Professional Focus Paper
Course: Design and Manufacture
1.
Level: National 5
Who is this paper for and what is its purpose?
This paper is for teachers and other staff who provide learning, teaching and support as learners work towards
Design and Manufacture National 5. The paper is intended to stimulate professional reflection and dialogue about
learning. It highlights important features of learning that are enhanced or different from previous arrangements at
this SCQF level.
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, and as a result, progression in learning can be much
stronger. There is 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 Broad General
Education (BGE) 3–15 and through Senior Phase 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. 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.
How will you plan for progression in learning and teaching, building on the BGE?
2.
What’s new and what are the implications for learning and teaching?
Design and Manufacture National 5 consists of two mandatory Units and a course assessment, made up of a
question paper and an assignment. These components provide learners with the opportunity to develop and apply
skills, while increasing their depth of knowledge and understanding.
 Materials and Manufacturing
 Design
To achieve a full course award for Design and Manufacture National 5, learners must pass both Units. They must
also pass the course assessment, which will consist of an assignment folio, prototype and question paper, which
will assess the added value of the course.
DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE
What are the key aspects of Design and Manufacture National 5?
Integrated approach to skills development
Learning experiences should emphasise developing skills and techniques as well as an understanding and
appreciation of the influences and practices of industrial designers. Learners should progressively develop
knowledge of commercial production and the evaluation of products.
The Units can be taught and completed as free-standing components or as part of the full National 5 course. In
order to qualify for a course award the course assessment, which forms the added value component must also be
completed.
All design and practical work should be closely linked, from the outset, to the work of practising industrial
designers. Learners should observe the methods and contexts in which professional practitioners work.
Consequently, learners will be better able to describe, respond to and analyse the work of others, including as part
of the course assessment. They should also enhance their skills in evaluating their own work and develop their own
practice.
This course has been designed to articulate with Higher Design and Manufacture. This allows staff to choose areas
of study to support progression, and allow themes to be continued into Higher in greater depth or other areas of
studies.
Wider range of evidence of learning
There is a focus on assessment as an integral part of teaching and learning. Assessment should be ongoing and in
dialogue with the learners. Staff can collate evidence from a wide variety of forms including, for example, sketch
books, notes, transcripts of key points from group discussions, presentations, reviews and product evaluations.
Learners will enhance their understanding of a diverse range of approaches and techniques, helping them to build
upon their own practice and skills in critical appreciation as well as providing preparation for the course
assessment, which gauges value added.
Course assessment
Careful planning should be used to ensure that Units offer opportunities for personalisation and choice, and to
enable learners to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding needed to demonstrate value added. The
course assessment has two components: an added value assignment, which will focus on breadth, challenge and
application, and a question paper. The response to the assignment will include a portfolio, a model or prototype, or
a completed product. The assignment will prompt the learner to extend and apply the skills and knowledge they
have developed during the course. The brief for the project will be sufficiently open and flexible to allow for
personalisation and choice.
What are the key features of learning in Design and Manufacture National 5?
Active learning
Learners are expected to demonstrate the creative techniques they have developed and consolidated throughout
the course in the production of an item to meet the final course design assignment brief. Throughout the course, it
is essential that learners have opportunities to think and have their thinking challenged. The course is dynamic. It
should be delivered through the fullest range of teaching and learning strategies in order that all learners can
engage with what will be interesting, exploratory and experiential learning activities for them, and that they develop
the higher-order thinking skills required in order to do so. Effective learning and teaching in design and
manufacture enables learners to be informed, skilled, thoughtful, adaptable and enterprising citizens.
DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE
How will you ensure there are opportunities for young people to explain their thinking to show their understanding
of processes and concepts?
Learning independently
Outcomes are less prescriptive, focus more on skills and applying learning, and offer greater scope for
personalisation and choice. Learners, therefore, have the opportunity to experience a wider range of learning and
teaching approaches in different contexts that can better meet their needs and build on their experience and
achievements in the BGE. Throughout their experiences in the Units, learners should have opportunities to tap into
their natural inventiveness and their desire to create and work in practical ways. Regular reviews of learner
progress should help to build confidence and allow the learner to set their own targets and take control of their own
learning.
In order to develop independent thinking skills and learning, teachers should give greater emphasis on choices and
decisions made by the learner, based on their expertise and skill level.
To further promote personalisation and choice, design and manufacture provides frequent opportunities for active
learning in creative and work-related contexts. The Units provide learners with opportunities to develop, use and
extend skills that are essential components for life, work and learning, now and in the future, including planning and
organisational skills.
Responsibility for learning
Practical tasks should encourage learners to take personal control of their own learning. Opportunities for learners
to reflect on and discuss their own progress should be built routinely into all planned learning experiences. To
ensure that learners are able to take full responsibility for their own learning, learning intentions and success
criteria should be explicit and shared fully with learners. Learning and teaching approaches should promote the
development of learners’ skills in self- and peer group evaluation.
How will you ensure that learners are making informed decisions about where they are in their learning and what
they need to do to progress?
Collaborative learning
Partnerships have a particularly important role to play in delivering programmes in design and manufacture. For
example, there will be relevant expertise among staff in other areas of the curriculum. Tasks within the school and
community, for example, to improve aspects of the physical or local environment, can also lead to productive
partnerships within and beyond the school. For example, learners could work with a range of different businesses
to investigate the use of design software, strengthening appreciation of the use of specific software in real-life
situations.
How will you work with partners in school and the local and wider community to support young people’s skills
development?
Applying learning
The Units and overall experience of the course enable learners to develop, consolidate and demonstrate creative
techniques in the production of assignment and prototype. Throughout the course there are opportunities for
learners to develop higher-order thinking skills. Within the wider community, links with design studios, architects,
construction and manufacturing businesses can bring significant benefits, realism and additional sense of purpose
DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE
to learning. The final course assessment, with its focus on breadth, challenge and application, gives learners a
suitable opportunity to demonstrate and apply the range of skills they have developed throughout the course.
How will you ensure that pupils can reflect on their learning and make relevant connections with other subject
areas and the world of work?
How are you developing learners’ skills for learning, life and work, as outlined in the course specification?
DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE
3.
Qualification information
The SQA website provides you with the following documents:
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Assessment Overview
Course Specification
Unit Specification
Support Notes
Course Assessment Specification
Unit Assessment Support Package
Full information on arrangements for this qualification is available at the SQA website:
Design and Manufacture National 5:
http://www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/CfE_AssessmentOverview_N5_DesignandManufacture.pdf
4.
What other materials are available on the Education Scotland website which staff
could use?
Support materials have been produced over the last year to support Curriculum for Excellence and further support
materials and events are planned. This downloadable list is updated quarterly with the most up-to-date details
available from the pages below.
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningteachingandassessment/assessment/progressandachievement/what
weassess/curriculum/principlesandpractice/hwb/asp
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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