I’m pleased to let you know that Emma has returned from maternity leave. She returned to work (full-time) on Monday. Emma can be contacted at emma.campos@sqa.org.uk. I’ve got Lorraine for a couple more weeks (before she returns to her substantive post in Contracts) so, for a short time, I have the luxury of three Qualifications Officers. Emma returns to her portfolio of non-advanced qualifications, which includes the recently developed NPA Data Science and the enhanced support materials for NPA Cyber…

There has been lots of interest in the new data science qualification. It’s similar to the huge interest generated by NPA Cyber Security in 2015. I’m hoping that it turns out to be equally successful. Although some schools and colleges will offer the award this year, two things appear to be holding back centres. One is the relative lateness of it being available and the other is lack of confidence (in data science) among teachers. To help with the second…

We’ve held an annual conference for Computing qualifications for a long time (going back more than 20 years) but next year (2020) we’re doing something a little different. Next year’s conference will combine vocational and academic qualifications, so it will cover the full suite of Computing awards ranging from Nationals to HNDs. The event will be a mix of keynotes, workshops and demonstrations. We’ve already thought about the workshops, which will likely include the new materials for NPA Cyber Security,…