Following on from my post about Amy moving to another team within SQA, I’m pleased to let you know that Gayle Rennie has join the team to replace Amy. Gayle has responsibility for non-advanced qualifications (SCQF Levels 3-6) and CBQs (SCQF Levels 5-8). Megan has moved to advanced qualifications (SCQF Levels 7-9). In other words, contact Gayle for NPAs, NCs and CBQs; contact Megan for HNQs and PDAs. If you’re not sure who to contact, you can write to computing@sqa.org.uk. Gayle…
I’m pleased to let you know that a lead developer has been appointed to lead the development of NPA Computing. The developer is an experienced teacher from a Scottish school. One of the lead’s roles is to carry out consultation prior to designing the qualification. This involves qualitative and quantitative research. The lead will be speaking with a range of stakeholders to get their ideas about what should be included in the qualification, while me and my team carry out…
There was an excellent response for volunteers for the Qualification Development Team (QDT) for NPA Computing. We selected 15 people representing schools, colleges, employers and national bodies. The first meeting of the QDT took place last Thursday. It was a good meeting. The first meeting of any QDT is scene-setting but we took the opportunity to use break-out rooms for some brain-storming around the aims of the qualification and its key competencies. We’re in the process of reviewing the feedback.…
The Qualification Development Team (QDT) for Next Gen Computing qualifications met this afternoon to discuss progress with the development. It was the fifth meeting of the committee since the start of the second phase of developments. Five Higher National Qualifications (HNQs) are involved in this work: HNC Computing (phase 1) HND Computer Science (phase 2) HND Data Science (phase 1) HND Networking & Cloud Infrastructure (phase 2) HND Software Development (phase 2). The development work was completed some time ago…
I’ve updated the diagram that illustrates the portfolio of vocational Computing qualifications. Here’s PDF version for you to download. Portfolio (vocational Computing) I know that some of you begin to plan next session’s qualifications towards the end of the calendar year. Here are the highlights from the diagram. There has been a lot of changes to CBQs over the last year. Please note that the following diplomas don’t lapse until the end of October: IT & Telecom Professionals (Level 6),…
I’m pleased to let you know that Amy has been successful in applying for a permanent Qualifications Officer position in the Business Administration team. Amy will move to her new position next Monday (18 September) but will continue to work on Next Gen for Computing for the foreseeable future. Megan is going to move to advanced qualifications (HNC/HND/PDA) and will take over that portfolio from next week. In the meantime, Megan will also continue to support non-advanced qualifications (NPA/NC) and…
Following the success of last year’s SQA Connections Week, SQA will be running the event again from Monday 2nd to Thursday 5th October 2023. The online event offers schools, colleges and employers/training providers the opportunity to learn about qualification updates, get insights into new developments, and develop ideas for the future. SQA Computing will be running the following sessions: Wednesday 4th October 3pm – 4pm: National Progression Award (NPA) in Esports – this session will provide an overview of our…
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The team are helped by two committees. These are the Sector Panel and the Qualifications Support Team (QST). The Sector Panel provides strategic advice to the team about such things as new qualifications needed by employers. The membership comprises representatives of industry, education, training centres and national organisations. The Qualification Support Team advises us about the types of support needed for existing qualifications. The membership comprises school teachers, college lecturers and training providers. We’re looking for new members for both committees. The time…
Over 300 educators have joined the Viva Engage (aka Yammer) network, dedicated to supporting vocational qualifications in Computing. There are specialist groups to support various qualifications including NPA Cyber Security, NPA Esports, NPA Data Science and SVQs. So, if you teach a vocational Computing qualification in a school, college or training centre, please consider joining the network. You’ll find it at this URL: https://www.yammer.com/sqacomputing We plan to focus our support efforts on this platform this session so we think you’ll…
I recently announced that SQA will be developing a new, broad-based vocational qualification in Computing and we’re now in a position to form a Qualification Development Team (QDT) for this work. The QDT is responsible to designing and developing the qualification so it serves a vital role. We’re looking for educators, employers and others to participate. Although serving on the committee is not paid, additional work (such as writing units) is paid. The work will take place from now (August)…
Regular readers will know that we’ve been involved, along with some other subjects, in a big development programme called “Next Generation Higher National Qualifications”. This seems a good time to update you about what’s been happening. The “Next Gen” programme is more than updating the contents of Higher National Qualifications (HNQs) — although it certainly does that. It redesigns them in quite fundamental ways and introduces qualification grading (“Achieved”, “Merit” or “Distinction”). Four existing qualifications have been updated and one…
The team would like to welcome you back for session 2023/24. We hope that you had a nice summer holiday. The coming session is shaping up to be a busy and interesting year. NPA Data Science is being reviewed to address some of the issues that have been identified since it was first introduced in 2019. Data science is a vital discipline for Scotland and it’s pleasing to see the relatively rapid growth of this qualification since then. At the very…
I recently posted about our intention to revise NPA Data Science. The QDT has now agreed the changes. There will be no change to the qualification structures (at any of the levels) but the following units will be revised: Data Science (all levels) Data Citizenship (all levels) Machine Learning (Levels 5 and 6). We’re aiming to make these units simpler, clearer, less busy and with less assessment. Because we will be making changes to some of the mandatory contents (such…
As you will know from previous posts, our Data Skills units at SCQF levels 3,4 & 5 went live last year. I’m pleased to announce that the assessments for these 3 units are now also live. These can be found on our SOLAR website. Data Skills at SCQF Level 3 Data Skills at SCQF Level 4 Data Skills at SCQF Level 5 If you have any queries on the above, please contact our SOLAR team.
Now that NPA Esports is up and running, I’d like to share the FAQ for the new qualification, which might address some of your questions. Qualification FAQ (Esports) If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact Megan.
I’m pleased to announce that we will be developing a new National Progression Award in Computing. This broad based qualification has a working title of NPA Computing, and will cover a range of vocational knowledge and skills. Unlike most NPAs, which specialise in specific aspects of Computing, such as cyber security or data science, this qualification will be designed to be very broad, with elements from a range of sub-disciplines. We’re hoping that some existing National Units can be used…
As you know from previous posts we were in the process of developing 3 additional pathways for the Diploma in Digital Technology at SCQF Level 8 and 5 new pathways for the Diploma in Digital Technology at SCQF Level 6. I am pleased to announce that these pathways are now live. Please see the links below. Level 8 pathways: Diploma in Digital Technology: Cloud Infrastructure at SCQF Level 8 (GV2J 48) Diploma in Digital Technology: IT Support at SCQF Level…
Data Education in Schools is offering free courses on data literacy in the classroom. These are available to all primary and secondary school teachers in the Southeast of Scotland (City of Edinburgh, Fife, Borders, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian. For the primary course there will be four full-day sessions on (Wednesdays) 6th September 2023, 8 November, 24th January 2024, and 13th March 2024. And for the secondary course there will be four full-day sessions on Monday 25th September 2023 (please note this…
We’re going to undertake a review of NPA Data Science over the next few months. This will be a relatively minor review to address some of the feedback we’ve received about the qualification since it was first introduced in 2019. For example, teachers have told us that the units require too much evidence; we’ve also been told that the assessments could be improved. SQA will work with Data Education in Schools to make the changes. But we’d be delighted to…
