Unit Award Scheme
UNIT WRITING TRAINING
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Writing units
• Before you write a new unit - check availability of existing units on
the UAS website
• Can these be used as written?
• Can they be modified (minor amended) to meet your
requirements?
• New units must be submitted to UAS via Gateway – UAS’s on-line
processing system
• More detail about the unit writing criteria is in the Guide to Writing
and Submitting Units
• Instructions on how to submit units to us via Gateway are in the
Gateway: User instructions for Co-ordinators booklet
Copyright © AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.
Format of a unit
The main sections of a unit are
• Title
• Outcomes
• Evidence
• Level
More detailed guidance for each section follows …
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Outcomes to be accredited – stems
• demonstrated the ability to
– eg for skills like doing …, making …
• shown knowledge of
– eg for knowing about something …
• acquired an understanding of
– eg for more detailed understanding or explanation about something …
• experienced
– eg for listening to, watching, taking part in, visiting …
Any or all of these stems may be used and in any order – outcomes
should flow naturally through the unit
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Outcomes to be accredited – points to note
• Give the learner full credit
- eg for researching or planning, visits …
• Avoid unnecessary overlap,
- eg same thing under two stems
• Ensure that the context of outcomes is clear,
- eg ‘take part in a discussion about …’, ‘plan a menu for …’,
• Be clear and specific throughout,
- eg use ‘at least three …’
• Don’t have too many outcomes in one unit
- have a series of shorter units instead, which will be more accessible for the learner
and which will replicate better on certificates
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Evidence to be offered
Evidence can be
• produced by the learner, eg written work, printout, artefact
• supplied by the teacher, eg checklist, written record
Learner produced evidence should be included where an outcome
generates it, eg list, painting, written work, model …
Alternative evidence may be specified where appropriate, eg Learner’s
written work or teacher written record
Checklist may need to be itemised for certain outcomes, eg where an
outcome contains more than one part, eg ‘watch at least three …’
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Evidence to be offered – points to note
• Ensure it’s appropriate and evidences the outcome in full
• Keep it simple and avoid unnecessary duplication – one piece of
evidence per outcome will usually suffice
• Be careful with tests – because the learner must achieve 100% to
achieve the unit
• Be careful with copied material – it doesn’t always mean that the
learner has read and understood (but copying can be a skill)
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Level
• Even though UAS is not a qualification, units must be given a level pre-Entry, Entry, Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3
• Level decided by matching outcomes to QCF descriptors using a
best fit approach – you are in the best position to know what level
your learners are working at, eg Level 1 = GCSE D-G
• When deciding on a level, consider the outcomes and evidence
• No account can be taken that learners may work at a higher level
than a unit requires – if this is the case, you need to write a more
demanding unit
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UAS Minor Amendment Process
• You can take any existing unit and make small changes to it so that
it becomes a new unit
• This enables a new unit to be validated quickly
• You must use Gateway to submit a minor amended unit - it will be
a new unit and we’ll give it a new code.
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The Validation Process (1)
• Unit writers of all new or amended units must ensure each unit is
clear and is a worthwhile learning experience for the learner
• All submissions of units must be made with the knowledge and
approval of the Co-ordinator
• Each new or minor amended unit must be submitted to UAS via
Gateway
• We’ll check the unit to make sure it is clear and coherent, and
meets the unit writing criteria
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The Validation Process (2)
• Where amendments are required, we’ll e-mail you
• You’ll need to let us have details of changes you need to make as a
result so that we can amend these on Gateway
• You can discuss this with the UAS team if needed
• Average time from submission to validation is about 8 weeks
• The unit will be added to the website once validated
• You can now start claiming certificates for the new unit
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