ADVICE FOR PRACTITIONERS
Advice for practitioners
Background
As part of the National 4 Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies (RMPS)
Course, learners are expected to complete a mandatory Added Value Unit.
The Added Value Unit in National 4 RMPS will be assessed through a n
assignment. Learning and sources for use may emerge for learning and
teaching activities undertaken across the other units of the course. The
assignment is not necessarily an end of course activity , but rather it can be
undertaken at any point of the National 4 RMPS course. The assignment is
internally assessed on a pass/fail basis. For detailed information on
assessment, practitioners should refer to the relevant SQA
documentation. Practitioners should also refer to the SQA documentation for
further details regarding time allocation.
The Added Value Unit outcome states that learners will research and use
information relating to a religious, moral and philosophical question by:
 Choosing, with support, a religious, moral or philosophical topic or issue
for study
 Collecting relevant evidence from at least two sources of information
including at least one religious viewpoint
 Organising and using the evidence collected to address the topic or issue
 Drawing on factual knowledge and understanding to describe and briefly
explain some key features of the topic or issue
 Providing a straightforward description of the significance of the topic or
issue to the contemporary world
 Presenting findings in response to the chosen topic or issue
Delivery
When planning and delivering teaching for the assignment, practitioners
should:
 provide a clear outline of the assessment
 offer guidance to learners regarding choosing a topic and structuring their
assignment
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ADVICE FOR PRACTITIONERS
 be aware that learners may benefit from a choice of topi c that the
practitioner has expertise in and resources for
 offer guidance and direction regarding source materials, if required , and,
where relevant, explain why these resources are useful .
Planning
It is important to remember that support and guidance will be needed in
helping learners identify an area that they wish their assignment to focus on.
The topic for the assignment can emerge from any religious, moral or
philosophical topic or issue.
Practitioners could consider sharing with learners:
(a)
(b)
examples of different topics or issues that could be chosen
exemplar questions or areas of focus from within a specific topic.
The table below gives some examples of questions that could be considered.
These questions are only included for exemplary purposes. Learners
should be actively encouraged to select an area of the RMPS course which is
of interest to them, rather than choose from a prescribed list of questions.



Does the Eightfold Path provide a good pattern for living life?
Why do some people say that Buddhism is a selfish religion?
How do Buddhists reach enlightenment?



Why do Christians pray?
What do Jesus miracles tell us about him?
What do Christians believe about forgiveness?



In what ways does the Hindu belief in karma help explain the existence of
suffering and evil?
What is helpful and challenging about the Hindu caste system?
Is the Hindu belief in Ahimsa relevant today?



Why is it important for Muslims to live life according to the Five Pillars?
Is it easier to follow Islam in a Muslim country than in Scotland?
How do Muslims use the Qur’an?
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ADVICE FOR PRACTITIONERS



Are the Ten Commandments the most important rules for Jews to follow?
Why do Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah?
What problems are raised by the Jewish belief that Israel is their Promised
Land?



What makes a good Sikh?
Who was Guru Nanak and why is he so important for Sikhs?
Is the Sikh idea of reincarnation realistic?



Should the UK bring back the death penalty?
Is capital punishment acceptable in the 21st century?
What is the main purpose of punishing cr iminals?



In what ways can gender stereotypes be harmful?
How are men and women treated differently around the world?
What do religions teach about homosexuality?



Do religious believers do enough to care for the environment?
How does fairtrade help the poor?
Is giving to charity a duty?



Should voluntary euthanasia be legal in the UK?
Do embryos have rights?
What do religions believe about organ donation?



Are nuclear weapons necessary in the modern world?
Does pacifism make sense?
Is war ever right?
 Why does evolution challenge some religious believers?
 Does the Big Bang disprove God?
 Are religious creation stories outdated and irrelevant?
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ADVICE FOR PRACTITIONERS
Practitioners should also attempt to make the planning process as active and
collaborative as possible.
For the assignment, planning and the process of researching are not the
assessable elements therefore it is not necessary for learners to produce a plan
for the assignment. However, it may be useful for learners to consider some
of the following elements in the development of their assignment. It is
important to remember that these are only suggestions . Practitioners
should plan and manage the delivery of the assignment in an appropriate
way, taking into account their individual context.
 It is important that learners are aware of the differences between open and
closed questions. The practitioner could organise a carousel activity
whereby individual unit titles/topics are clearly displayed on poster paper.
In groups, learners move from station to station asking as many open
questions as they can think of about each unit/topic. This information
could be fed back to the whole class at the end of the session.
 A wall display could be created clearly displaying the unit topics. Learners
could be asked to write down any open-ended questions that they may have
about these topics on post-its and stick them onto the display. Learners
could be given the opportunity to feed back why they think their particular
question is of interest.
 Learners may be able to make connections between the different topics and
questions that others have added to the notice board. At this stage learners
could make ‘critical friends’ with other learners who have chosen the same
topic, or indeed those who are asking similar questions.
 The practitioner could encourage learners to articulate what their initial
thoughts are about the question and to reflect on what they already know
and what they still need to find out.
 Involving learners in the planning process as much as possible can help to
engender a sense of ownership and responsibility. For example,
practitioners could conduct an initial planning discussion whereby learners
are asked the following questions:
-
Why did you choose the topic?
How did you formulate your chosen question?
What format is your assignment going to take?
What resources will you use? How will you access these resources?
How will you record your progress?
Once you know the final deadline, what mini deadlines can you set
yourself to make sure you are making reasonable progress?
This type of discussion could also provide the opportunity for support
from the practitioner regarding the answers to these questions.
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ADVICE FOR PRACTITIONERS
 Some practitioners may wish learners to produce a plan of action for their
assignment. Some may find it useful to produc e a flowchart with action
points and deadlines included. Other learners may find it useful to produce
a planning mind map and for this to be visibly displayed in the classroom
or more privately in their folder. Practitioners should be aware of issues
regarding the assignment becoming too onerous and increasing
workloads beyond what is required for both the learner and the
practitioner.
 Whatever format the assignment takes, it is important that learners are
aware of the basic skills needed to successfully co mplete an assignment.
For example, learners may need to know how to scan and skim a text,
identify key points and key words from within a text, and shorten and
summarise a text. It is important that practitioners do not assume that
learners will already be confident in doing this. Please see the relevant
SQA documentation for more information relating to the skills to be
developed and assessed within the course and the assignment. For
information, ideas and exemplification related to the develop ment of
higher order thinking skills, practitioners can refer to the Education
Scotland material entitled ‘Skills Development in the Study of a World
Religion’.
 It is important to remember that learners should be given the opportunity
to approach the task in a way that suits their own individual learning styles
and needs.
Learners should feel an overall responsibility for the production and
presentation of their assignment. Taking into account the learner ’s particular
context may wish to share with the learner that there is no set way of
producing the assignment.
Learners can decide what format their assignment takes by considering the
following criteria:
 What resources are available to them?
 How appropriate will the particular style/format be based on the question
that they are asking?
 Do they already have a good working knowledge of producing an
assignment using this format?
The assignment can be presented in a variety of ways. The following list
includes examples that learners may choose but is not an exhaustive or
closed/approved set.
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ADVICE FOR PRACTITIONERS
Say
Write
Make
Do
A talk with
questions
Presentation
using digital
media (eg.
PowerPoint,
Prezi, Keynote)
Podcast
Essay style report
Digital
presentation
Comic life
Web page
Display
Movie
Newspaper or
magazine report
Learning
log/journal
(possibly
electronic, eg.
blog)
Video diary
Exemplification of possible evaluation tools to support learning
Some practitioners may find it useful to use simple colour-coded performance
indicators. These allow practitioners to chart the learners’ progress at various
stages throughout the completion of the assignment.
In order to monitor progress and skill development, practitioners and learners
may wish to consider using some of the following templates. There is no
requirement to provide any or all of these as ‘evidence’ for assessment
purposes. They may help learners and practitioners to approach the
assignment.
Learner
name
Chosen
topic
Question
asked
Assignment
format
Progress
indicator
Date
1
1
6
See Practitioner Record document.
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ADVICE FOR PRACTITIONERS
Monitoring progress
Whilst completing the assignment, it might be appropriate for learners to take
responsibility for monitoring their own progress. This could support the
development of the learner’s skills and may help to en sure a successful
outcome. Practitioners may also wish to monitor and record the learners ’
progress. For more information on the skills to be developed and assessed
within the Course and assignment, please refer to the relevant SQA
documentation. For information, ideas and exemplification related to the
development of higher order thinking skills, practitioners can refer to the
Education Scotland material entitled ‘Skills Development in the Study of a
World Religion’.
 Learners could be asked if there are any ways that they wish to track their
progress. It may be that some learners will want to produce a written
learning log using Glow, others may want to blog or tweet regular updates,
whilst others might want to keep a regular video diary. Again, it is
important to give due consideration to the individual context of the
practitioner and the learners.
 A midway review could be carried out. At an appropriate point during the
completion of the assignment practitioners may wish to discuss and record
the progress individual learners have made. Learners could also evaluate
their own progress. Traffic lighting and brief comments at this stage could
be used to gather evidence of satisfactory progress. If at any stage during
the completion of the assignment the practitioner feels that the learner is
not making satisfactory progress, it may be worthwhile reassessing the
format of the assignment or even simplifying the original question asked.
Below is an exemplary pro forma that could be used for carrying out a
midway review check. Please note that this is not a requirement for
evidence.
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ADVICE FOR PRACTITIONERS
Learner
name
What are
they doing
well?
What are
their next
steps?
What I can
do to support
them?
Progress
indicator
Date
2
2
8
See Tracking Record document.
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ADVICE FOR PRACTITIONERS
Assessment guidelines
The National 4 RMPS assignment is internally assessed on a pass/fail basis.
For details on assessment guidelines, practitioners should refer to the relevant
SQA documentation.
Some questions that practitioners may wish to consider asking when assessing
the unit outcome and assessment standards are:
 How many sources did the learner use and how effectively did the learner
use these sources?
 How clearly did the learner present their findings ?
 Where appropriate, did the learner refer to different points of view related
to the question?
 Did the learner present a conclusion on their topic?
The practitioner may wish to use performance cards to assess individual
learners. Performance cards are a helpful way of identifying how well the
learning outcomes were achieved. They also allow the practitioner to leave
brief comments for individual learners. As in the planning and monitoring
stages, assessment indicators could be used to provide a quick and easy initial
idea of how successfully learners have completed the assignment.
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ADVICE FOR PRACTITIONERS
Possible assessment record
Learner name
Brief comment
Assessment
indicator
Identified and
gathered
information
relevant to the
question, using at
least two sources of
information
Described and
outlined the key
features of their
findings, in
straightforward,
mainly factual,
terms
Where relevant,
identified and
outlined any
different points of
view relating to the
question, in
straightforward,
mainly factual,
terms
Presented findings
and expressed a
simple conclusion
on the question
The following flow chart represents an approach that some practitioners may
consider helpful. However, it must be stressed that the stages included do not
represent requirements. This is simply a model that may be adapted to suit
the context of the practitioner and learners.
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ADVICE FOR PRACTITIONERS
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