Led by Juliette McGinley, Senior Operations Manager and Marie Woods, Deputy Lead Verifier, the webinar reflected on SQA’s current practices in quality assurance, then explained how the pilot will be evaluated before new processes are rolled out for the next phase of the project.
Sharing good practice
The webinar covered feedback from the pilot centres, New College Lanarkshire and Edinburgh College, which are both piloting the HNC in Television. There have been many ‘touchpoint’ meetings, where External Quality Assurers from the centres share good practice and discuss what has and has not been working well.
These touchpoints are decided by the centres and have allowed SQA to engage with them frequently as the pilot progresses. Discussing matters as they arise means quality assurance issues can be addressed throughout the qualification delivery. Procedures are therefore no longer end loaded and are addressed by both parties, something both SQA and the pilot centres recognise as a positive step.
Pilots proving to be successful
Feedback from the pilot centres is very encouraging – a 50% reduction in the volume of assessments at two thirds of the way through the qualification delivers on the NextGen: HN design principles to reduce assessment burden. The pilot centres also highlight project-led assessment and lining up with real working practice as successful outcomes.
If there was ever any apprehension surrounding meta-skills, the findings showed that we don’t need to worry about this element of the new qualifications. In fact, it is an area that both learners and practitioners are thoroughly enjoying.
If the pilot is representative of what is to come, then the results of the evaluation at the end of June should be extremely positive.
Phase two developments
With only two pilot centres, quality assurance colleagues have been able to engage with the centres in detail, allowing the groundwork to be set for the next phase of the project. The feedback and touchpoints are helping shape processes, making way for a successful phase two.
Centres that will be piloting phase two developments in 2022/23 will be contacted shortly to discuss the new approaches to quality assurance for NextGen: HN.
Upcoming webinars
The NextGen: HN webinar series runs from January to June 2022. The dates and themes of upcoming webinars are listed below.
- Grading Models – 21 April 2022, 4-5 pm
- Learning for Sustainability – 24 May 2022, 4-5 pm
- Pilot Reflections – 22 June 2022, 4-5 pm
Get further information and book to attend the webinars.
All webinars in the series will be recorded. The recording of the Quality Assurance webinar is available on the NextGen: HN website.
If you would like to find out more about the NextGen: HN project or have any queries, please contact the team.
