This paper is for teachers and other staff who provide learning, teaching and support as learners work towards
Hospitality: Practical Cookery National 4.
Curriculum for Excellence is a unique opportunity to raise achievement and to ensure that all learners are better prepared than they have been in the past for learning, life and work. This is because the new curriculum gives real scope to build learning 3 –18 in a joined-up, seamless way. As a result, progression in learning can be much stronger with a clear focus on attributes and capabilities, skills (including higher-order thinking skills), and knowledge and understanding. These are delivered through the experiences and outcomes of the 3 –15 Broad
General Education (BGE) and, at the senior phase, through programmes that build directly on the BGE leading to qualifications. Because of a strengthened focus on the nature and quality of learning experiences, self-motivation is likely to be increased and learners consequently more engaged and enthused. To ensure continuity and progression, qualifications at the senior phase have been designed to embrace this unambiguous focus on highquality learning.
Curriculum for Excellence has the flexibility to meet the needs of all learners in their local circumstances, enabling each to achieve their very best. For example, some centres may take the opportunity to offer qualifications over two years which might involve learners bypassing qualifications at a given level, whereas others may enable learners to work towards qualifications within one year. In both cases, the advice in this paper is relevant to the learning and teaching approaches that learners will encounter. This paper, then, is intended to stimulate professional reflection and dialogue about learning. It highlights important features of learning which are enhanced or different from previous arrangements at this SCQF level.
How will you plan for progression in learning and teaching, building on the Broad General Education?
Practical Cookery National 4 consists of four Units.

Cookery Skills Techniques and Processes

Understanding and Using Ingredients

Organisational Skills for Cooking

Added Value Unit
To achieve Practical Cookery National 4, learners must pass all of the Units, including the Added Value Unit.

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What are the key aspects of Hospitality: Practical Cookery National 4
The new Hospitality: Practical Cookery National 4 course reflects Curriculum for Excellence values, purposes and principles. It offers flexibility, provides more time for learning, has more of a focus on skills and applying learning, and scope for personalisation and choice. There will be continued opportunities to develop the attributes and capabilities of the four capacities as well as skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work.
Integrated approach to skills development
The new Hospitality: Practical Cookery course builds on the skills developed in the BGE. Learning experiences will enable learners to acquire skills, knowledge and understanding of cookery skills, techniques and processes; understanding and using ingredients and organisational skills for cooking. In this course and its component Units, there will be an emphasis on developing knowledge and transferrable skills. These include:
 using a range of cookery skills, food preparation techniques and cookery processes when following recipes
 selecting and using ingredients to produce and garnish or decorate dishes
 developing an understanding of ingredients and their uses and an awareness of responsible sourcing
 developing an awareness of current dietary advice relating to the use of ingredients
 working safely and hygienically.
The course contains a significant practical component, which involves experiential learning, and is supported by related theory. Learners will also plan and produce meals and present them appropriately.
Wider range of evidence of learning
The available methods of gathering evidence are now far broader thereby facilitating greater personalisation and choice in learners’ experiences. Evidence should be naturally occurring and should exemplify the learning that has taken place. The method of assessment used should suit the needs of the individual and the task and as a result such evidence may vary from individual to individual depending on their preferred approach. Short/restricted questions (written or oral), matching exercises, verbal or written feedback, e-assessment, group discussions, observations, working logs/portfolios are all valid examples of ways in which evidence could be generated to meet the necessary outcomes and standards.
Outcomes within the Unit specifications are less prescriptive; there is more of a focus on skills and applying learning in a practical food context. The available methods of gathering assessment evidence at practitioner’s disposal are now far broader, thereby facilitating greater personalisation and choice in learners’ skills development.
Hierarchy of Units
The hierarchical nature of the Units allows for smooth progression between the levels and allows for flexibility in the delivery of the learning so, where appropriate, learners can work across the levels. As a result, there are opportunities to build challenging, coherent and enjoyable journeys for learners through all levels. Programmes should be planned to encourage learners to aim for the highest level of achievement. Careful planning will be required for any movement between National 4 and National 5 so that learners complete all the necessary outcomes and assessment standards.
Added Value Unit
Learners will be required to provide evidence of added value through the successful completion of an assignment that will allow them to demonstrate their skills, knowledge, application and challenge. Care must be taken to ensure that occasions for personalisation and choice are built in to the practical activity and that learners have had the opportunity to develop the necessary knowledge and practical food preparation and cookery skills throughout the course to meet the challenges of the course assessment. Learners will be required to produce a two course meal

PRACTICAL COOKERY for a given number of people, safely and hygienically. This should be seen as an opportunity for learners to demonstrate their skills, knowledge and abilities.
How can you best prepare the learners so they have the skills and knowledge required to tackle the practical activity?
What are the key features of learning in Practical Cookery National 4?
Active learning
The use of active learning approaches will enable learners to become engaged with the learning and challenged in their thinking. Using a variety of different methodologies will ensure learning experiences meet the needs of all learners. Practical and experiential learning will ensure learners are given the opportunity to plan their learning and evaluate their own performance when carrying out tasks. Learners are expected to use creativity when presenting and garnishing dishes. It is essential that learners have opportunities to engage and challenge their own thinking and to develop the higher-order thinking skills required in order to do so. By including problem-solving activities, for example, to illustrate knowledge and understanding of current dietary advice and apply it in a practical context, teachers will provide learners with opportunities to develop the essential skills of analysis, creativity and evaluation.
How can you introduce a wide variety of learning and teaching approaches which will motivate and challenge learners?
Learning independently
Throughout the BGE, learners will have experienced increased independence in their learning and will have exercised greater responsibility for it. To further develop these skills, practitioners will want to reduce the focus on teacher-led activities and place greater emphasis on providing learners with the opportunity to make decisions about their own learning, for example, selecting a particular factor that impacts on the ability to use locally sourced ingredients or choosing an aspect of food safety that interests them when carrying out an investigation. Through the use of design briefs, learners will be able to select appropriate dishes, plan their time, requisition resources and develop their practical skills in a setting that allows for a greater degree of personalisation and choice. When developing practical food preparation and cookery skills learners will often work independently and will have to make decisions about the standard of their own work as regards skill development and the sensory attributes of the dish.
How will you plan for progression in learning and teaching, building on the BGE, to meet the needs of a wide range of learners?
Responsibility for learning
Learners should develop an awareness of themselves as learners to enable them to take more control of their own learning and progress. The use of learning intentions and success criteria will help learners become aware of their learning journey and allow them to know more clearly how they are progressing. Planning learning activities, such as practical tasks or investigations into topics such as characteristics of ingredients with the learners, will allow for greater personalisation and choice and help them to become more involved in learning opportunities that are tailored to suit their own interests. Learners should monitor their own progress and set targets aiming to make use of effective feedback to improve their skills and knowledge. Opportunities for learners to reflect on and discuss their own progress should be built routinely into all planned learning experiences. Evaluation and peer- or selfassessment techniques evident in the BGE should be further developed to encourage this type of reflection.

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How will you ensure learners are making informed decisions about where they are in their learning and what they need to do to progress?
Collaborative learning
Learning and teaching approaches should encourage and develop collaborative working. Group tasks, such as preparing group presentations about local ingredients or developing food items for a particular event or on a particular theme, offer excellent opportunities for learners to work in partnership and to learn from each other. In order to be successful, a group of learners would want to demonstrate how each member’s particular area of skill and expertise could best be utilised to meet the needs of the group and the task. Using real life scenarios, such as making food for a whole school or year group celebration, will enable them to learn from each other, work to their strengths and take on individual and group responsibilities. By including an enterprising approach, for example, through making food items for a charity event or parents evening, staff will foster an ethos of respect, promote partnership working and further develop the four capacities.
How will you ensure learners use their initiative and work together responsibly during group tasks?
How will you ensure that all learners take on roles and responsibilities appropriate to their level of skill and abilities in group task?
Applying learning and skills development
The course enables learners to develop, consolidate and demonstrate practical food preparation and cookery skills using a range of ingredients to produce a wide range of foods. There are opportunities for learners to develop higher-order thinking skills, for example, through the application of knowledge in a practical context that allows them to analyse tasks, think critically and develop creativity in the execution of these activities. The course lends itself to the development of other skills such as literacy, when interpreting recipe information or investigating topics such as food safety or current dietary advice and numeracy when weighing and measuring ingredients and when planning and carrying out a timed work sequence. Learners will select and use ingredients and cookery methods that will contribute to their health and wellbeing by helping them to understand and meet current dietary advice and the use of visits to restaurants and colleges and the development of links with chefs/lecturers will help learners make the link between their own learning and the world of work.
How can you introduce real life contexts into learning experiences?
How will you give the learners the opportunity to integrate their knowledge across the Units?

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The SQA website provides you with the following documents:

Assessment Overview

Course Specification

Unit Specification

Support Notes

Course Assessment Specification

Unit Assessment Support Packages
Full information on arrangements for this qualification is available at the SQA website:
Hospitality: Practical Cookery National 4: http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/45681.html
 http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningteachingandassessment/curriculumareas/technologies/index.asp
 http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningteachingandassessment/curriculumareas/healthandwellbeing/ind ex.asp
 http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/resources/f/foodidl.asp?strReferringChannel=educationscotland&strRefer ringPageID=tcm:4-615801-64 http://www.fhascot.org.uk/Home
 http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/resources/e/genericresource_tcm4207710.asp?strReferringChannel=edu cationscotland&strReferringPageID=tcm:4-615801-64
 http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/publications/p/publication_tcm4674038.asp
Support materials have been produced over the last year to support Curriculum for Excellence and further support materials are planned. This downloadable list is updated quarterly with the most up-to-date details available from the page below.
Published and planned support for Curriculum for Excellence: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/publishedandplannedsupport
T +44 (0)141 282 5000 E enquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk W www.educationscotland.gov.uk
Education Scotland, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA
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