NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS CURRICULUM SUPPORT
National 2:
Skills
[NATIONAL 2]
This advice and guidance has been produced to support the profession with the delivery of
courses which are either new or which have aspects of significant change within the new
national qualifications (NQ) framework.
The advice and guidance provides suggestions on approaches to learning and teaching.
Practitioners are encouraged to draw on the materials for their own part of their continuing
professional development in introducing new national qualifications in ways that match the
needs of learners.
Practitioners should also refer to the course and unit specifications and support notes which
have been issued by the Scottish Qualifications Authority.
http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/34714.html
Acknowledgementa
© Crown copyright 2012. You may re-use this information (excluding logos) free of charge in
any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence,
visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ or e-mail:
psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain
permission from the copyright holders concerned.
Any enquiries regarding this document/publication should be sent to us at
enquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk.
This document is also available from our website at www.educationscotland.gov.uk.
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Contents
Introduction
4
Section 1: The skills
6
Section 2: Planning learning experiences to incorporate skills
development
7
Section 3: Assessing skills
8
Appendix 1:
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INTRODUCTION
Introduction
This advice and guidance is designed to support practitioners working with
learners at National 2 level. It provides guidance to practitioners to support
the development of learning experiences which will incorporate both
knowledge and the development of skills and provides examples of how skills
can be formatively assessed and progression planned for and profiled.
Setting the context
Curriculum for Excellence is designed to equip young people for life in the
21st century. Building the Curriculum 4: Skills for learning, skills for life and
skills for work (BtC4) and the SQA Framework: Skills for Learning, Life and
Work set the context and expectations for skills development . They identify
the overlapping clusters of skills for learning, life and work within
Curriculum for Excellence. The skills are relevant to all children and you ng
people and are the responsibility of all practitioners. They also identify that
partnership working is central to the planning and delivery of skills
development. For more information see Appendix 1, which details the
overlapping clusters of skills and some of their key features as described in
the Skills for Learning, Life and Work Framework
The development of skills is essential to learning and education to help
young people become successful learners, confident individuals,
responsible citizens and effective contributors. The skills and attributes
which children and young people develop should provide them with a
sound basis for their development as lifelong learners in their adult, social
and working lives, enabling them to reach their full potential .
BtC4, p2
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/10/16155220/0
The acquisition and development of skills has always been a crucial
component of learning and teaching. Curric ulum for Excellence has firmly
placed as an entitlement 1 for all learners that skills are consistently planned
‘Every child and young person is entitled to develop skills for learning, skills for life and
skills for work, with a continuous focus on literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing.’,
Building the Curriculum 3, pp15–16.
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INTRODUCTION
for, reflected on, and next steps in learning identified. It is vital that learners
are engaged in this process and are aware of the skills the y are developing
through quality dialogue and reflection.
It would be extremely difficult to create a comprehensive list of skills since
the number and definition of possible skills is limitless. The skills set ou t in
these materials are important, but it is up to individual schools and
establishments to adapt the list to suit their particular context and learners.
BtC 4 sets out the ‘overlapping’ clusters of skills, and this is further
supported in the SQA Skills Framework used to design all new national
qualifications. Practitioners must ensure that there is a shared understanding
beyond these broad clusters of skills so that practitioners, learners and
relevant partners and parents are aware of the skills being developed through
learning opportunities.
Some skills are much more specific to particular curriculum areas and more
information on these can be found in the relevant National 2 Course
Arrangements documents and unit specifications.
Contents
Section 1: A list of the skills in the SQA Skills Framework and a breakdown
of some of their key features identified at National 2 level.
Section 2: Advice on planning learning experiences to incorporate skills
development.
Section 3: Advice on and examples of assessing skills and evidencing
progression.
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SECTION 1
Section 1: The skills
The SQA Skills Framework focuses on the skills that underpin and promote the development of learning and study skills , which
provide a foundation for lifelong learning and personal development. The skills and their key features ar e listed below.
SQA Skills Framework: Skills for Learning, Skills for Life and Skills for Work
This framework has been developed for use in the National Qualifications development programme in support of Curriculum for
Excellence.
The main skill areas are:
1.
Literacy
This is the ability to communicate by reading, by writing, by listening and talking.
2.
Numeracy
This is the ability to use numbers to solve problems by counting, doing calculations, measuring
and understanding graphs and charts. This is also the ability to understand the results.
3.
Health and Wellbeing
This is the ability to take care of yourself and others, and to be responsible for your learning and
welfare. It includes managing your feelings, developing a positive and active attitude to lif e, and
building relationships with others.
4.
Employability,
enterprise and
citizenship
This is the ability to develop skills, understandings and personal attributes – including a positive
attitude to work, to others and to the world’s resources
5.
Thinking skills
This is the ability to develop the cognitive skills of remembering and identifying, understanding,
applying, analysing, evaluating, and creating.
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Section 2
Planning learning experiences to incorporate skills
development
When planning a block of work, be it a course, unit of work or individual
lesson, it is important to plan the skills that are to be developed alongside the
other learning that is to be explored with learners
The starting point for making a decision about which skills are to be
developed will be either:
 the learner, based on prior learning
 the relevant unit specifications.
The National 2 unit specifications describe expectations in the development
of skills as well as knowledge and understanding. Consideration needs to be
given to what skills progression within National 2 looks like. This would
most likely entail the consolidation and extension of identified skills, using
them in different ways and in a variety of contexts , familiar and unfamiliar.
Select a small number of skills to focus on. Because of the complex nature of
skills development other skills will inevitably feature during the planned
learning but in order to ensure manageability, consistency and progression a
clear focus on a small number of skills is recommende d.
Decide whether the skill is to be developed on its own or in a relevant
context. This is likely to depend largely on learners ’ previous experience. For
example, in PE it may be easier to develop the skill of dribbling the ball on
its own before applying the skill within the context of a game.
It is important to be explicit with learners about the skills on which they are
focusing. Therefore, developing coherent learning intentions and success
criteria for the identified skill is vital. Where appropriat e, involve learners in
dialogue to generate learning intentions and success criteria. Learning
intentions for skills may run over an extended period of time , ie a number of
lessons, but the success criteria should change and become more challenging
as progress is made.
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SECTION 3
Section 3
Assessing skills
In Curriculum for Excellence, a wider range of learning than before,
including the whole range of skills for learning, life and work, needs to be
assessed. Effective assessment helps to provide an emerging picture of
progress and achievement for all learners as they develop the knowledge,
skills and attributes that underpin the four capacities. It also helps young
people to understand how their skills are developing, why they are
important, and how they can be used across the curriculum and in their
lives in and outside the classroom or establishment.
BtC4, p24
Young people must be able to reflect on how their own skills are developing.
They need to be able to, where appropriate :




understand why skills are important
decide which skills are appropriate in a given situation
identify next steps for improvement.
relate their skills development across the curriculum and to learning
beyond the classroom
When planning assessment of/reflection on skills, consideration needs to be
given to:
 the range of skills to be assessed (breadth)
 how well the skills are used (challenge)
 how well the skills are used in different contexts ( application).
Different types of assessment/reflection activities are likely to be best suited
to different skills and will generate different types of evidence (write, say,
make, do). Leadership and working with others, for example, may be easiest
to assess by observing learners working collaboratively whereas some
elements of literacy may be easiest to assess through a piece of writing or
through listening and talking peer assessment .
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SECTION 3
All learners should have regular opportunities to discuss their progress either
with an appropriate adult or with peers or other relevant adults such as
parents. Planning time for dialogue is essential to the process of supporting
learners in being able to identify their progress in developing skills and
understanding when and where to apply them.
Recording learners’ progress in skills needs to be manageable for
practitioners. Involving learners in the recording process where possible can
help with this.
Rubrics
One potentially very useful tool for assessing progression in skills is the
rubric. However, there are other approaches which can be used equally
successfully to promote high quality dialogue with learners.
What is a rubric?
A rubric is a way of reflecting on levels of learners’ performance. It is a
measurement tool, a scale of sorts. It can be used in any number of ways and
contexts. Rubrics are particularly useful in supporting self- and peer
assessment, and promoting consistency of standards and understanding of
expectations (see examples below).
How might rubrics be used?
Rubrics can be used to help measure and assess progress in many different
ways. Whatever context a rubric is used in, it needs to be built around an
identified set of coherent success criteria.
Rubrics can be used to support assessment of /reflection on progress in
knowledge and understanding and skills development. It is perhaps in the
latter where they are particularly useful due to the transferable nature of
many skills. For example, a rubric that has been developed for
communication can be used by and with learners to assess progress in this
area in any learning context or across any curricular area.. Rubrics are a
useful tool to support the ongoing assessment of transferable skills.
Considerations
Rubrics can be time-consuming to create therefore it is worth giving careful
thought to the areas where you might choose to use t hem. It is possible to
write a rubric that you can use once for a particular lesson but it is likely to
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SECTION 3
be a better use of time to create one which can be used and changed to reflect
learners’ progress over a longer period of time.
It is worth considering involving others in the creation of rubrics by working
with peers or, where appropriate, learners. By doing this there is a much
higher degree of engagement and shared understanding of expectations for all
involved.
Begin by developing a rubric for something familiar to the learners. Once
they understand the concept it is possible to create rubrics for increasingly
complex concepts and skills. For example, creating a photo-based rubric for
tidying up the room is likely to be an easier starting point th an jumping
straight into looking at an aspect of communication.
It is vital to establish the intended learning intention and success criteria for
the focus skill before creating the rubric. By doing this the key features that
are to be broken down will be identified. This will be more complex with
some skills than others and will depend on the level the learners are working
at.
The examples below show a Skill rubric for an aspect of literacy and three
subject-specific skills rubrics for PE, Maths and Social Studies. These were
created by practitioners who have experience at National 2 level, and are
specific to a given context and set of learners. They are provided here to
demonstrate the process of rubric creation and are not definitive for th ese
particular skills.
(NOTE: The example of Learning Intentions and Success Criteria below are
offered as a suggestion only and illustrate a possible approach to assessing
skills in certain subjects.)
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Aspect of Literacy – Show audience awareness
Learning intention: I am learning to give a talk to an audience.
Success criteria
I spoke clearly.
 I faced my audience.
I am learning to give a talk
to an audience
Voice
Speed
Body language
ICT
My voice could be heard by all
of the audience.
All of the audience could make
out what I said.
The audience could see my
face all the time.
I can use a PowerPoint
independently.
My voice could be heard by
some of the audience.
I spoke a bit too quickly or a
bit too slowly.
The audience could see my
face for some of the time.
I can use a PowerPoint with
little support.
The audience found it
difficult to hear me.
I spoke far too quickly or far
too slowly.
The audience couldn’t see my
face.
I can use a PowerPoint with
support
As learners progress it will be necessary to change the rubric to reflect this. In the example above this may mean adding extra
columns or rows, for example it may be that eye contact is identified as a next step for developing audience awareness. The
success criteria added could be:
 I used eye contact.
Eye contact
I looked at most of the people
in the audience.
I looked at a few people in the
audience.
I didn’t look at the audience.
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PE – Ball skills
Learning intention: I am learning to dribble the ball with control.
Success criteria
 I can dribble using one hand at a time.
 My head is up.
 I can change direction and speed whilst keeping the ball under control.
I am
learning to
dribble the
ball with
control
Hands
Head
Legs
Working
with others.
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4
3
I can change
between my
left hand and
right hand
while
dribbling.
I can spot
where my
teammates are
while
dribbling.
I can change
direction and
speed.
I can bounce
the ball with
my weaker
hand.
I can bounce
the ball with
my stronger
hand.
I bounce the
ball using
two hands at
the same
time.
I can look up
and around
me while
dribbling.
I can look up
from the ball
sometimes.
I can dribble
in a straight
line at
different
speeds.
I can walk
slowly while
dribbling.
I have to
watch the
ball while
I’m
dribbling.
I can bounce
the ball
while
standing
still.
I can dribble
past a team
mate.
I can dribble
past a number
team mates
with success..
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Maths – Time
Learning intention: I am learning to tell the time using an analogue clock.
Success criteria
 I can tell the difference between the hour hand and the minute hand.
 I know the difference between past and to times.
 I can read the four main stations of the clock.
 I can tell the time in 5-minute intervals.
I am learning to
tell the time
using an
analogue clock
Clock hands
Not there
Nearly there
I know the hour
hand.
I know the
minute hand.
Past and to
I know if the
hour hand is past
or to the hour.
Clock stations
I can tell o’clock
times.
I can tell the
past side and the
to side of a
clock.
I can tell half
past times.
5-minute intervals
I can count in
fives past the
hour.
I can count in
fives to the
hour.
Fantastic
I can tell the
difference
between the hour
and minute hands.
I can tell if the
minute hand is
showing past or to
times.
I can tell quarter
past and quarter to
times.
I can count in
fives past and to
the hour.
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Social studies – Making a contrast
Learning intention: I am learning to make a contrast.
Success criteria
 I can select appropriate information.
I am learning to
make a contrast
I can select
appropriate
information.
I can find
relevant sources
and select
appropriate
information from
them.
I can find
information from
a given source.
I can find
information from
a simple source.
The success criterion identified above is a step towards achieving the
learning intention. Subsequent success criteria might include:
 I can use information I have found to identify things that are the same.
 I can use information I have found to identify things that are different.
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APPENDIX 1
Appendix 1
The SQA’s Skills Framework: Skills for Learning, Skills f or Life and Skills for Work identifies the skills for learning, life and
work for Curriculum for Excellence. The skills and their subsets listed below are relevant to all children and young people and are
the responsibility of all practitioners.
For further information on these skills please visit:
http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_ccc/skills_for_learning_life_and_work_framework_final.pdf
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APPENDIX 1
Literacy
Numeracy
Health and Wellbeing
This is the ability to
communicate by
reading, writing, and
listening and talking.
This is the ability to use
numbers in order to
solve problems by
counting, doing
calculations, measuring,
and understanding
graphs and charts. This
is also the ability to
understand the results.
This is the ability to take
care of yourself and others,
and to be responsible for
your learning and welfare.
It includes managing your
feelings, developing a
positive and active attitude
to life, and building
relationships with others.
2.1 Number processes
3.1 Personal learning
2.2 Money, time and
measurement
3.2 Emotional wellbeing
1.1 Reading
1.2 Writing
1.3 Listening and
talking
Employability, Enterprise
and Citizenship
This is the ability to
develop the skills,
understandings and
personal attributes —
including a positive
attitude to work, to others
and to the world’s
resources.
Thinking Skills
4.1 Employability
5.1 Remembering
4.2 Information and
communication
technology (ICT)
5.2 Understanding
4.3 Working with others
5.4 Analysing and
evaluating
This is the ability to
develop the cognitive
skills of remembering
and identifying,
understanding,
applying, analysing,
evaluating, and
creating.
5.3 Applying
3.3 Physical wellbeing
2.3 Information
handling
3.4 Planning for, and
making, choices and
changes
4.4 Enterprise
5.5 Creating
4.5 Leadership
3.5 Relationships
4.6 Citizenship
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