“Learners are at the heart of what we do”. Anyone working in the education industry will have come across this statement more than once. However, how can we be confident we are meeting learner’s needs? I have been involved in qualification development at SQA for over 10 years and, in my experience, learner engagement has been limited. However, we aim to change that as part of the NextGen: HN project. We have developed a robust engagement strategy, whereby learners can feed back on their learning experience during the pilot delivery stage. The strategy involves meeting with learners twice over the academic session, as well as collating data through surveys. We have been implementing this approach since NextGen: HN qualifications began piloting in 2022. We have recently concluded the second year of face-to-face engagement, with 118 learner focus groups split across two rounds of engagement.
I often compare qualifications to plays; the content would be the script, while the delivery would be the performance on stage. Both elements are interdependent and equally important, and one can’t be successful without the other. I conducted 42 of the focus groups for session 2023-34, which covered a variety of subjects. When talking with learners, we initially focused on the content, but it was no surprise that their feedback often related to aspects of delivery, such as timetabling, timing of assessments, etc. Gathering learners’ views was valuable for several reasons:
- Learners were able to voice their views and concerns to an independent party
- Feedback was shared with practitioners in pilot centres, highlighting specific areas for their consideration
- Content-related feedback was communicated to subject teams in SQA, which was used to influence changes within some NextGen: HN qualifications. Learners were advised of the impact of their feedback at subsequent meetings.
Furthermore, the discussions with learners allowed us to identify support needs within pilot centres and ensure additional resources were developed to support delivery. For instance, the first year of engagement highlighted an inconsistent pattern of meta-skills delivery, which resulted in different learning experiences for learners. To address this, we developed a suite of meta-skills resources and guidance documents for the following session. Feedback from learners showed that these resources had a positive impact, with an increased awareness and understanding of meta-skills across all qualifications.
We have worked alongside pilot centres since the beginning of development and through pilot delivery, and we appreciate how challenging the transition to NextGen: HN can be. However, the learner engagement highlighted excellent examples of innovative delivery approaches around assessments and meta-skills, which were consistently reflected in positive learner feedback.
In conclusion, listening to learners is not only about them sharing their views and needs, but also giving them the opportunity to influence the design and delivery of qualifications, striving for a more successful and effective education for everyone involved.
