Qualifications Update:Higher Geography

Jane Henderson QDM

Qualifications Update:Higher Geography

Jane Henderson QDM

• Coherent progression from National 5 to Higher • Relevant, challenging and enjoyable contexts • Opportunities for candidates to show the breadth

and depth of what they know• Opportunities for candidates to show the

application of their Geography skills• Personalisation and choice for learners in the

Assignment

Key messagesKey messages

• Units combine skills and knowledge and offer flexibility in how evidence is gathered, to challenge and motivate learners

• Knowledge and understanding and the application of skills build progressively up levels in Unit and in Course assessment

• Maintains many of the best aspects of current Higher while offering new learning contexts that ensure the continuing high quality and currency of Geography

Key messagesKey messages

• As part of developing assessment materials, feedback from SQA development team, Qualification Design team, Principal Assessor and the question paper team identified a small number of amendments to clarify and improve:– Unit Outcomes and Assessment Standards– Description of mandatory content in the Course

Assessment Specification

Amendments to mandatory documents

• Forthcoming and previously published Unit Assessment Support Packs are based on the amended Unit Specifications

• Specimen Question Paper published February 2014 will align with the amended Course Assessment Specification

• Final versions of Higher mandatory specifications – in all subjects – published in May 2014

Next steps

• Use valid and reliable assessments- SQA-produced Unit Assessment Support Packs- Centre devised assessments that have been prior verified- Your own significantly original assessments – strongly advise you have these prior

verified

• Making assessment judgements- SQA packs are designed on a pass/fail basis- Use Judging Evidence Tables to make assessment judgments against Assessment

Standards- Judging Evidence Tables have commentary on how to meet each Assessment Standard- A task/activity can meet most or all of the Unit Outcome and Assessment Standards- Indicate on candidate’s work that Unit Assessment Standards have been met

• Unit Assessment complementing learning and teaching- Unit Assessment is open and flexible- Assessment should allow you space to prepare for Added Value/Course Assessment

Key messages Key messages from Verification (Round 1)

Assessment Support Schedule 2013/14 Assessment Support Schedule 2013/14

Sept 13 CfE Update Letter

Oct 13 Unit Assessment Support (Package 1)

Feb 14 Unit Assessment Support (Package 2)

Feb 14 Higher Specimen Question Paper

Mar 14Higher Assignment (General Information and Assignment Task)

Apr 14 Unit Assessment Support (Package 3)

May 14 Update Mandatory Documents

June 14 Update Unit Assessment Support

GeographyUnit Assessment

HigherElaine Walls QDC

GeographyUnit Assessment

HigherElaine Walls QDC

Unit assessmentUnit assessment• Supports assessment as part of learning and

teaching • Is flexible in the ways in which evidence can

be generated• Open in the context which is used and in the

form of the evidence

Unit Assessment Support Unit Assessment Support packages – purpose packages – purpose

• Assess your candidates

• Adapt in line with your own assessment strategy

• Help you develop your own assessments

Unit Assessment Support Unit Assessment Support Packages – key featuresPackages – key features

• Tell you – with examples – how to judge evidence against Assessment Standards

• Provide further clarification of the Assessment Standards

• Encourage and support professional judgment• Include advice on adapting to different contexts

Unit assessment support Unit assessment support packages - approachespackages - approaches

• Unit by Unit approach – discrete assessment tasks for each Unit

• Combined approach – groups Outcomes and Assessment Standards from different Units

• Portfolio approach – evidence generated Assessment Standard by Assessment Standard

Assessment Package 1Assessment Package 1Physical Environments Human Environments Global Issues

You can use the illustrative examples provided and adapt these to suit the contexts that your learners have studied .

N3

Mapping skillsRivers and valleys

Research skillsUK and Brazil: population and land use

Use of numerical and graphical informationClimate change

N4

Mapping skillsGlaciated uplands

Research skillsPopulation and land use

Use of numerical and graphical informationHealth: Cholera

N5

Mapping skillsCoastal landscapes

Research skillsUK and India: population, traffic and land use

Use of numerical and graphical informationEnvironmental hazards: earthquakes and volcanoes

H

Mapping Skills

Glaciated uplands

Research Skills

Housing and land degradation

Use of numerical and graphical informationDevelopment and health (malaria)

Document read-throughDocument read-through

• Overview of Assessment – Contains an outline of the example task

– Also includes advice on how to adapt the task

– Evidence in one form may be supplemented with evidence in other forms

Document read-throughDocument read-through

• Assessment Conditions– Level of teacher/lecturer support should be

appropriate but evidence must be the candidate's own work

– When group work is used, evidence of individual achievement is required

– Centres responsibility to ensure that all evidence is the individual candidate’s work

Document read-throughDocument read-through• Assessment Conditions (continued)– SQA has left the conditions of assessment at Unit

level open and flexible– Candidates should have sufficient time to

complete the task– Candidates should have access to appropriate

resources to undertake the assessment– Do not inflate the standard by applying conditions

not required by the Assessment Standards – Consistency in the application of these conditions

National 3 – Higher

Document read-throughDocument read-through

• Evidence to be gathered– A range of possible forms of evidence may be

appropriate– Keep accurate records of the evidence gathered

and the assessment decisions made– Only need sufficient evidence to show

achievement of the Assessment Standards once

Document read-throughDocument read-through• Judging Evidence– Table tells you how to judge evidence against the

Assessment Standards– Illustrations of possible candidate responses– Approach used can change, Assessment Standards

do not change– Columns 1 – 3 are fixed, column 4 will vary with

the task

Document read-throughDocument read-through

• Re-assessment arrangements – Assessment should be carried out when the

individual candidate is ready – If a candidate fails to provide evidence for all the

Assessment Standards, it is only necessary to re-assess the individual Assessment Standard that they have yet to achieve

Document read-throughDocument read-through

• Examples of recording documentation– Exemplar tables for recording candidate’s/group’s

achievement of Assessment Standards– These can be adapted as required

Document read-throughDocument read-through

• Assessment Task– Aligns with the prompts in the Overview of

Assessment section– Exemplifies one context in which Unit assessment

may take place

Workshop 1Workshop 1• Use the materials provided:• In groups of 2-3 discuss:– The assessment task in the Unit Assessment

Support provided– How to generate evidence for the UAS provided– How to make assessment judgements for the

UAS provided

Workshop 1Workshop 1Use the materials provided:•read the UASP (10 mins) focus on the candidate task and the judging the evidence tableIn groups of 2-3 discuss:•how you would use or adapt the task provided (20 minutes)•how column 4 illustrates the standard defined in column 3 (15 minutes)•the ways in which Unit assessment fits in with your overall assessment strategy (15 minutes)•what will you take back to your centre to support others?

Geography Higher Course Assessment

Alan Barclay QDC

Geography Higher Course Assessment

Alan Barclay QDC

Context and Rationale for development Context and Rationale for development of Higher Geographyof Higher Geography

• Level of demand benchmarked against SCQF level 6 as in current Higher

• Progression and articulation from National 5 and on to Advanced Higher

• CfE principles e.g. personalisation and choice, importance of developing geographical skills

• Opportunity to refresh and update content and contexts

• Consistency with other Highers as appropriate• FIOCA provides further detail

Process of DevelopmentProcess of Development• Course Specification – Aims and rationale of the

Higher Geography Course• Unit Specifications – Skills developed across all

Units and assessed within specified contexts with flexibility to suit the circumstances of centres

• Course Assessment Specification – Requirements for Question Paper and Assignment – application of skills to mandatory content

Added ValueAdded Value• Makes the Course more than the sum of its parts• Builds on current Course assessment and Group

Award approaches • Defined as breadth, challenge and application as

outlined in Building the Curriculum 5• May involve accumulation, assimilation, integration

and/or application of skills, knowledge and understanding

• Uses one or two of 7 defined assessment methods

Adding Value – National 4, Adding Value – National 4, National 5, HigherNational 5, Higher

• For National 4, the added value is assessed in the Added Value Unit - not graded

• For National 5 and Higher (and Advanced Higher) the added value is assessed in the Course Assessment - graded A - D (as at present)

Higher – Course AssessmentHigher – Course Assessment• Two components

– Question Paper: 60 marks - 66% (75% at National 5)

– Assignment 30: marks - 33% (25% at National 5)

• Skills and knowledge and understanding will have equal importance across course assessment as a whole

• Both components will be externally marked

Higher – Question PaperHigher – Question Paper• Four sections: Physical and Human Environments each worth 15

marks: Global Issues – 20 marks, choice of two from five; Application of geographical Skills Section -10 marks

• Mandatory content will be sampled

• Will assess the skills of analysing and evaluating, and draw on detailed knowledge and understanding of complex issues as well as applying mapping skills and the use of numerical and graphical information

• Greater emphasis on knowledge and understanding than skills

• Range of marks in the Specimen Question Paper – 4-10

Higher – Question PaperHigher – Question Paper• In the Physical Environments and Human

Environments section, there will be no choice of questions

• In Global Issues, candidates will answer two from the five parts; some of these options will be familiar, others are new

• In the Application of Geographical Skills Section, candidates will be given a scenario within which to apply their geographical skills using maps and other sources of information

Higher – Question PaperHigher – Question PaperA limited range of command words/question stems will be used in the paper for extended response questions:

•Explain …

•Account for …

•Analyse …

•Evaluate …

•Discuss …

•To what extent …

Greater clarity and support for centres in general marking principles and detailed marking instructions as to how these questions will be marked

Higher – Question PaperHigher – Question Paper“Explain” questions require candidates to…

Make key aspects of the topic or issue plan or clear. Relate cause and effect and/or make relationships clear.

SQA Guidance

Higher – Question PaperHigher – Question Paper“Analyse” questions require candidates to…

Identify parts, the relationship between them, and their relationships with the whole. Draw out and relate implications.

SQA Guidance

Analysis will derive from a body of knowledge and understanding.

Higher – Question PaperHigher – Question Paper“Evaluate” questions require candidates to…

Make a judgement based on criteria.

SQA Guidance

Evaluation will derive from a body of knowledge and understanding. Candidates will make a judgment(s), reach a conclusion(s), make evaluative comments

Higher – Question PaperHigher – Question Paper“Discuss” questions require candidates to…

Communicate ideas and information on a subject, considering different views on an issue

Analysis and evaluation will derive from a body of knowledge and understanding.

Higher – Question PaperHigher – Question Paper“To what extent” questions require candidates to…

Make a judgment based on criteria which may be quantitative in nature

Evaluation will derive from a body of knowledge and understanding.

Higher – Question PaperHigher – Question PaperApplication of Geographical Skills Section question will require candidates to…

Apply skills to a range of detailed/complex sources

Sources will include map evidence and a range of written, numerical and graphical information

Controlled AssessmentControlled Assessment• Where the assessment method is not a question paper,

SQA has introduced the concept of controlled assessment to ensure fairness and reliability

• Three stages of assessment: Setting, Conducting, Marking the assessment

• Each will have a defined level of control: SQA-led activity, Shared responsibility between SQA and centres, Centre-led

• Subject-specific decisions, but mostly SQA-led activity in initial years

Higher – AssignmentHigher – Assignment• Opportunity for learner personalisation and choice

• Candidates will have an open choice of Geographical topic or issue

• Marked out of 30

• Externally marked

• Evidence produced in controlled conditions in up to one hour 30 minutes

• Assesses their research skills, which may include fieldwork where appropriate, and the results of their research

Higher – AssignmentHigher – Assignment• Greater emphasis on skills than knowledge and

understanding – marks awarded for research skills

• SQA will provide General Assessment Information and the Assessment Task

• Task does not change from year to year

• Detailed marking instructions available and can be shared with candidates

• Guide to candidates will be provided as at National 5

Workshop 2Workshop 2• Use the materials provided:• In groups of 2-3 discuss:– the requirements of the Higher Course assessment– How these requirements build on the Higher Units– How these requirements build on National 5

• Materials provided:– Further Information on Course Assessment– Assignment read across document

Workshop 2Workshop 2Use the materials provided:•read the FIOCA (10 mins)In groups of 2-3 discuss:•the relationship between assessment at Unit level and Course level (10 minutes)• aspects of your current practice which you plan to

continue (15 minutes)• aspects of your current practice which you plan to

change (15 minutes)•what will you take back to your centre to support others? (Add key points to Worksheet)