‘I ended up really enjoying the way we learnt in our college class, it was innovative and hands on. Overall, I think the course has generally boosted my knowledge and understanding of caring for young people but also made me feel really comfortable and confident in the work I’m doing and will provide in the future.’ – Katie Colligan, HNC Childhood Practice
The development of NextGen: HN qualifications:
While preparing for the centenary of HN qualifications, we began the process of reviewing and updating the qualifications ahead of this landmark, ensuring they remained valid and relevant for the modern world.
Since then, we’ve been developing the next generation of Higher National qualifications (NextGen: HN) alongside industry, employers, colleges, and Higher Education institutions, to make sure learners continue to have the skills they need to thrive in the modern workplace. Our approach focused on meeting the needs of learners and centres, with an emphasis on continuous improvement and collaboration.
Over the last few years, we developed prototype NextGen: HN qualifications which were then then piloted in selected colleges across Scotland before being evaluated.
This approach, which included regular feedback from colleges and learners, allowed us to fine tune the qualifications – making tweaks to their design principles, grading models and approach to quality assurance, informing the final model for validated NextGen: HN qualifications.
HN and NextGen: HN – what are the differences?
There are a few key differences between traditional and NextGen: HN qualifications:
- Qualifications: NextGen: HNC at SCQF level 7 and HND at SCQF level 8 are stand-alone qualifications worth 120 SCQF credit points each (equivalent to 15 SQA credits).
- Assessment: Each NextGen: HN qualification contains at least one project-based unit, giving learners more flexibility to demonstrate their skills and knowledge. We’ve also introduced fewer, larger units, to lighten the assessment load for learners and college staff.
- Grading: NextGen: HN learners are awarded a grade for the whole qualification, as opposed to the graded unit in current HNs, to better reflect their performance across the full breadth of the course content.
- Meta-skills: We’ve embedded meta-skills, which includes self-management, social intelligence and innovation, into our NextGen: HNs. This gives greater focus on these transferable skills that are key for learners in further education, employment and beyond.
- Learning for sustainability: We’ve also embedded Learning for Sustainability into NextGen: HNs. This approach aims to help prepare learners for the increasing social, economic, and environmental challenges by focusing on areas such as sustainable development, outdoor learning and global citizenship.
“Meta-skills is a huge integrated part of NextGen: HN and we truly believe our learners became more confident as the term progressed, identified skills and developmental areas, both for themselves and their peers. I believe learners are more aware of their meta-skills and work hard to make progress within the developmental areas.” Jayne Clark, HNC Childhood Practice Course Leader
“NextGen: HN is focussed on industry and the outcomes are ideally suited for Creative Practice subjects. There are still hard technical skills to master but the projects being embedded within assessment means that the learners are not just learning skills for the sake of it. They are learning how to navigate projects and teamwork while learning how to be self-sufficient” – Alan Moffat, head of department for visual and creative art at New College Lanarkshire
Qualifications Scotland and the future of NextGen: HN:
The work to refresh Higher National qualifications for the future continues as we prepare for SQA to be replaced by Qualifications Scotland.
Following the initial piloting of new NextGen: HN qualifications over the last few years, we’re now in a year of transition where selected colleges are continuing to deliver the newly validated qualifications.
From session 2026-27, when Qualifications Scotland will be in place, more than 30 NextGen: HNs will be available for Scottish centres to deliver, from Accounting to Radio and Podcasting.
To keep up to date with the latest on the development and rollout of NextGen: HN qualifications, please visit our NextGen: HN web pages.
