NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS CURRICULUM SUPPORT
Practical Craft Skills
Active Learning in Practical Craft
Skills
Advice and Guidance for
Practitioners
[NATIONAL 3]
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
Acknowledgement
© 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
Effective and dynamic learning and teaching
5
Delivery – learning and teaching influences
5
The ‘big issues’ and Practical Craft Skills
6
Purpose and aims of National 3 Practical Craft Skills
7
Course structure
8
Approaches to learning and teaching
9
Exemplars
11
Appendix 1: Reflective questions
14
Appendix 2: Useful web resources
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INTRODUCTION
Introduction
These materials form part of Education Scotland’s commitme nt to ‘develop
practical advice and guidance to support the profession with the delivery of
courses where there are aspects of significant change within the new National
Qualifications’.
The materials build on and develop earlier advice and guidance on
Curriculum for Excellence, both generic and specific to the Technologies and
Practical Craft Skills at National 3. They complement other key support
resources, including, for example, the relevant Unit Support Notes and
Course Support Notes provided by SQA. They aim to reinforce key themes
where appropriate, but without unnecessary repetition. It is clearly important
that practitioners are familiar with those key resources which relate to
Practical Craft Skills. Crucially, the materials try to meet the challe nge of
conveying the spirit of learning in the technologies and Practical Craft
Skills, with its focus on problem-solving and real-world relevance, within the
framework of principles of Curriculum for Excellence.
The materials aim to be accessible, practical and attractive, exemplifying
effective and dynamic approaches to learning and teaching. They invite
practitioners, learners and others to explore them and reflect on the value
they might add to learning, teaching and achievement in Practical Craft
Skills, to the extent that individuals need or wish. For example, the summary
of key issues on pages 3–5 may be sufficient since it exemplifies generic
positive influences on learning and teaching in the technologies contexts of
craft, design, engineering and graphics. Other practitioners will wish to
consider pages 4–8, which set out ideas directly relevant to practical craft
skills and highlight differences in the course structure. At the heart of this
resource, the section on active learning (pages 9–15) offers practitioners a
number of possible approaches and resource prompts. Some practitioners may
wish to use the reflective questions in Appendix 1 or explore the links in
Appendix 2, which exemplify the much wider range of learning and teaching
resources, some of which may be well known and of proven effectiveness .
These resources are available to support studies in the technologies and
Practical Craft Skills.
The materials aim to support practitioners by focusing on aspects of
significant change. Their scope is therefore limited to those features with
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INTRODUCTION
which practitioners may be less familiar and less confident. It is important
that practitioners bear in mind that the materials relate only to those specific
aspects of Practical Craft Skills which represent significant change, to avoid
disproportionate attention to the chosen aspects. Practitioners may also
recognise that the focus on skills-development in the new national
qualifications requires a different approach to planning and delivering
programmes to ensure that learners are given well-designed opportunities to
develop key skills for learning, life and work.
Effective and dynamic learning and teaching
Planning
The importance of careful planning of programmes in practical craft skills is
paramount and Curriculum for Excellence raises different challenges and
expectations. Reflecting the principles of Curriculum for Excellence, and
effective practice more generally, practitioners may wish to consider the
following features of positive programme plan ning.
Evaluation of previous relevant experience (stakeholder views, analysis of
data on achievement and attainment, direct observation of the quality of
learners’ experiences). In the context of Curriculum for Excellence,
practitioners may wish to give particular emphasis to involving partner
agencies and learners, present and past, when planning the programme in
practical craft skills. The act of involving partners and learners provides a
valuable learning experience consistent with the capacities and pr inciples of
Curriculum for Excellence.
Delivery – learning and teaching influences
Practitioners may wish to consider the range of powerful influences
promoting positive learning in the technologies, which have become
increasingly recognised in recent years. These influences include the
responsibility within all programmes to seek ways of building learners’ skills
in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing.
For literacy, the National 3 Practical Craft Skills course offers positive
opportunities to enhance literacy skills associated with its technical
vocabulary. Practitioners may wish to reflect on the key principles of learning
in literacy, including the need for learners to listen, speak, read and write
using technical language to build their skills systematically and
progressively. Practitioners may wish to reflect on the value added to
learners’ experiences where they have the opportunity, individually or in
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INTRODUCTION
teams, to present oral reports on aspects of their studies in Practical Craft
Skills.
Numeracy features strongly in practical craft skills, and effective
programmes at National 3 can make a significant contribution to developing
the relevant number skills. These skills, in the context of practical craft
skills, the technologies and STEM (science, technology, engineering and
mathematics) subjects more generally, have high currency across learning,
life and work. Examples of applications in practical craft skills include the
straightforward measurement skills required in practical and graphica l work,
and estimations and calculations for resource requirements for tasks.
Health and wellbeing
Practitioners might find value in using health and wellbeing as a reference
point and source of ideas for programmes in practical craft skills. For
example, consideration of issues of health and safety is particularly relevant,
both in the classroom context but also as a related, motivating theme based in
real-world practice. Further examples of links with Health and Wellbeing
might include the recognised therapeutic and ‘feel-good’ effects of creating
useful and attractive artefacts, crafting in wood, metal, plastics and other
materials in common with creative experiences using other media.
The ‘big issues’ and Practical Craft Skills
A number of major social issues also provide helpful prompts for
practitioners, suggesting new ‘angles’ and learning activities as they plan
programmes. These issues include sustainability, citizenship and enterprise,
all of which have clear relevance to learning across the technologies and in
Practical Craft Skills specifically. Each of these issues provides contexts in
which the skills inherent in practical craft skills are clearly relevant, and
which in turn may suggest strong features for practitioners to integrate in
their programmes.
 Issues of sustainability have particular relevance in practical craft skills
in that programmes can offer well-structured learning about managing
resources. This learning can be linked to real -world concerns and
ambitions such as those associated with recycling and conservation of
finite resources. Recognising its central importance of sustainability
socially and economically, the partner resource for these materials for
Design and Make includes a major suite of support items focusing on
sustainability. A link to Design and Make is provided in Appendix 2.
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INTRODUCTION
 The application of relevant technological skills and knowledge can
contribute significantly to active citizenship through, for example, wellinformed actions to enhance a local amenity or facility, such as creating
play equipment for a local nursery.
 Enterprising ways of thinking and acting are inherent features of highquality programmes in practical craft skills, deriving from the fundamental
creative nature of this area of learning. Importantly, consideration of
enterprise and entrepreneurial approaches can give a helpful new direction
to learning which takes the problem-solving nature of practical craft skills
and relates it to social, business or financial themes.
The rise in popularity of skills for work programmes offers another
important reference point for practitioners designing learning in practical
craft skills. Whilst the general relevance of such programmes to the world of
work is obvious, there is ample scope which practitioners may wish to
exploit, within specific learning activities, to reinforce the links with careers,
work, employment and life after school.
Purpose and aims of National 3 Practical Craft Skills
This section outlines the course structure and approaches to learning and
teaching. This initial advice and guidance is then expanded through
exemplification in pages 9–11 that has been developed by experienced
practitioners, of some selected aspects of National 3 Practical Craft Skills.
These suggestions are offered to practitioners to access to the extent that they
need and wish.
The course is practical and experiential in nature. It focuses on the
development of practical woodworking and/or practical metalworking skills.
It provides opportunities for learners to gain practical craft skills in the use of
a range of tools, equipment and materials, working with wood, manufactured
boards and/or metals. It allows learners to follow a series of activities
through to the completion of a finished item.
The course provides opportunities to develop and enhance practical creativity
and practical problem-solving skills, and to gain an appreciation of safe
working practices in a workshop or similar environment.
The aims of the course are to enable learners to:
 develop skills in reading drawings and interpreting diagrams
 identify, select and use a range of workshop tools and equipment
 develop basic skills in measuring and marking out of materials
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INTRODUCTION
 develop basic skills in cutting, shaping, fixing and joining material s
 apply safe working practices in a workshop or similar environment
 take account of good practice regarding sustainability and recycling .
Course structure
The course is made up of three units that can be taught sequentially or in
parallel. Learning and teaching approaches should provide opportunities to
integrate skills where possible. On completing the course, learners will have
developed skills in the correct use of tools and equipment and a range of
woodworking and/or metalworking materials. Learne rs will also have gained
an appreciation of safe working practices in a workshop environment or
simulated workplace.
The structure of the course allows learners to cover fundamental practical
craft skills in a progressive fashion. Together, the three units of the course
cover an introduction to the main stages of any practical crafts activity.
Units are statements of standards for assessment and not programmes of
learning and teaching. They can be delivered in a number of ways.
The course comprises three mandatory units.
 Working with Tools (National 3)
In this unit, learners will develop knowledge of a range of common tools
and equipment used in woodworking and/or metalworking, and develop
skills in their use. The learner may use these skills for me asuring and
marking out, and for preliminary cutting and shaping of materials.
 Working with Materials (National 3)
In this unit, learners will develop skills in working with different
woodworking and/or metalworking materials. This unit helps learners
develop skills in cutting, shaping, fixing and joining materials, using a
variety of appropriate craft techniques.
 Making an Item (National 3)
In this unit, learners will develop skills in making an item from wood,
metal or a combination of these materials. Learners will be required to
read and interpret simple diagrams, select and use tools safely, select and
apply a range of appropriate skills, apply appropriate finishing techniques
and review their finished item.
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INTRODUCTION
In each of the three units, learners will develop an appreciation of safe
working practices in a workshop environment. They will also develop
knowledge of good practice in sustainability.
Approaches to learning and teaching
If learners are to progress through the course and be successful in making an
item, they need to gain the necessary skills, experience and confidence.
Learning should be supported by appropriate practical activities so that skills
are developed simultaneously with knowledge and understanding , and to
allow evidence for learning to be naturally occurring. Where possible, visits
to relevant local industrial/workshop environments should be undertaken and
the use of video and online resources may be helpful. If a holistic approach to
assessment is employed it will enrich the assessment process for the learner,
avoid duplication of assessment and provide more time for learning and
teaching.
Active learning
As previously mentioned, this exemplar has been developed according to the
resources, skills and needs in a particular school. It focuses on aspects from
the each of the units, notably developing basic skills in measuring and
marking out of materials, developing basic skills in cutting, shaping, fixing
and joining materials, and applying safe working practices in a worksho p or
similar environment.
The thinking and planning processes implicit in the design and preparation of
this exemplar deserve some further exploration because the processes in
developing any new resource for CfE courses will be generic to any task or
extended topic that practitioners develop to help them deliver the course.
In addition to targeting the aims and outcomes for technologies , when
planning this style of exemplar for Practical Craft Skills a number of issues
have to be taken account of, such as:
 the available human and physical resources in the school and the needs of
the learner cohort
 learners’ pre-knowledge and their route into the subject at National 3
 opportunities for interdisciplinary working, notably with the expressive
arts
 the local environment and links with employers and colleges for contextual
links and enrichment, and a work placement for some learners
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INTRODUCTION
 the possible need for bi-level teaching, which in turn influences resources
and learning and teaching
 opportunities through online links to help support delivery of aspects of
the course such as explanations and illustrations of materials and processes
and ideas for possible products and creative solutions
 issues arising when using support materials drawn from the web, such as
the level of language used, the quality and relevance of graphics or video
clips, relevance to school workshop settings or to the age and experience
of the learners.
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EXEMPLARS
Exemplars
Contents
1.
2.
3.
Measuring and marking out materials
Applying practical craft skills
Working safely
1.
Measuring and marking out materials
Using a rule
Accurate measurement is an essential part of craftwork. Some learners will be
very confident and capable; others will need ongoing practice and support.
Practitioners will be aware of a range of common barriers to accurate
measurement and marking, such as difficulties in fine motor skills, weak
eyesight, problems in retaining information, related challenges with
mathematical or numeracy skills and so on.
To give learners appropriate practice, you may wish to access working
drawings, similar to the one shown at Worksheets.
Measuring with a micrometer
Try using the Micrometer Applet, from Durham University, on an
interactive board if available (Micrometer). Obscure the measurement with a
piece of card and ask the learners to tell you what it is.
2.
Applying practical craft skills
The ability to recognise, choose and use tools is a core purpose of this course.
Direct teaching and practical demonstrations will play key roles, but learners
should also experience a wide variety of learning approaches, professional ly
structured by practitioners, which motivate them and recognise their growing
maturity and capability. Some suggestions for innovative approaches which
practitioners may wish to consider and extend are 2-4-Check or Quiz, Quiz,
Trade.
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EXEMPLARS
Learning prompt
Co-op framing
Learners should be able to draw on previous practical experience of creating
a range of woodworking joints at earlier stages of their learning.
Learners work in teams of four, in competition with other teams. They should
be supported as necessary, but should largely plan this activity with little if
any practitioner intervention.
Issue each member of the group with a drawing of the separate part they have
to create. Each learner must create one side of a joint, with the other learners
creating the other sides. As there are four pieces of wood making up the
frame, each learner is working on one piece at a time. Encourage the learners
to recognise their responsibility for a high standard of craft to their partner
and team. Also remind them of the importance of ‘getting it right first time’
as evidence of high-quality work, but also as a sustainability issue – making
the most of scarce resources.
Stop learners part of the way through the task. Ask them to leave their work
at their work area and move to one of their peer’s work areas. They should
provide a short, written evaluation of their classmate’s achievements, perhaps
on a sticky note. Support the learners in applying good practice principles for
feedback, for example the two stars and a wish approach. Learners then return
to their own workplace and complete the task.
The winners are the team which achieves the best -crafted frame within time
limits. Involve the learners fully in self- and peer-assessment, and explore
with them the ideas and importance of success criteria.
3.
Working safely
Government statistics for 2009/10 report the following:
 1.2 million working people were suffering from a work-related illness.
 171 workers died through accidents at work.
 26.4 million working days were lost due to work-related illness and
workplace injury.
 Workplace injuries and ill-health cost society an estimated £14 billion.
(Source: HSE.)
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EXEMPLARS
Learning prompt
Explore the relevance of these statistics and the themes behind them with
learners. Health and safety represents a major challenge for our society, and it
is important that learners recognise the relationship between these statistics
and their own experiences in workshops.
Practitioners will wish to refer to BS 4163:2007 Health and safety for design
and technology in schools and similar establishments . This code of practice
provides an overview of health and safety in the kind of workshops where
practical craft skills courses are offered. It also acts as a reminder that
practitioners, in common with other professions, have a duty to keep up to
date with health and safety requirements relevant to new and emerging
technologies.
Practitioners may wish to access this useful web page on health and safety,
which presents an interesting way for learners to think about health and
safety, while also linking with other subject areas.
Establishing the rules
Craftwork needs rules to protect those who are involved, to keep them safe
and to provide them with a structure for learning. Experience has shown that
it is productive to involve learners in agreeing these rules, drawing on the
expertise which practitioners can provide.
Learning prompt
Ask learners, in pairs or small groups, to list their top ten health and safety
rules for the workshop. Compare the ideas from the different groups,
engaging learners in discussion about health and safety , and concluding with
the best ten rules. Display the rules in your class and possibly individually in
the appropriate areas.
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APPENDIX 1
Appendix 1: Reflective questions
 Does your course take account of the ‘purposes of learning in the










14
technologies’, for example to ensure that learners ‘become informed
consumers and producers who have an appreciation of the merits and
impacts of products and services’?
How do you currently develop literacy/numeracy/enterprise/life skills?
What new opportunities might you provide? How do you best use an
appropriate range of texts (spoken, heard, written, visual, mixed media)?
Where might these texts be used and how might they develop learners’
skills in literacy and numeracy?
Which learning and assessment approaches and activities are you using
that take advantage of a workshop setting and build confidence to enable
the learners to progress through the units and towards the project?
In what ways can you provide opportunities for learners to learn to work
together collaboratively? Which examples have the biggest impact on
learners’ skills development?
When undertaking the more complex elements of the units, are there
opportunities for learners to explain their thinking to show their
understanding of processes and concepts? (This is particularly relevant in
preparing for the tasks in the Making an item unit.)
What range of learning activities could you use more effectively to help to
develop learners’ higher-order thinking skills?
How can you design activities to help learners evaluate the quality of their
own work?
Which experiences and outcomes could you link to within the
technologies, across other curriculum areas and into the world of work to
provide a coherent experience for learners?
Which partners do you work with effectively? Are there other partners in
school and the local and wider community with whom you could establish
working relationships to support learners’ skills development (skills for
learning, life and work)?
What opportunities do learners have to investigate the world of work,
including with employers and entrepreneurs, and to think about how this
relates to their future learning and career options? How best might you
link with local employers, colleges and Skills Development Scotland ?
How best can you capitalise on learners’ knowledge of the internet and
search engines to help identify appropriate online resources?
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APPENDIX 2
Appendix 2: Web resources
 CfE Principles and Practice: Technologies
 DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF NEW AND REVISED NATIONAL
QUALIFICATIONS
The examples below illustrate a very small selection of the extensive
resources available for practical craft skills. You should note that some
resources have been developed for curricula other than CfE and that some of
the renewable examples may have a bias, although this can stimulate debate.
CfE support materials/resources for technologies .
Sites such as STEM Central provide a number of relevant and stimulating
engineering topics that could be used or adapted to support the units.
Skills Development Scotland has useful links for career opportunities at ‘My
World of Work’, which may help further contextualised learning.
For further information on creativity in practical craft skills to support this
exemplar:
Common metal fabrication methods viaMachineshop.com
Resistant materials via BBC Bitesize
Resistant materials via DesignandTech.com
How products are made (bicycle) via madehow.com. This is a useful site for
background, history and technical information on a vast range of products.
The bicycle has been used as a contextual link.
Integrated industrial fabrication projects, via imetal.ca. Givesan insight into
modern metals processes and products.
Environmental issues when using wood via BBC Bitesize..
Enterprising sciences and technologies from Education Scotland. The aim of
this study is to provide information to support practitioners who wish to
undertake interdisciplinary learning for learners from pre -school to age 15.
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APPENDIX 2
Take a look at how an expansive National 3/4/5 engineering science topic,
Where I Live, is developed through mind mapping.
SQA documents
National 3 Practical Craft Skills
Course specification
Unit specifications
Working with materials unit specification
Working with tools unit specification
Making an item unit specification
Course and unit support notes are not available as at 30th March 2012.
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