{"id":126,"date":"2024-02-09T13:59:33","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T13:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.qualifications.gov.scot\/features\/?p=126"},"modified":"2025-01-14T09:21:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T09:21:30","slug":"providing-trusted-advice-and-guidance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qualifications.gov.scot\/features\/providing-trusted-advice-and-guidance\/","title":{"rendered":"Providing trusted advice and guidance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been at SQA for nearly three years, having previously worked for a local authority for 18 years in an employer engagement position. I account manage 90 centres and I\u2019m in the unique position of having been in my customer\u2019s shoes \u2013 in my previous job I was the SQA Coordinator for our centre and assessed and verified a range of SQA qualifications. Having been an SQA customer previously, I understand the challenges my customers can face so I hope I can provide relevant quality advice and support on a range of issues.<\/p>\n<p>I cover a large geographic area \u2013 as far south as Whithorn and as far west as Arran which involves travelling through some amazing scenery to visit centres. Part of my role involves understanding the regional skills assessments for each area and working closely with my centres to plug gaps and ultimately develop pathways for learner progression.<\/p>\n<p>My team and I also promote opportunities for national developments when a centre identifies a gap in our provision. Two of the schools in my area, Dalbeattie and Castle Douglas identified a gap in computing provision for their pupils. SQA colleagues worked closely with the schools to submit a Development Opportunity Form, which was approved. The qualification will be available to all Scottish centres in the future. Find out more information on our <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.qualifications.gov.scot\/computing\/qdt-for-npa-computing\/\">computing blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Providing quality advice is so important in my role \u2013 many customers will request an initial meeting to talk about delivering a certain qualification, but that first conversation is key and often presents opportunities they wouldn\u2019t have initially thought of. A lot of customers don\u2019t know about SQA Customised Awards and how they can create their own qualification based on their in-house training; I have two centres currently going through this process.<\/p>\n<p>In order to provide quality advice to my customers, I rely on the strong relationships I have built with colleagues in SQA. I get lots of questions and I don\u2019t have the answer to everything, so a big part of my role is finding the right person to speak to within the business and getting back to my customer in a timely manner. I wouldn\u2019t be able to do my job without all the help I receive behind the scenes.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m looking forward to continuing my SQA journey and helping many more centres. If you\u2019d like to discuss your organisation becoming an SQA Approved Centre to deliver our huge range of qualifications, please email <a href=\"mailto:businessdevelopment@sqa.org.uk\">businessdevelopment@sqa.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SQA\u2019s Scotland Regional Managers work directly with schools, colleges, local education authorities, employers and training providers in Scotland, providing extensive knowledge and tailored support across SQA\u2019s qualifications portfolio.<\/p>\n<p>We recently caught up with Maureen Wallace, Regional Manager for Dumfries and Galloway and North, South and East Ayrshire to learn more about her background, and role in SQA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.9.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Providing trusted advice and guidance - Features and developments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.qualifications.gov.scot\/features\/providing-trusted-advice-and-guidance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Providing trusted advice and guidance - Features and developments\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SQA\u2019s Scotland Regional Managers work directly with schools, colleges, local education authorities, employers and training providers in Scotland, providing extensive knowledge and tailored support across SQA\u2019s qualifications portfolio.  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