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Comments, suggestions, thoughts, questions, reflections are welcome. Please click + to add post.

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Each table to post the record of their moderation discussions below as to whether each piece of evidence is demonstrating achievements at Third Level. Click the + sign to add post. Add your table number to the title of your post. 

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Each table to post the record of their moderation discussions below as to whether each piece of evidence is demonstrating achievements at Third Level. Click the + sign to add post. Add your table number to the title of your post. 

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Each table to post the record of their moderation discussion and decision below. Click the + sign to add post and upload the completed Moderation Recording Sheet. Add your table number to the title of your post. 

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Each table to post the record of their moderation discussion and decision below. Click the + sign to add post and upload the completed Moderation Recording Sheet. Add your table number to the title of your post. 

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Each table to post the record of their moderation discussion and decision below. Click the + sign to add post and upload the completed Moderation Recording Sheet. Add your table number to the title of your post. 

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Each table to post the record of their moderation discussion and decision below. Click the + sign to add post and upload the completed Moderation Recording Sheet. Add your table number to the title of your post. 

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Each table to post the record of their moderation discussion and decision below. Click the + sign to add post and upload the completed Moderation Recording Sheet. Add your table number to the title of your post. 

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Each table to post the record of their discussion, reflections and ideas below - click the + sign to add post

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Padlets

Reimaging BGE Science (ELC, Primary, ASN, Secondary) (Aberdeen 25.01.24): https://bit.ly/4dzi8ee

Raising Attainment in Secondary Sciences (Edinburgh 22.02.24): https://bit.ly/4aXmxGb

STEM Nation Expo (Cross-sector) (Glasgow 06.03.24): https://bit.ly/4drSGHx

Reimagining BGE Science (ELC, Primary, ASN, Secondary) (Stirling 14.03.24): https://bit.ly/4draFxu

Making Scotland’s Future event (Cross-sector) (Glasgow 18.03.24): https://bit.ly/3y2lypD

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EdScot BGE Sciences Assessment Event PPT 23 Jan 2024 Update

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Now updated to reflect decision taken at event about breath of sampling required when taking decision about achieving a level

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DRAFT for CONSULTATION Guidance on Assessment in BGE Sciences V1.2 Update 23Jan24

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Summative assessments still has a place but should not solely be the main assessment approaches. Skills for work courses need to have a place.

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Assessments need to be improved, tracking against level 3 and level 4 outcomes is beneficial.

Range of experiences that they can be assessed against, not necessarily a summative written tests.

Coursework restraints - assignments and AVU to be done, would be better to be able to make informed decisions as early as possible

Differentiated assessment needs especially for low attainment pupils

Coursework/ portfolio based assessments to allow pupils to be differentiated and pushed towards their appropriate level

Possibility of assignment transferred to AVU

Keeping a consistent level of standards

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Levels not necessarily looked at, but the assessments and % are more of the focus.

S3 focus on level 4/ N4 and some N5 content for challenge

Discussion of how little time S1 & S2 science is given at Lourdes compared to our schools.

Drive for 5 is very predominant in all our schools .

Bi-level present, not true bi-level teaching in our S4 classes.

Discussion around hours required for a course related to time actually given in schools.

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Table 1 Everyone at different stages in the journey

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Table 1 Everyone at different stages in the journey

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Identification of progress in KU and Skills  - how to show pupil progress between levels over time: can’t be purely based on assessment scores, what evidence do we need beyond this to make judgement that is robust?

Idea of cumulative assessment or evidence throughout year - pupils always building towards their “science bank” throughout the year.

Profiling and log books - keeping pupil based evidence: where pupils can evidence their own progress in KU, practical skills, literacy and numeracy.

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'Drive for 5 at 5' similar in other schools.

Smaller schools have bi-level classes, majority Nat 5. Experience affected for National 4, ICT used to support National 4 in bi-level classes.

Giving pupils the opportunity to let pupils try Nat 5.

Nat 4 classes on own give a better experience for the Nat 4.

Teacher judgement of level choice is key, you know the kids after 2 years of BGE and what level they are best for.

Lab skills pathways with no final summative exam and more about industry skills, NPA horticultural offered. This is for children in Nat4 but can then get lab skills at Nat5, helps to engage pupils in more vocational skills.

Health Sector Nat5 running in the science department, pulling in real life employers and more relevant to the local areas.

NPA Manicure and pedicure offered as another option and supported by the local college in year 1, upskilling teachers in the school. Offered at both nat4 and 5. Funding to help.

Kids who don't go onto Nat5 'traditional' sciences, other options given that are linked to real life qualifications. https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/63845.html

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Main Menu

This NPA is the only Manicure and Pedicure Skills National Progression Award at SCQF level 5 offered by an Awarding Organisation. The NPA is made up of 1 unit at SCQF level 4 and 2 units at SCQF level 5. This qualification provides candidates with the key knowledge and skills required to complete nail a variety of finishes.

With no formal entry qualification requirements this NPA is suitable for a wide range of candidates from school leavers to adult learners who wish to gain entry into the beauty industry. It also allows for straightforward progression to further study in SVQ Level 2 in Beauty at SCQF level 6 and 7.

Assessment is made up of both open book written assignments and practical performance supported by assessor.

This subject will not have alternative assessment guidance for session 2023-24. You should refer to the Group Award/Unit specifications for detailed delivery and assessment information. For general support on delivery and assessment see the HNVQ assessment guidance 2023-24.

This group award has been replaced by NPA Hand and Foot Care and Nail Art SCQF level 5
It entered its lapsing period on: 31/07/2023

It finishes on: 31/07/2026

Group Award code: GF7K 45

SCQF level: 5

NPA Manicure and Pedicure Arrangements Document (494 KB)

Title

Unit code

SQA credit value

SCQF level

It is expected that successful completion of the new NPA in Manicure and Pedicure Skills at SCQF Level 5 may lead to employment in a trainee position in the Beauty industry. This is obviously not an award which is expected to take the student directly into full time employment as a fully qualified beauty therapist.
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Open book written assignments and practical performance supported by assessor observation checklists.
Assessment Support Packs are available. If a centre designs its own assessments, these should be of a comparable standard.

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Existing customer?

This award is suitable for a wide range of candidates and is suitable for: School leavers; Adult returners who wish to gain entry into the Beauty industry; individuals who wish to gain an introduction to Manicure and Pedicure Skills, and candidates who wish to progress onto further awards but do not meet the entry requirements.
Access
Access to this award is at the discretion of the centre.

Each unit of the award states that entry is at the discretion of the centre, however, it should be noted that some of these units can be delivered holistically e.g. Pedicure and Manicure. This may assist centres in creating a logical timetable for delivering the Units which facilitate candidates to build the required knowledge and skills. The units are designed to encourage candidates to take responsibility for their own learning and work to specifications - this could include practical tasks and design tasks.

This qualification provides clear progression routes to other Beauty qualifications and provides relevant exit skills to enable a smooth transition to SVQ Level 2 Beauty and/or SCQF Level 6.

This group award has been replaced by NPA Hand and Foot Care and Nail Art SCQF level 5
It entered its lapsing period on: 31/07/2023

It finishes on: 31/07/2026

Group Award code: GF7K 45

SCQF level: 5

NPA Manicure and Pedicure Arrangements Document (494 KB)

Title

Unit code

SQA credit value

SCQF level

It is expected that successful completion of the new NPA in Manicure and Pedicure Skills at SCQF Level 5 may lead to employment in a trainee position in the Beauty industry. This is obviously not an award which is expected to take the student directly into full time employment as a fully qualified beauty therapist.
Unit search

National Qualification Group Awards (NQGAs)

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Information to support the delivery of NPA Manicure and Pedicure SCQF level 5

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·       Bi-level classes can be beneficial to learners as they are encouraged to be self-led and can often come back with different questions.

·       N5 in some schools won’t be allowed to drop down but often people are saying N4 (a lot) so that they can be pushed.

·       Maturity issues between 3rd and 4th year post summer can be difficult to make a judgement

·       Some in the group feel you are looking for evidence to prove why NOT the pupil can be N5.

·       It is important to consider the full package of a child e.g SIMD level, will they have home support etc.

·       It is difficult to have consistency between staff to gain robust information to assess individual learners.

·       Need to consider how to prepare assessments with the same success criteria but perhaps tweaked for different classes.

·       S3-4 how are we using SQA

·       Pressure with the strive for 5

·       Consider the narrative around the pupil and think about how we support the children through

·       Transition exams S3 to S4 (N 5 in S4) then children are tracked and can see who can push people on

·       Alternative courses e.g health sector, lab skill, environmental science e.g pass or fail.

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End of unit assessment, some with skills built in others assess skills separately.

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How does this resonate with our experience?

Drive for 5@5 in all schools.  Should we be striving for this, as it can put pressure on teachers and schools, and it might not be that pupils are being placed in the correct course?

We also might need that standard to ensure that standards don’t slip and we are striving to achieve the best for our pupils.  In some situations this can support a positive attitude towards having high expectations for pupils.

N3/4 combines classes or separate? Not feasible in some schools. In some subjects the hierarchy works to fallback from N5 to N4, but that’s not the case in Science.  Would be a better learning experience to be in discrete classes from the start, so this can be a challenge when levels are mixed in the same class.  One school has cut off date for moving from N5 to N4.

So what are we using to make robust decisions around this?  Use of SNSA data as part of the conversation. Some schools rely on end of topic tests, ranked across year group.  Teachers also often use their professional judgement, but this is difficult to evidence.

Opportunity to offer N5 in SfW courses, e.g, Lab Sci instead of N4 or N5 in S4.  Practical Electronics, Health Sector, Energy.

What does differentiated assessment look like?

Scaffolding for report writing, with decreasing levels of support.

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Similar experiences to the scenario shared.

Mixed opinions about the evidence used in schools and how it supports decision making.

Everyone using summative assessments most confidently for evidence.

The table felt differing approaches makes it challenging for schools to work together effectively.

Some felt clear national standards and example questions would support professional judgments.

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Teachers feel that assessment evidence is being banked throughout BGE however this is not utilised effectively by SLT and parents, as drive 5 for 5 is a big focus. National 4 qualification does not seem to be valued and a general standard grade was.

Discussion of banking National 4 assessments from January in 3rd year.

Offering NPAs, like applied sciences – which has a unit of science at National 5 level with no summative assessment, can be a good path for pupils.

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Recognise the skills are covered but not recorded and assessed as specifically. All assessing similar skills.

Links with literacy and numeracy effective not everyone bringing this in.

Useful rubrics.

Differentiated work in jotters, recording their investigation work.

Coverage of curriculum - what can we take out to develop skills? Very hard to get an effective balance.

Skills based course - the context is Science. Ensure there is enough time to focus on skills.

Skills built into the success criteria.

Challenges around the levels young people are coming into secondary school Early level - third level.

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Similar models on assessing and reporting on skills. Could a national approach shared with all schools so all schools have an understanding of the national standard. With examples of agile of approaches that can be used to assess skills.

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Tracking of skills is needed- an easy to view and track system.

Looking at linking skills from Es & Os to preparing pupils for assignments.

Peer assessment- cautious over using it for evidence of a level as not all can peer-assess effectively.

BGE courses are tailored to SQA assessment. If they are not expected to present at SQA level, it is not necessarily pushed at BGE level.

A big development of skills may come at the price of knowledge.

Alternative assessments including presenting, discussion etc. link skills and knowledge.

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Big focus on knowledge to start with and now things are moving towards skills.

STEM passport and using this as a transition piece, developed jointly between primary and secondary staff. Passports can be moderated across faciality.

Primary schools coming to secondaries and having practical science work and lessons being left for the primary teacher.

Grid created to track skills. Skills based unit 'Becoming a Scientist' around safety and practical work. Focus on the practical skills in S1 and reports. S2 moving into data and graph work. Breaking this up helps with time pressures and getting the basics right first.

Maths for science courses - working in collaboration with the maths department and looking at the maths in the science, taking those outcomes and teaching and developing course together - 100mins.

S3 maths department have delivered a maths for science course.

https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/nq/HP9X45.pdf

https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/nq/HP9W45.pdf

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-        Other schools also use tracking documents based on tests in literacy and numeracy and then make an overall judgement.

-        Breaking it down in topics AND within topics, revisiting skills and content that has been covered in previous years.

-        Evaluating where children have struggled e.g drawing a line graph so developing these skills.

-        Tracking can provide a robust assessment using a combination of professional judgement and a range of evidence across subjects.

-        Projections for jobs for children’s future with science required.

-        People are pushing biology as it is ‘easy’ but there is a lot of recall so it is important to teach skills.

-        Need to consider future jobs and links with DYW.

-        Inspection feedback, raising attainment is still a priority for schools and pushing for advance higher.

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Skills portfolio. Developed throughout the year and assessments recorded in skills booklets.  Feeds into tracking. Literacy and report writing skills included.  Skills assessment cards to support pupils.

Use of rubrics to assess numeracy and literacy skills is useful in allowing pupils to self assess and evaluate, and to know what they need to do to improve.

Discussion around the need to build the skills in BGE that pupils will need to achieve well in National 5 assignments.

Need to slimline the process of making judgements as tracking can be onerous for teachers with several classes.  Simplify by breaking down each skill and identifying strengths and development needs for each.  Use of peer assessment mentioned, but how can we ensure their judgements are robust?

Need for moderation conversations with staff to ensure consistency.

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Ensuring consistency can be difficult when people are using professional judgement unless there is good communication across department.

Some schools have a rubric for presentation skills that is used school wide to ensure consistency of approach.

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Q1 - very relatable scenario, clear drive and purpose which shows how skills can be assessed and valued by the pupils, accessibility and promotion of skills clear.

Q2 - clear mapping, linking and identification, idea of skills passports and profiles linked to LO1 and AVU criteria  -  beneficial to pupils, capacity for independent learning and working independently essential.

Q3 - thematic approach to courses? Utilisation of Global Goals - link the learning of skills (and KU) and contextualised learning, real world application of learning: relevancy and impact of learning: make explicit to pupils

Q4 - holistic profiling of skills? National standards?

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We should be taking a top - down approach. We need to know where we are going in order to plan the journey. Clear clarification required that not all Es and Os need to be covered in BGE - opportunity to choose those we 'value' in order to create a spiral curriculum within the context of our settings.

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Skills are covered within courses but difficult to assess, especially due to level of differentiated needed within classrooms.

No shared National understanding of assessing skills in science – when we are all basing our lessons on the benchmarks for learning outcomes.

Teachers feel we need shared assessment rubrics as a national standard.

Need guidance on differentiating skills assessment and matching content to the skills assessed.

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Some vague points - would like a concrete demonstration of how to apply this in a real life class setting

Time restraints e.g. learner conversations - does a 2 minute conversation hold meaning?

Would prefer a national standard

Teachers lack skills and experience to write effective assessments for an even distribution of questions

Mixed messages between ministers and other organisations regarding knowledge versus skills

Would be beneficial to have a bank of resources at national level to maintain standards

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Wide range of topics covered  in How Do We Assess and Key Principles - broad range of possibilities and options presented in document.

Breadth -curriculum is packed, focus should be on quality of the content, needs to be flexibility - or clarity of flexibility - for challenging staffing circumstances: give small/ one person faculties confidence to deliver the courses in a manner appropriate for their setting.

How Do We Assess - mirroring the upcoming senior phase changes, practicalities of “new assessment” styles and how we up skill and empower teachers to feel confident and informed in their decisions.

Collaboration - ELC and primary:  skilled in gathering evidence for long term learning beyond summative assessments - long term project based, skill building.

Assessment is continuous process in learner journey not an end goal - how do we share next steps and pathways?

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Documents are clear and useful, find the guidance on number of organisers and skills needed to demonstrate the learners have achieved a level is useful.

Text is pretty robust, could possibly be reduced in some areas.

Examples of evidence are useful.

Resources will be used to direct discussion at faculty meetings

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The document pulls together information from a range of existing sources, but does little to move forward the practical application

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Anything jumping out

-wording of periodically, change to regularly (p1)

-shows a vast amount of formative assessment that can be choose

-some schools feeling like they are more summative rather than a blend of both

-p10 giving a clear idea about what to do and what to avoid

-how do we change mindset around summative assessment? Agreement that we can't only track summative assessment

-how do we moderate levels in different schools? What does criteria look like across schools for a level?

P9 and P10 images are not clear to read the text

-Assessments vary between schools, how do we successfully moderate across authorities?

-So many outcomes make it difficult to give an breadth of experience, outcomes are very knowledge based and don't incorporate skills

-using organisers to help structure breadth, no one agrees which '3' to asses to prove a level and then everyone still ends up doing all 5 organisers

-thinking 'smart' about where the es and os can be joined up across different areas of the curriculum to other areas, how do we 'trust' other facilities to deliver parts of science?

-Can we get exemplars beyond the summative assessment? What does this look, like, sound and feel like?

Portfolio? https://www.showbie.com/

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From assignments to collaboration, Showbie helps you bring your classroom together in one simple, easy to use app.

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Breadth- all organisers should be covered (not necessarily all the Es & Os within that) to describe a sufficient breadth of learning.

Schools select benchmarks & Es & Os that they cover- means variation is drastic.

Possibly left to too much interpretation to individual schools. Teachers are wanting specific standards shared or a suggested approach/system to moderation- this could come from education Scotland to ensure consistency.

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Are these resources clear and useful?

-        Brings together HGIOS4 and challenge questions as well as BTC5 which helps us answer questions we all have when we review these documents.

How could the text be strengthened to provide clarity?

-        More information on day-to-day evidence, are there examples of this? How can this be tracked?

Is there anything you disagree with?

-        Contradiction between holistic assessment, professional judgement and then the focus on tracking (e.g 7/10 = silver)

Is there anything that should be added?

-        Information about consistent approaches of how we can make professional judgement (the approach of how this is taken and how do we know it is consistent across Scotland).

-        Clarity on different levels and data.

-        Wording of the document looking at ‘working towards’

-        ‘These are the expected levels’ potentially looking at the benchmarks based on real evidence.

How will you use these resources?

-        Share with colleagues and be a point of discussion.

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There is a heavy reliance on summative assessment data.

Applying your knowledge to unfamiliar contexts – declutter the content and focus on deeper learning.

If we did have the time to engage learners in their own learning progress this would improve pupil’s accountability and awareness of their skills development, where especially in BGE we don’t have time to check in with individual pupils.

Class activities that are pupil led to free up time for communication between teachers and pupils during lessons are a good idea, however this is difficult as pupils seem to be less independent than ever.

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Comments on draft guidance

Usefulness - seems concise, useful to have all this info in one document.  Provides an opportunity for national consistency.

Clearer/strengthened

Breadth of challenge and application - 3 areas = achieved level 3.

Not using developing, consolidating, secure?  What is the rationale? Is this similar to bronze, silver or gold?  Does assessment of progression within a level lead to to much time spent on assessment, should we be assessing more holistically?  However this raises questions around how we would report progress to pupils and parents if a pupils is working at level 3 for, say, all of S1 and S2.

Discussion around the fact that often assessments confirm our own professional judgement for a pupil’s level, however it is important to have evidence to ensure that unconscious bias does not play a role in this, or in our recommendations for moving in Senior Phase.

On track, above expectations, behind expectations.  Targets in BGE.

Latest and best evidence in a portfolio.  We track a whole science level, should we be reporting on each science individually, the pupil might have more aptitude in one than another… could this be caused by the subject specialist teacher that is teaching a combined science course.

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As part of the moderation cycle there is no evidence of planning to accompany the assessment pieces.

We cannot discuss the contexts of learning, the experiences and outcomes, LI and SC, learning and teaching approaches.

Summative assessments need a greater variety of questions, use of command words, increased challenge.

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Moderation Recording Sheet table 10 A copy

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Moderation Recording Sheet Student A Group 4

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Moderation Recording Sheet Student B Group 4

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Moderation Recording Sheet Student C Group 4

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For this initiative to be well received and embedded nationally, staff must be allocated to create resources. A secondment opportunity possibly to create different assessment resources and examples of different lessons to develop skills. Although this is money, this will reduce workload for ALL science teachers across Scotland and support a consistent approach nationally. We have a consistent course for S4,5 &6 - why not BGE?

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5 tables RED

5 tables AMBER

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8 tables RED

2 tables AMBER

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5 tables GREEN

1 table AMBER

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Moderation Recording Sheet Table 9 Pupil A

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Moderation Recording Sheet Table 9 Candidate B

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Moderation Recording Sheet Table 9 Candidate C

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Inverclyde Event - Moderation of Student A

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Inverclyde Event - Moderation of Student A

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Sciences teachers from Inverclyde Council moderated the same pupil evidence at an INSET day on 14 Feb 24 - see views attached here by way of comparison

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Inverclyde Event - Moderation of Student B

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Inverclyde Event - Moderation of Student B

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Sciences teachers from Inverclyde Council moderated the same pupil evidence at an INSET day on 14 Feb 24 - see views attached here by way of comparison

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Inverclyde Event - Moderation of Student C

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Inverclyde Event - Moderation of Student C

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Sciences teachers from Inverclyde Council moderated the same pupil evidence at an INSET day on 14 Feb 24 - see views attached here by way of comparison