challenge and/or application. The Added Value Unit Specifications outline how this will be assessed in National 4 Courses.

The Added Value Unit is internally assessed pass or fail and is ungraded.

The Added Value Unit is benchmarked against SCQF Level 4. This equates to a pass (Grade C) at Intermediate 1 and a pass at Standard Grade General (grade 4).

The key differences between the Added Value Units and other Units is that the Added Value Units specify the assessment method to be used and give assessment evidence requirements such as conditions for assessment and arrangements for reassessment.

Once the final Course and Unit specifications have been published, SQA will provide quality assured assessment materials and exemplars on NAR to support the new qualifications. Exemplification will include specimen question papers for Course assessment at National 5 and above.

Exemplification of the standards in the Units will start to be provided from Autumn 2012.

Schools, colleges and local authorities will be encouraged to develop their own assessments and to develop and share additional materials on NAR to assist in understanding and implementing standards.

Further on in the development process, the Course and Unit Support notes will provide advice and guidance on delivering the Course and Units.

For National 5 Courses more details will also be provided in the Course Assessment Specification, which will be published in November 2011.

Refer to our CfE development stages diagram for more information on the development stages.

View the Unit Specifications for each qualification using the links below:

Expressive arts

Access 2

Access 3

National 4

National 5

Higher

Health and wellbeing

Access 2

Access 3

National 4

National 5

Higher

Languages

Access 2

Access 3

National 4

National 5

Higher

Mathematics

Access 2

Access 3

National 4

National 5

Higher

Religious and moral education

Access 3

National 4

National 5

Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies

Sciences

Access 2

Access 3

National 4

National 5

Higher

Social studies

Access 2 (business)

Access 2 (society)

Access 3 (business)

Access 3 (society)

National 4 (business)

National 4 (society)

National 5 (business)

National 5 (society)

Higher (business)

Higher (society)

Technologies

Access 2

Access 3

National 4

National 5

Higher