Introduction to Access 3 Courses in
Cantonese and Mandarin
25 April 2008
Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Jim McDonald
Qualifications Manager NQ Languages
Fan Lin
NQ Development Officer
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Aims of the event
 To familiarise delegates with structure and
delivery of Course Units
 To explore approaches to assessment of Units
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Structure of the event
 Presentation
 Workshop
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Fan Lin
National Qualifications Development Officer
Chinese Languages
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Introduction to Chinese Languages National Courses: Qualifications Framework
National Course
SCQF
Advanced Higher
7
Higher
6
Intermediate 2
5
Intermediate 1
4
Access 3
3
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Overview of Course
National Course (NC) in Access 3 consists of
three Units:
 Personal Language
 Transactional Language
 Language in Work
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Overview of Course (cont.)
 Each Unit lasts approximately 40 hours
 The Course also contains a notional extra 40
hours, which includes time for assessment
 Overall, Course delivered in approximately 160
hours
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Overview of Course (cont.)
 There is no externally assessed examination for
NC Access 3
 The three Course Units combine to create a
Course Award for candidates
 Units can be done individually, and certificated
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Approaches to Assessment
 Each Unit has a range of Outcomes, which
indicate the skills to be assessed
 For each Unit there are a maximum of three
Outcomes
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Approaches to Assessment (cont.)
 Within the Outcomes, the Performance Criteria
give precise detail of what must be covered
 The Outcomes also detail the Evidence
Requirements for each assessment area
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Approaches to Assessment (cont.)
Skills assessed across the Outcomes:
 Speaking
 Reading
 Listening
 Writing does not have to be assessed but can be part of learning
and teaching activities
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Approaches to Assessment (cont.)

Each Unit assesses the range of skills

The skills (Speaking, Reading, Listening) can
be assessed:
— separately
— or in a combined assessment
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Assessment Support
 A Unit Specification is available for each Unit. This
Specification is generic across all languages
 Unit Specifications can be downloaded by SQA Coordinators from the secure area of SQA’s website
 The Unit Specifications form the Arrangements
document for the Access 3 Course
 The Arrangements for Access 3 Courses can be
downloaded at www.sqa.org.uk
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Assessment Support (cont.)
 The Unit Specification includes exemplification
of approaches to assessment
 This includes assessment approaches for
Chinese languages
Access 3 Courses in Cantonese and Mandarin
Approval
 All candidates for NQ Courses (including
Access 3) must be entered by an SQA Approved
Centre
 Centres wishing to seek Approval should contact
SQA Customer Contact Centre at
customer@sqa.org.uk
Workshop Activities
 Activity 1 — Familiarisation with Units
 Activity 2 — Assessment Approaches
For more information visit
www.sqa.org.uk
Contact
Fan Lin 林凡
fan.lin@sqa.org.uk