August 16, 2024 - Gayle -
Following Bobby’s previous blog post, I’m pleased to confirm we have now published the 14 new units for the NPA Computing Technology. The new units are. Computing Foundations SCQF Level 4/5/6 Computing Project SCQF Level 4/5/6 Artificial Intelligence SCQF Level 4/5/6 Computer Networking Fundamentals SCQF Level 4/6 Emerging Digital Technologies SCQF Level 4/5/6 I have linked all the units in the frameworks below. Computing Foundations SCQF Level 4 (J8DW 44) Computing Project SCQF Level 4 (J8DY 44) Artificial Intelligence SCQF…
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August 15, 2024 - Bobby -
I’m pleased to announce that SQA will be developing a new Higher National Qualification (HNQ) in esports. HNC Esports will be developed during session 2024/25 and available to centres from August 2025. It will be developed as part of SQA’s Next Gen initiative. SQA developed an NPA in this area during 2022/23, which has proven to be popular in schools and colleges, and we’ve had many requests to further develop HNQs in esports. The first stage in any development is…
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August 15, 2024 - Bobby -
My apologies for not providing more updates on this development since the last one in late April. At that time, I wrote that the validation event was going to take place in May but that was delayed due to problems in finding a suitable date when everyone was available. The validation actually took place on 14 June. The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed the change in title from NPA Computing to NPA Computing Technology. This change was suggested by…
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Every year our team have an Uptake Analysis Review of our qualifications. The reason for this review is to see which of the qualifications in our portfolio fall within the criteria for withdrawal. This criteria is. Qualifications that have had no uptake or no valid open entries processed over the last two consecutive years. Qualifications that have had 100 or less entries over 5 years. As a result of this review, the following qualifications have been withdrawn. I have included…
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The Qualifications Support Team (QST) for Computing met recently. The QST consists of practising teachers, lecturers and trainers and the main role of the committee is to consider potential changes to qualifications and advise about support materials. The committee meets once per year, normally in Spring (April/May) so that any changes can be implemented in time for the next session (August). At the most recent meeting, 8 proposals were considered and the majority (6) were approved with two others deferred…
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As you know from previous posts, our level 5 Diploma in Information Technology and Telecommunications Professionals (GL2L 45) was extended for a further year and was due to go into lapsing on 30/04/2024. As there was no uptake for the qualification in the last year, it was recommended that the qualification was withdrawn. This qualification has now been withdrawn with an end date of 31/03/2024. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
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This development is progressing well and the validation will take place on Friday, 24 May. The purpose of a validation event is for an independent group of experts to review the proposed qualification to ensure that it’s fit for purpose. The validation panel will ensure that the title of the qualification is appropriate, its aims and entry requirements are sensible, the contents are correct, and progression pathways have been considered. The outcome of validation is either that the qualification is…
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It’s been a while since I posted an update about NPA Data Science and this seems a good time to let you know what’s been happening. The NPA was first introduced in 2019 and has been popular, with almost 3,000 learners undertaking the qualification since then. The current review was initiated because of feedback from centres that the assessment was burdensome. We took the opportunity to tidy the contents and, of course, modernise the units so that they include the…
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One of the most important roles served by SQA is to check the quality of delivery in centres. This role is carried out by External Verifiers, who work within cognate groups. There are three cognate groups in Computing: Computer Science Digital Literacy Information Technology There’s a team of verifiers for each cognate group (membership often overlaps). An External Verifier (EV) is typically an experienced teacher, lecturer or trainer. The role is paid and contracts last for one year. The work…
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February 29, 2024 - Bobby -
I’m pleased to let you know that a large team of educators has commenced work on writing (vetting and verifying) the new units that will feature in NPA Computing. This is a large development, which will result in 12 new National Units covering a wide range of topics from AI to computing fundamentals. The units will be written between now and the end of March, after which they will be validated and published on the SQA website at the beginning…
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