My apologies for the lack of information about this development. It’s been a while since I shared information about it. I had hoped to have the refreshed qualification available to centres for the start of this term (August) but a number of factors prevented that. As previously stated, the structure of the qualification is unchanged. But some of the units (including the mandatory units) have been revised. These are: Data Science (Levels 4, 5, 6) Data Citizenship (Levels 4, 5,…
Following the success of last year’s SQA Connections Week, SQA will be running the event again from Tuesday 1st to Friday 4th October 2024. 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 session: Thursday 3rd of October 4pm – 5pm: National Progression Award (NPA) in Computing Technology – this session will provide an overview of our…
I’m pleased to announce that SQA’s portfolio of computer games qualifications will be reviewed in the coming year. The review will be sectoral, and not specific to an individual qualification. We’ll look at everything game-related that SQA offers. SQA currently offers a range of awards relating to computer games: NPA Computer Games Development (SCQF Levels 4, 5 and 6) NC Computer Games Development (SCQF Levels 4, 5 and 6) HNC Computer Games Development (SCQF Level 7) HND Computer Games Development (SCQF…
Following Bobby’s previous blog post, I’m pleased to confirm we have now published the 14 new units for the NPA Computing Technology. The new units are. Computing Foundations SCQF Level 4/5/6 Computing Project SCQF Level 4/5/6 Artificial Intelligence SCQF Level 4/5/6 Computer Networking Fundamentals SCQF Level 4/6 Emerging Digital Technologies SCQF Level 4/5/6 I have linked all the units in the frameworks below. Computing Foundations SCQF Level 4 (J8DW 44) Computing Project SCQF Level 4 (J8DY 44) Artificial Intelligence SCQF…
I’m pleased to announce that SQA will be developing a new Higher National Qualification (HNQ) in esports. HNC Esports will be developed during session 2024/25 and available to centres from August 2025. It will be developed as part of SQA’s Next Gen initiative. SQA developed an NPA in this area during 2022/23, which has proven to be popular in schools and colleges, and we’ve had many requests to further develop HNQs in esports. The first stage in any development is…
My apologies for not providing more updates on this development since the last one in late April. At that time, I wrote that the validation event was going to take place in May but that was delayed due to problems in finding a suitable date when everyone was available. The validation actually took place on 14 June. The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed the change in title from NPA Computing to NPA Computing Technology. This change was suggested by…
Every year our team have an Uptake Analysis Review of our qualifications. The reason for this review is to see which of the qualifications in our portfolio fall within the criteria for withdrawal. This criteria is. Qualifications that have had no uptake or no valid open entries processed over the last two consecutive years. Qualifications that have had 100 or less entries over 5 years. As a result of this review, the following qualifications have been withdrawn. I have included…
The Qualifications Support Team (QST) for Computing met recently. The QST consists of practising teachers, lecturers and trainers and the main role of the committee is to consider potential changes to qualifications and advise about support materials. The committee meets once per year, normally in Spring (April/May) so that any changes can be implemented in time for the next session (August). At the most recent meeting, 8 proposals were considered and the majority (6) were approved with two others deferred…
As you know from previous posts, our level 5 Diploma in Information Technology and Telecommunications Professionals (GL2L 45) was extended for a further year and was due to go into lapsing on 30/04/2024. As there was no uptake for the qualification in the last year, it was recommended that the qualification was withdrawn. This qualification has now been withdrawn with an end date of 31/03/2024. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
This development is progressing well and the validation will take place on Friday, 24 May. The purpose of a validation event is for an independent group of experts to review the proposed qualification to ensure that it’s fit for purpose. The validation panel will ensure that the title of the qualification is appropriate, its aims and entry requirements are sensible, the contents are correct, and progression pathways have been considered. The outcome of validation is either that the qualification is…
It’s been a while since I posted an update about NPA Data Science and this seems a good time to let you know what’s been happening. The NPA was first introduced in 2019 and has been popular, with almost 3,000 learners undertaking the qualification since then. The current review was initiated because of feedback from centres that the assessment was burdensome. We took the opportunity to tidy the contents and, of course, modernise the units so that they include the…
One of the most important roles served by SQA is to check the quality of delivery in centres. This role is carried out by External Verifiers, who work within cognate groups. There are three cognate groups in Computing: Computer Science Digital Literacy Information Technology There’s a team of verifiers for each cognate group (membership often overlaps). An External Verifier (EV) is typically an experienced teacher, lecturer or trainer. The role is paid and contracts last for one year. The work…
I’m pleased to let you know that a large team of educators has commenced work on writing (vetting and verifying) the new units that will feature in NPA Computing. This is a large development, which will result in 12 new National Units covering a wide range of topics from AI to computing fundamentals. The units will be written between now and the end of March, after which they will be validated and published on the SQA website at the beginning…
Regular readers will know that Computing is one of the subjects being modernised as part of SQA’s Next Gen project. Part of that programme involves learner evaluation of their experiences when undertaking these new qualifications. Emma Campos, who many of you will know as a previous member of the Computing team, carried out this evaluation. I thought you might be interested in her findings. So, I’ll let Emma tell you in her own words. “Learners taking HNC Computing: Find the NextGen…
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Since my last update, I’m pleased to let you know that the QDT has agreed frameworks for NPA Computing at each of the three levels. The qualification will have the same framework at each level: Computing Fundamentals (mandatory) Computing Project (mandatory) Artificial Intelligence (option) Computer Games: Development (option) Computer Hardware & Systems (option) Computer Network Fundamentals (option) Computer Programming (option) Data Science (option) Data Security (option) Emerging Digital Technologies (option) Esports: Game Performance (option). The qualification will comprise two mandatory units…
Regular readers will know that Higher National Qualifications (HNQs) are being revised as part of the “Next Generation” programme. Computing was one of the first subjects to be selected and we’ve now developed five new qualifications: HNC Computing HND Computer Science HND Data Science HND Networking & Cloud Infrastructure HND Software Development. HNC Computing was piloted in 2022/23 and 2023/24 in two colleges and, this year, we’re piloting HND Networking and HND Software Development (also in two colleges). I’m pleased…
Me and the team wish you all a Happy New Year and a successful 2024. I posted a review of 2023 just before Christmas and I want to outline what we hope to achieve this year in this message. There are three on-going developments right now. We’re in the middle of developing NPA Computing, which will be ready for session 2024/25, refreshing NPA Data Science, also ready for next session, and continuing to pilot new Higher National Qualifications (HNQs), specifically…
Twenty twenty-three has been a busy year for the team. The first part of the year was taken up with the Diploma in Digital Technology, a new Competence Based Qualification (CBQ) that replaced a number of existing awards, and the development of units within NPA Esports. We were also busy at that time with finalising the grading models for Next Gen Computing awards. NPA Esports was made available to centres in April. The new CBQ diplomas were made available in…
The second meeting of the Qualification Development Team (QDT) for NPA Computing took place yesterday. Sixteen people attended, representing schools, colleges, universities, employers and national organisations. The lead developer and me reported on the consultation that has taken place since the first meeting. There was a huge response (195 respondents) to the survey and the lead carried out a large number of one-to-one interviews. We proposed a number of options to members. There was broad agreement about the following. We’ll…
