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Computing & Digital Blog

January 11, 2024

Happy New Year!

Me and the team wish you all a Happy New Year and a successful 2024. I posted a review of 2023 just before Christmas and I want to outline what we hope to achieve this year in this message. There are three on-going developments right now. We’re in the middle of developing NPA Computing, which will be ready for session 2024/25, refreshing NPA Data Science, also ready for next session, and continuing to pilot new Higher National Qualifications (HNQs), specifically…

Categories: Computing

Bobby 0

December 21, 2023

Review of the year

Twenty twenty-three has been a busy year for the team. The first part of the year was taken up with the Diploma in Digital Technology, a new Competence Based Qualification (CBQ) that replaced a number of existing awards, and the development of units within NPA Esports. We were also busy at that time with finalising the grading models for Next Gen Computing awards. NPA Esports was made available to centres in April. The new CBQ diplomas were made available in…

Categories: Computing

Bobby 0

December 15, 2023

QDT for NPA Computing

The second meeting of the Qualification Development Team (QDT) for NPA Computing took place yesterday. Sixteen people attended, representing schools, colleges, universities, employers and national organisations. The lead developer and me reported on the consultation that has taken place since the first meeting. There was a huge response (195 respondents) to the survey and the lead carried out a large number of one-to-one interviews. We proposed a number of options to members. There was broad agreement about the following. We’ll…

Categories: Computing

Bobby 0

November 14, 2023

Team changes and portfolio changes

Following on from my post about Amy moving to another team within SQA, I’m pleased to let you know that Gayle Rennie has join the team to replace Amy. Gayle has responsibility for non-advanced qualifications (SCQF Levels 3-6) and CBQs (SCQF Levels 5-8). Megan has moved to advanced qualifications (SCQF Levels 7-9). In other words, contact Gayle for NPAs, NCs and CBQs; contact Megan for HNQs and PDAs. If you’re not sure who to contact, you can write to computing@sqa.org.uk. Gayle…

Categories: Computing

Bobby 0

October 31, 2023

Help us develop NPA Computing

I’m pleased to let you know that a lead developer has been appointed to lead the development of NPA Computing. The developer is an experienced teacher from a Scottish school. One of the lead’s roles is to carry out consultation prior to designing the qualification. This involves qualitative and quantitative research. The lead will be speaking with a range of stakeholders to get their ideas about what should be included in the qualification, while me and my team carry out…

Categories: Computing

Bobby 0