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annex b: design principles for national qualifications
Qualifications arrangements should support the values, purposes and principles outlined in Curriculum for Excellence.
1 Inclusiveness. Arrangements must provide credible recognition of the achievements of all young people within a common framework. Young people will achieve different levels of performance and will progress in different ways: qualifications arrangements should reflect these differences, not create them.
2 High standards. Qualifications arrangements should support best practice in teaching, promoting deep and effective learning. The arrangements should encourage all young people to achieve the highest standards of which they are capable.
3 Relevance. Outcomes assessed within the qualifications system should be developed from and closely linked to the purposes of learning 3-18 and the four capacities (successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors). Outcomes should include 'vocational' alongside 'academic' in a way that enables them to be given equal value.
4 Skills. Qualifications should provide explicit recognition for all young people of assessed levels of competence in a small number of essential areas, including literacy and numeracy.
5 Progression. The arrangements should enable young people to build upon their prior understandings and capabilities and lay down firm foundations for future learning, employment and engagement in society as confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens. Outcomes should be grouped into clusters which have their own integrity. These should enable young people to accumulate knowledge and skills, to make connections across areas of learning where appropriate, and also to progress. There should be rich opportunities for both 'lateral' and suitably-staged 'vertical' progression.
An important subset of achievements will be recognised in the form of qualifications in ways that are fit for purpose.
6 Fitness for purpose. Assessment methodologies should support and fit the purposes of the intended outcomes of learning. To do this they should make use of the diversity of techniques which can be used to gain evidence of performance. Assessment should be proportionate - neither over-burdensome nor too light-touch for the purpose.
7 Fairness. Young people's achievements and performances should be judged fairly. There should be safeguards to ensure that judgements made by teachers and other assessors are comparable and that they give a fair assessment against defined national standards.
8 Credibility/Reliability. The arrangements for qualifications should command confidence so that they will be valued by young people, parents, employers and further and higher education. They should confirm that a young person has achieved what would be expected at a particular level, and support predictions of future success.
9 Usefulness. Qualifications should serve the purposes expected of them by employers, further and higher education, parents, and young people themselves. They should be as easy to understand as possible.
Arrangements for qualifications for young people in the senior phase (S4 to S6) will form part of the overall framework of qualifications for lifelong learning in Scotland and should build on existing good practice.
10 Age and stage. The arrangements should take account of the needs of learners in the senior phase and recognise where these may be different from those of older learners. Expectations should take account of issues of maturity where appropriate. There should be nothing within the arrangements that encourages presentation for qualifications at an age earlier than is in the best interests of the young person.
11 Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework. Each qualification should carry a credit rating and level within SCQF and enable young people to make further progress within the qualifications framework in a straightforward way.
12 Building on good practice. Developments should recognise and build on the principles and best practice of Standard Grade and National Qualifications.
13 Structures. Structures should support the achievement of the above aims. Where existing features are fit for these purposes they should continue to be used. Structures should be flexible and facilitate school/college collaboration.
14 Feasibility/Deliverability. Teacher assessment workload should be considered. The extent of changes should be carefully justified, evaluated and costed. Plans for implementation should take careful account of the capacity of SQA, local authorities and schools, LTS and other partners to deliver, should build on the work of Assessment is for Learning and should be supported by suitable continuing professional development.
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