PC Passport validation event
The validation of PC Passport took place today in the SQA offices in Glasgow. The Validation Panel was made up of representatives of colleges, employers and SQA. The purpose of a validation event is for fresh eyes to review the proposed changes to a qualification. The Qualification Development Team (QDT) presented a new Group Award Specification and explained the reasons behind the choices that we have made.
It was a good meeting, held in a constructive spirit, with both sides trying to improve the award. The outcome was that the QDT have a number of conditions and recommendations to address. The conditions are mostly simple to carry out (such as include a statement on accessibility) but one was significant. The QDT was asked to look at the structure of the qualification to include information skills and provide an element of choice to learners. We discussed a number of ways of doing this and I offered to consult with stakeholders about the best way of going about that.
The validation of the component Units is done separately from the validation of the group awards. These units are not yet validated. We are trying to make them as compatible with vendor awards as possible and this is taking more time than planned. I hope to have the Units validated by the end of January.
We would rather get the new PC Passport right than get it quickly. I had hoped to have the new award available to centres from January but that looks more likely to be March given the work still to be done. I think that the wait will be worth it. The updated qualification will significantly update the existing award (with a focus on collaboration and cloud computing), be a better fit for the latest productivity software (such as Office 2016), and ties in with a number of national developments (such as Developing the Young Workforce).
We’ll be working on the conditions and recommendations over the coming weeks. Contact Helen if you want more information about the revised PC Passport award.
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[…] of the conditions from the recent validation event for PC Passport was to consider different structures for the qualification. The QDT presented their […]
[…] morning. PC Passport has been validated. A number of conditions were placed on the award at the recent validation event, and it has taken time to address these conditions but I’m delighted to let you know that […]