Additional support for NPA Data Science
There has been lots of interest in the new data science qualification. It’s similar to the huge interest generated by NPA Cyber Security in 2015. I’m hoping that it turns out to be equally successful.
Although some schools and colleges will offer the award this year, two things appear to be holding back centres. One is the relative lateness of it being available and the other is lack of confidence (in data science) among teachers. To help with the second issue, I’m working on additional support materials for this new qualification.
SQA is funded to provide qualifications and support materials — but the materials are limited to assessments for mandatory units only. So, assessments are coming for the Data Science and Data Citizenship units (at all levels). I’m pleased to let you know that we’re also going to produce assessments for some (most) of the optional units. Funding has been made available for additional assessments for Machine Learning (Level 5 and 6) and Data Science: Project (Level 5 and 6). That means that only the Data Science: Statistics units will be without assessments.
Several national organisations and industry partners have came forward to offer their support for this qualification. I plan to convene a short-life working group (SLWG) to see what we can come up with. There is clearly a need for teaching and learning material (pitched at the appropriate level) so that will be a priority. I’ll let you know what we come up with. There is already a lot of existing material (Youtube videos, podcasts, articles, etc.) that could be used but, ideally, I’d like customised teaching and learning material.
Please contact Emma for more information about support materials for this award or to volunteer to join the SLWG.
2 Comments
Great article explaining about the qualifications.
[…] to Bobby’s blog post a couple of weeks ago, we have managed to secure some funding to produce additional support […]