Happy New Year from the team!
SQA returned from the Christmas holiday today. We hope you had a nice Christmas and New Year. This coming year looks like being a busy one.
The team is changing or, rather, the team is reverting to what it was. Emma and Helen are returning to the team and Gayle and Megan are returning to their substantive posts. These changes are a result of changes to the way Next Gen developments are supported. Helen and Emma have lots of experience of qualification development and, more recently, the Next Gen initiative. Gayle and Megan have been great and I’d like to thank them for their help over the last few years.
We’re in the process of finalising the revised NPA Data Science (the revised units have already been published). The new subject page should be available within the next few weeks. I’ll write a longer post about this qualification once it’s up-and-running. NPA Computing Technologies launched this academic session and it has generated a lot of interest in schools and colleges. We’re currently developing support materials (assessments) for this new award. We’re in the middle of a review of the computer games sector (which includes NPA, HNC and HND Computer Games Development) and the recommendations from that review will be taken forward this year. I expect that, at the very least, the current qualifications will be revised. Regular readers will know we’re developing HNC Esports, which will be finalised in Spring and available to centres from August. This qualification will join the suite of Next Gen qualifications already developed (which includes HNC Computing, HND Networking and HND Software Development), which are currently being piloted in the number of Scottish colleges.
This work is only possible thanks to contributions from practising educators so I hope you’ll consider getting involved in 2025. Scotland is unique in the way we develop qualifications in partnership with teachers, lecturers and trainers.
Please contact Emma if you want to know more about any non-advanced qualification (NPA and NC) or CBQs. Contact Helen if you want to know more about Higher National Qualifications.
