[Donald Drawbell]

20/08/2015 at 1:08 pm

Hi
This year I need to look at generating evidence for some who failed to gain a N5 award. I have spent ages searching for exactly what I need to do with the N5 assignment to provide evidence for N4 added-value. So far I have only found some vague references.
Could one of you kind people point me in the direction of a definite answer please?
Donald

[Isabel]

20/08/2015 at 3:19 pm

So far as I am aware they must have completed an Added Value Unit at Nat 4. There are 4 of them in the SQA Secure Site (someone in your school will have the password for accessing this) They are ‘Games Review’,’ Language Tutors’, ‘Music Fans’ and ‘Ticket Agency’. I have used the Nat 4 Games Review AVU in the past. It is composed of 2 parts: Part A -Game Program Design and Development – I used Scratch (the game was basically a table tennis Game) and Part B – Website Design and Development (I used Serif WebPlus for this). If the pupil has completed the Nat 5 Course but failed the exm they will get a compensatory Nat 4 if they have the AVU (I believe?)

The AVU

[Enrico Vanni]

20/08/2015 at 3:38 pm

It is not necessary for them to have completed an AV unit at N4. The advice on regrading N5 Coursework tasks at N4 level is indeed a little vague as it is feasibly possible to ‘pass’ (ie. achieve more than 30 out of 60) the coursework task at N5 yet fail at N4 with the same task as AV units are assessed on the basis that outcomes have been completed. The simplest (but not that simple) way to regrade an N5 coursework at N4 level is to compare it with the equivalent N4 task (every N5 CW task has an N4 AV unit with the same name) and correlate the outcomes of the N4 AV with the tasks at N5. You should be able to tick most of them off for a pupil who is achieving a decent mark at N5 and remediate for the one or two outcomes missed. Not ideal by any manner of means.

[Donald Drawbell]

20/08/2015 at 4:24 pm

Cheers! This is what I had thought from the CS Common Questions doc. However the SQA’s Recognising Positive Achievement doc implies that they must pass the N4 AV unit and contains no reference to regrading the N5 assignment using the N4 outcomes where the N5 assignments/N4 AV have the same titles.

[Roderick Ramsay]

21/08/2015 at 8:42 am

There should simply be an ‘N4 tarrif’ for each N5 Assignment set at, for example, 45 out of 60. If you can get 45 out of 60 at N5 then you’ve done well enough to secure a pass at N4 level and then we can do away with frantic re-marking and catch up work (like having to make the Pong game in Games Review).

[Enrico Vanni]

21/08/2015 at 11:55 am

I agree Roderick, but thanks to the unbendable and intransigent nature of N4 CfE dogma, and of those in charge of guarding it, this will not happen, because at N4 a 100% pass of all outcomes is required (CfE is of course just rebranded Outcome Based Education of the type discredited in every other territory it has been tried, the rebranding exercise being done to avoid people Googling OBE and discovering the truth). The fact that once you reach and go beyond N5 summative assessment and sampling of knowledge and skills becomes the norm for overall course awards matters not a jot to them.