SQA News 5 September 2024

National Qualifications - Updated documents for session 2024-25 onwards

In March this year, we advised that we were making some changes to content and assessment in a small number of courses and freestanding units for session 2024-25. These changes are based on feedback from the teaching profession and are part of our ongoing review and maintenance of National Courses.

Updated documents and assessment materials are now available for the following courses and units.

The updated documents are valid for session 2024-25 onwards. Please use the updated versions with your learners. We’ll remove the 2023-24 versions from our website after the appeals service closes.

Administration and IT

We’ve clarified and streamlined the assessment standards in National 3 and National 4 Administration and IT units. The course specifications and unit specifications now make it clear that learners don’t need to demonstrate full accuracy to meet the outcomes and assessment standards for each unit.

Updated course specifications and unit specifications are available from our NQ Administration and IT web pages, along with updated course and unit support notes.

We’ve also updated the National 3 and National 4 Administration and IT unit assessment support packs to reflect these changes. These are available from the SQA Secure website.

Art and Design

We’ve reduced the length of the National 5 Art and Design question paper, and the number of marks available in the question paper, while ensuring it continues to assess the required skills, knowledge and understanding.

The updated question paper is worth a total of 40 marks, which will be scaled to 50 marks so that it continues to be worth 20% of the overall course assessment. We’ve reduced the length of the exam to 1 hour and 20 minutes.

The updated National 5 Art and Design course specification and specimen question paper are both available from our NQ Art and Design web page.

Business Management

We’ve updated the ‘course content’ sections of the National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher Business Management course specification to give more clarity in areas where we’ve been receiving queries from teachers and lecturers.

The updated course specifications are dated May 2024 and are available from our NQ Business Management web pages.

Classical Studies

We’ve updated some of the language that appears in our National 3 to Advanced Higher Classical Studies course specifications, coursework assessment tasks and some of our unit assessment support packs.

For example, we’ve changed any references to ‘slave’ to ‘enslaved people’ and we’ve changed ‘slavery’ to ‘enslavement’.

We’ve made these changes in line with the Scottish Government’s priority of decolonising the curriculum, and as part of our work as members of the Anti-Racism in Education: Curriculum Reform Subgroup.

The updated course specifications and coursework assessment tasks are available from the NQ Classical Studies web pages.

We’ve also updated the following unit assessment support packs, which are available from the SQA Secure website.

• Classical Studies: Life in Classical Greece package 1
• National 3 Classical Studies unit assessment support package 3
• National 4 Classical Studies: Life in Classical Greece unit assessment support package 1
• National 4 Classical Studies unit assessment support package 3
• National 4 Classical Studies added value unit: assignment
• SCQF level 5 Classical Studies: Life in Classical Greece unit assessment support package 1

Economics

We’ve made some updates to the ‘course content’ sections of the National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher course specifications. The updated documents are dated May 2024 and are available from the NQ Economics web pages.

English

We’ve updated the National 4 added value unit for session 2024-25 onwards. Learners now need to read one text or more and present their findings in a critical essay or oral presentation. Learners can choose a literary text.

The updated National 4 English course specification, course support notes and added value unit specification are available from the NQ English web page.

We’ve also updated the National 4 added value unit assessment support pack, which is available from the SQA Secure website.

Geography

We’ve updated some of the terminology that appears in our Geography course documents and assessments, including unit specifications for freestanding units. Specifically, we’ve replaced the term ‘slum housing’ with ‘poor quality housing’, and we’ve replaced ‘shanty town’ and ‘favela’ with ‘informal housing settlement’.

We made these changes in line with the Scottish Government’s priority of decolonising the curriculum, and as part of our work as members of the Anti-Racism in Education: Curriculum Reform Subgroup.

We’ve also changed the timed write-up for the National 5 and Higher Geography assignments. Learners can now complete the write-up in one sitting or more, as long as they do not exceed the time allowed. The time allowed for the write-up is unchanged. 

Updated course specifications and coursework assessment tasks for National 5 and Higher Geography are available from our NQ Geography web page, where you can also access updated unit specifications for the following freestanding units:

• SCQF level 5 Global Issues
• SCQF level 5 Human Environments
• SCQF level 6 Global Issues
• SCQF level 6 Human Environments
• SCQF level 6 Physical Environments

Gaelic medium versions of the updated National 5 and Higher course specifications and coursework assessment tasks are also available.

We’ve updated the following unit assessment support packs to reflect these changes:

• National 3 Geography: Human Environments package 1
• National 4 Geography: Human Environments package 1
• SCQF level 6 Geography: Human Environments package 1
• SCQF level 6 Geography: Physical Environments package 1
• SCQF level 6 Geography: Global Issues package 1
• SCQF level 7 Geographical Issues package 1

The updated unit assessment support packs are available from our SQA Secure website. Please arrange access to them through your SQA co-ordinator.

History

We’ve updated some of the terminology that appears in the National 4, National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher History course specifications.

For example, in the Higher History course specification, British History part C, we’ve changed the name of the section ‘the Atlantic Slave Trade’ to ‘the trade in enslaved African people.’

We’ve also updated the National 4 course and unit support notes, and the Higher History specimen question paper to reflect these changes.

We made these changes in line with the Scottish Government’s priority of decolonising the curriculum, and as part of our work as members of the Anti-Racism in Education: Curriculum Reform Subgroup.

The updated documents are available from our NQ History web pages. Gaelic translations of the National 4, National 5 and Higher course specifications are now available.

We’ve also updated the following unit assessment support packs, which are available from the SQA Secure website.

• National 3 Historical Study: Scottish package 1
• National 3 Historical Study: European and World package 1
• National 4 History package 3 – portfolio approach
• SCQF level 5 History package 2 – combined approach
• SCQF level 5 Historical Study: Scottish package 1

Physical Education

Following recommendations from our colleagues at Scottish Disability Sport, we've updated the acceptable activities across our Physical Education courses to include boccia and goalball.

This will help make our Physical Education courses more accessible to all learners, and we hope it will encourage more disabled learners to study National Qualifications in Physical Education.

We’ve updated the National 3 and National 4 course and unit support notes, and the National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher course specifications and performance assessment tasks. These are available from our Physical Education web pages, where you’ll also find more information on the changes.

Practical Electronics

We’ve updated the assessment standards for National 4 Practical Electronics to better streamline the assessments and remove any unintended duplication.

The updated National 4 course specification, unit specifications and added value unit specification are available from the National 4 Practical Electronics web page, where you’ll also find more information on the changes.