Inquiry in the context of socioscientific issues (SSI) is said to develop the skills and knowledge of scientific literacy. SSI are contemporary and relevant scientific topics with moral or economic implications (Sadler 2009). In the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence students carry out inquiry in the context of SSI, the National 5 Assignment, as part of their senior phase science education (SQA 2016). This research is a pilot study that explores the student and teacher experience of the National 5 Assignment. Six biology teachers participated in the case study and provided documentation relating to 150 of their students. The methods of data collection and analysis were qualitative and included teacher questionnaires, teacher interviews and secondary document analysis relating to the teacher and the student experience. The findings indicate that the student experience is described in similar terms between the students and teachers. The focus was mainly on the skills and knowledge developed and assessed, and the process of inquiry, with less focus on the Assignment as an assessment. The teachers also discussed their teaching approach to the Assignment in terms of balancing facilitating and direct teaching. The findings from this study will be used to inform the methodological design of a wider study. This wider study will include teachers and students of biology, chemistry and physics and will compare their experience of the Assignment in the different subjects.