Hello and welcome to this training video for the Pearson-set assignments for RQF Higher
Nationals.
In this session we'll be looking at the purpose of the Pearson-set. We'll talk about the timeline
for release of themes and topics. We'll look, in some detail, at writing an assignment for
the Pearson-set. Consider how we might integrate employer briefs. And, we'll close with looking
at support material.
The purpose of the Pearson-set is to create a common reference point across all HN centres
and a consistent framework for assignments and results to be evaluated across the entire
subject. Remember that Pearson Higher Nationals are internationally standardised qualifications
and; therefore, we are looking for a way to better create a benchmark that we can use
to consider good practice across the range of subjects. And, that good practice will
be something that our External Examiners look for when they come to visit and they'll be
looking at assignment design, assessment practice, employer engagement and even student work
and maybe even other areas. And, hopefully, because you will have been working on the
same Pearson-set theme and topics for that year, examples of good practice will be more
relevant to you; you'll be able to see why they are a good practice because they will
relate to the same things that you've been looking at.
So, the Pearson-set timeline is based around the release of the theme and topic. The theme
and topic will be released annually in March and will become live in September. That means
you have from March until September, at least, to develop your assignment. You can release
your assignment after September. September is the first point at which the theme and
topic, released in March, will be live. So, in our example here, the theme and topic released
in March 2019 will remain active until September '20 and in March of '20 a new theme and topic
will be released; and it will become live the following September. So, you can see,
we always have an overlap between the previous theme and topic, which is still active, and
the new theme and topic which is introduced. We're always looking to make sure you have
as much time as possible to develop your assignment and run your assignment within the theme and
topic released the previous March. With the theme and topic issued in March you do have,
as I say, at least until September to plan.
So what do you need to consider? Well, you need to ask yourself the question of when
are you going to start delivery of the unit; and that will relate to timetables as well
as what kind of assignment you're developing, and, how long that will take. How long will
the unit run? How much time you're going to give for the delivery and for the students
to complete the work? What resources do you need to teach the unit and what resources
will the students need? You need to ensure students have access to sufficient resources
to complete the assignment within the time given. And, will you be linking the assignment
with any local employers? While, this is a great idea, keep in mind that that may add
additional time needed in the planning and development of the assignment. The themes
and topics are really about how you define the context for the assignment. So, at level
four you have the theme and you have individual topics and you as the tutor will choose one
of those individual topics as the basis for building your assignment. The reason for using
a specific topic at level 4 is we want students to be able to get started immediately. We
don't want students to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what the topic is about
or what the theme is about. We want them to get started on that immediately. Whereas,
at level 5 we can expect students to have a better understanding of how to undertake
research and; therefore, they can work within the theme itself to identify their own specific
topic.
And, if we look at some examples of themes and topics in art and design we had art and
design as public engagement. Now, the nature of art and design means we want students to be
doing quite a lot of interpretation. We want to leave them scope to explore their ideas
more broadly. And, so rather than create descriptions of topics we have single terms used as the
topics. So, in this example art and design as public engagement within the community or
art and design as public engagement as a form of public expression; and so on.
A different example, taken from construction, the theme was sustainability in the construction
industry and, as you can see, with construction we have much more highly defined topics for
the students to work with. The impact of material selection on overall project sustainability.
The influence of construction method on project sustainability. Improving sustainability through
the supply chain and the role of technology. And, sustainability through enhanced performance
and monitoring. So, you can see that, in this case, the students have very tightly defined
topics to work with. The reason being that within any one of those topics the student
will need to undertake quite a lot of research in order to build up their understanding of
that topic in relation to the industry.
The relationship between the themes and topics and the unit is crucial. We have to be really
careful to remember that the Pearson-set unit is not about the theme and topic. The theme
and topic, you might consider, to be a lens through which you write the assignment. It
gives a context for the vocational scenario; that will create the frame in which the student
undertakes the assignment. The thing to remember is that we are assessing the students achievement
of the learning outcomes; not their achievement of something related to the theme and topic.
So, we have to make sure that we're writing an assignment that uses the theme and topic
to create a context in which the student can achieve the learning outcomes.
When choosing a topic we need to think about what is most relevant to your students. Given
your particular geographic location you may find that certain topics are more or less
relevant to your students. You want to consider the ways that the topic may link to local
employers, again, your particular local employment context may mean that some topics are more
relevant than others. And, we want to encourage you to think about designing assignments that
give students an opportunity to explore as many different types of assessment evidence
as possible. It's often the case that students can get a little bit disheartened by always
being asked to produce a report or an essay or give a presentation. So, we would really
encourage you to think about ways that you might use the Pearson-set, as well as any
other assignment that you're developing, to explore different types of assessment evidence.
It might be a video or it might be a website that you have students design. Whatever it
might be. look as broadly as possible.
So, when we think about writing the assignment for the Pearson-set we need to consider what
are the learning outcomes? What does the student need to evidence at the end of the unit? Remember,
learning outcomes define what a student must be able to do at the end of the learning experience
not at the beginning. What is the theme for the year and which topic, if working at level
four, are we selecting? What is the vocational scenario that we can define in relation to
the theme and topic? Remember, the theme in topic is not the subject of the unit. The
theme and topic is the lens through which the student can look at the assignment to
achieve the learning outcomes. What are we requiring the student to submit for assessment?
And, again, be as open as you can be to give the students an opportunity to explore different
types of assessment evidence. And, crucially, how will the theme and topic; combined with
that vocational scenario, allow the students to achieve the learning outcomes.
If we look at an example of an assignment brief for the Pearson-set in Art and Design;
the 3d design pathway, the topic chosen here is "Art and Design in Science" and the submission
format is an audio-visual presentation of 15 minutes three A2 presentation boards and
a portfolio of development work. And, as we can see, we've got all four learning outcomes
listed here; which means that this assignment is allowing us to assess all the learning
outcomes for this unit. As you can see, we've included some images to give the students
a little more context and help give a flavour to what the nature of this assignment and
this vocational context is creating for them. When it comes to describing the work that
the students will do you can see that it's presentation boards, portfolio, and presentation.
The same things that were listed in the submission format. The final page of the assignment brief
is the learning outcomes and assessment criteria. Once again, because we're assessing all four
learning outcomes we include all the learning outcomes and all of their associated assessment
criteria. Here this is using the standard Pearson template for an assignment. You may
use a different template at your institution but you must include the same sort of information
that is shown here.
Now, if we look in a little more detail at what's happening in this assignment it says...
"The Francis Crick Institute are sponsoring a competition to design and curate an exhibition
in the foyer of the research centre located next to Saint Pancras station London. The
aim of the exhibition is to explore the way art and design has been used in science. The
Institute is particularly interested in the way graphic design and product design have
been used to promote and sell scientific and medical ideas to the public."
That gives us our vocational context. When we jump down to the section where we start
to describe the work that the student will do we'll notice that we don't flag P1, P2,
M1, D1, and so on. What we're doing is we're using the key phrases and language of the
assessment criteria to describe what the work must show. We're using that to define how
a student can understand what is needed to achieve pass, merit or distinction. We're
NOT flagging those criteria because we don't want students to feel that there are a set
of tasks that they must do. So, rather than describe what the student must do, we describe
what their work must show us and you can see that the use of words like justify and explore
and assess, evaluate, critical reflection, and so on, are picking up the language from
the assessment criteria. And, the students can make that correlation between the assessment
criteria and the assignment brief to be able to see how pass, merit and distinction are
embedded within that assignment brief. Now, this is the standard approach to RQF holistic
assessment briefs and we would really like to see centres embracing this approach; because
we feel that it gives the students much more opportunity to really start to grapple with
questions about how do they understand quality and expectation within their work.
How do we integrate employer briefs; sometimes called live briefs? We might want to think
what is the nature of that live brief? What is the Pearson-set theme and topic we're working
with? And, critically, does the live brief map directly to the theme; or one of the topics,
and if not what are our options? Might we be able to use the theme and topic as a way
of critically reviewing the live project? Can we work with the employer to adjust their
brief so that it better maps to the Pearson-set topic? Should we recognise that, actually,
maybe that the live brief is a better fit for a different unit? We don't want to force
it. We want to make sure it's it's the right unit for the right live brief.
Let's take an example where maybe there isn't that direct correlation and how we might approach
that. So, in construction we had sustainability and manufacturing with a topic of sustainability
through material selection and the employer brief asks the students to develop proposals
for a new light industrial building. The building was going to be two storeys tall. The structure
had to be reinforced concrete and the structure must support a secondary structure of aluminium
framing for a panalised facade system. The challenges are... the employer is not interested
in sustainability for the project They're an aggregate supplier so they're interested
in getting students to use their material. The employer requires students to use aggregates
that are supplied by that company; but the aggregates, in and of themselves, are not
sustainably sourced. But, the employer is a local company that does employ a lot of
students from the course, so we don't want to alienate them. So, how might we find a
way to fit that employer brief with the Pearson-set. One way to do it is to actually say well we
will use the two briefs separately. The students will undertake the project brief doing the
employer brief develop outcomes to meet the requirements of the employer and they'll present
those as outcomes to the employer. At the same time, the Pearson-set assignment is overlaid
on that and it uses the theme and topic as a vehicle for students to review their proposal
for the employer. So, the students can reflect on the development of that proposal and think
about ways in which they might modify that proposal to be sustainable and the students
would present that set of outcomes to the college. So, you can see that there is some
flexibility in the way that we might relate the Pearson-set assignment theme and topic
to a live brief from an employer; even if they don't necessarily map directly.
So, when we're choosing the topic we want to think about what is the role of the student
in that vocational scenario? Are we using an employer live brief? We have to be clear
about what the students must do. What will they be submitting? And, we're going to use
the same or similar command verbs found in the assessment criteria to describe what the
work must show.
Remember, we're not interested in telling the students what to do.
We're NOT giving them instructions. We're NOT giving them tasks.
We are defining what the work must show.
And, we need to make sure that the assignment indicates how to achieve pass, merit and distinction.
Every assignment we write must allow its student to achieve pass, merit or distinction. And,
remember that the assignment is about achieving the learning outcomes; not just engaging with
the theme and topic.
Support Materials... Every unit in a Higher National has an example
assignment brief; and along with that, the Pearson-set has a guidance document that you'll
find. It gives you some additional pointers and some examples of documentation that you
might use with the student work. In addition there are schemes of work for the Pearson-set
and these take the Essential Content related to the learning outcomes and give you an example
of how to deliver the guided learning hours over a number of sessions. We have a lot of
other training available. We have particular assignment writing and assessment training
that you might be interested in. It takes a much more in-depth look at how to write
assignments for the RQF. We also have Quality Assurance training and other types of training
and if you're interested in some of our training you can contact Roxana Goldsmith our training
manager, and her email is here.
We also have a general inquiries email address and we also have an email address specifically
for quality assurance questions.
If you're not yet signed up to the Higher National newsletter I would really encourage
you to that. It's where we will notify you of the latest release of themes and topics
for the Pearson-set as well as any changes or updates to a qualification and from time
to time we may ask for your input as we look at developing a new qualification or making
modifications to an existing qualification. So, please do sign up for the Higher Nationals
newsletter.
Well, that completes our training video for today and thank you for your time.