The NPAs PC Passport and Digital Passport launch event will take place in Village Urban Resort, Glasgow on Friday 27th November 2015. It is now available for booking. You can book here. If you have any query about registration, please contact the Events team.
Read moreRead more about PC Passport and Digital Passport launch event – 27th November, GlasgowFollowing last week’s launch event, the new Cyber Security qualifications have been in the news. Today’s Herald has an article about them and the Scottish Government has been promoting them too. SQA has made a YouTube video to encourage schools to offer them. There has been a great deal of interest in these new qualifications. Many schools are offering one or more of them alongside more traditional qualifications, and several colleges are offering them as part of the National Certificate.…
Read moreRead more about Cyber qualifications in the newsI previously mentioned that Caroline was changing jobs within SQA. Today is the day that she moves to her new job in the Assessment Development & Delivery team. I am currently seeking a replacement for her but until the team gets back up to full strength I would ask you to be patient if our response times are slower than normal. Caroline was responsible for advanced qualifications so this area is more likely to be affected by her absence. It’s a…
Read moreRead more about Team changesThe launch event for the new qualifications in Cyber Security took place yesterday in the Stirling Highland Hotel. There was an excellent attendance, on a beautiful day, with 90 people attending both sessions. Sixty five schools and ten colleges were represented at the event, with representatives of regional councils, universities and employers also in attendance. The agenda included a lot of interesting talks, not just about the contents of the awards but also about the growing importance of cyber security, including the excellent…
Read moreRead more about Cyber Security launch eventI mentioned some time ago that we were working on a new National Unit on cyber security entitled Cyber Security Fundamentals at SCQF Level 4. We hoped to have the Unit ready for August but it was delayed. I’m pleased to let you know that the Unit is now finished and was sent for coding yesterday. You can see the final (uncoded) version of the Unit here. The Unit was designed to be an introduction to the field of cyber security, suitable for…
Read moreRead more about Cyber Security Fundamentals is completeI’ve spent the last day-and-a-half at this year’s Scottish Learning Festival at the Scottish Conference and Exhibition Centre in Glasgow. The event was, as always, well organised with lots of interesting talks and workshops. I attended the Minister for Education’s keynote yesterday morning. A recurring theme in her talk was the importance of raising attainment for all pupils, and closing the attainment gap between the well-off and the poor. She pointed out that she has raised the targets for universities to recruit students…
Read moreRead more about Scottish Learning FestivalI received an e-mail this week from a school teacher who wanted my help to convince his Head Teacher to offer more vocational qualifications in his school. He currently offered the NPA in Computer Games Development (which he described as “very, very good”) but wanted to offer more vocational awards. He posed several questions: what is available? do they contribute towards a school’s achievement? do they generate UCAS points? do they articulate with college courses? I tried to address each question. There is a…
Read moreRead more about Vocational qualifications in schoolsWe still have some spaces left for the Afternoon Session (13.30 – 16.00 with registration at 13.00). There is no charge to attend this event. If you are interested in attending this event, please register by 24th September.
Read moreRead more about Cyber Security launch event on 1st October – spaces still availableWe are planning to host a validation event for the NPA PC Passport in the first week of November this year. More information about this development can be found via the FAQ and posts on the Computing blog. We are seeking volunteers to join the validation panel. If you are interested or have any query, please contact me by Friday 25/09/15.
Read moreRead more about NPA PC Passport – Validation PanelAs you may already know from previous blog posts and the FAQ, the Qualification Design Team (QDT) for NPA PC Passport have been working on a review of the current awards. We are now at the stage of consultation and the survey is now live. You can access it here: NPA PC Passport Consultation The aim of this survey is to get feedback on the draft qualification. This feedback will be used to gauge satisfaction with the proposed changes. You do not have to…
Read moreRead more about NPA PC Passport – Consultation Survey