At a recent CS verifiers’ training event, it was announced that the presentation has been removed from the AH project, with the marks being distributed elsewhere. The rationale, as I understand it, is that marks for that section were high and well-nigh impossible to verify. The updated coursework specification is now available for download from SQA Secure (along with H and N5).
Like me, all colleagues to whom I spoke thought this was regrettable. My own pupils did an outstanding job of the presentation and got a lot out of it. I know that in some schools, external people were brought in to see the presentations, whilst in others, the AH presentations were pitched to the current Higher class, giving them a better understanding of what was involved (and, in most cases, improving uptake for AH). Regardless, presentation and communication skills are increasingly demanded by universities and employers – indeed, this was part of the rationale for having it there in the first place.
If only SQA had consulted the field before making this change, I think they may not have done so. At the very least, the presentation could have been retained, whilst reducing the number of marks allocated to it. I realise we could still get pupils to do it, but with other subject deadlines and exams looming, it would be difficult to justify making pupils do something that attracts no marks.
What do others think?
.
