Scots Language Teacher CPD – Course Guide
5. Assessment
C.3 Masters Level Criteria
This programme’s three Masters level criteria for the professional recognition tasks are as follows:
Knowledge and understanding of the concepts, theories and perspectives discussed in the course material and other relevant sources, and use of this knowledge and understanding in an imaginative and creative way, not just reproducing information.
Critical analysis and evaluation based on understanding of conceptual and practical knowledge derived from study of the course and other relevant material. Evidence of engagement with the material and an ability to synthesise and evaluate it in order to construct an argument that addresses the question and that gives clear evidence of independent engagement with the ideas.
Structure, communication and presentation involving clarity and coherence with regard to the argument, a logical structure, and use of correct referencing as specified in the (
) , including a references list where appropriate.
To help you meet the three criteria, here some more guidance on each one:
Knowledge and understanding
Your knowledge and understanding of the theme of each unit will be evidenced through your engagement on the discussion forum and in the tutorial, in your spoken and written contributions, including your application task.
Your knowledge and understanding of important concepts related to the theme in general and your practice and development as a teacher of Scots language and culture in particular will be synthesised in your Professional Recognition blogposts.
Structure, communication and
presentation
You can partially address the structure, communication and presentation criteria, to frame your critical reflections, with:
one or more of the reflective prompts to produce a piece of writing that meets the suggested word limit for the task,
different prompts for each task, enabling you to reflect on different aspects of your learning experience.
This is not compulsory however, and it would be acceptable for you to address the structure, communication and presentation criteria without using the prompts. You can structure your reflection through explicit links and signposts in your writing, for example by:
drawing attention to certain points – ‘equally importantly’, ‘furthermore’;
indicating cause and effect progression – ‘this results in’, ‘consequently’, ‘for this reason’;
indicating progression within an argument – ‘therefore’, ‘however’, ‘nevertheless’;
using headings and sub-headings for themes, examples.
At Masters level, you are expected to support key points that you make in your reflection with reference to relevant readings, policy documents or journal articles. See the Referencing and avoiding plagiarism section below for more detail.
Critical evaluation and analysis
The most challenging of the Masters criteria for many students on this programme tends to be critical evaluation and analysis. If you are in the habit of writing about what you have experienced (descriptive writing), it can take time to get used to writing about what and how you learned from what you experienced (critical, evaluative writing).
To help you develop your critical evaluation and analysis skills, please engage with Activity 9 in the course induction activities.