Digital Passport validation

The validation event for Digital Passport was held yesterday in the SQA offices in Glasgow. The purpose of a validation event is to check that new (or revised) qualifications fulfil a genuine need and are properly designed.

Validation events are "meetings of peers" -- we're all there to improve the qualification. The "panel" is made up of stakeholders (representing schools, colleges, employers and national bodies), and the Qualification Development Team (QDT) is made up of the people (usually classroom practitioners) who created the qualification.

The validation event is a vital milestone in the development of a new qualification, and I am delighted to report that Digital Passport was validated, with some conditions and recommendations, which, I think, will improve it. But the basic structure of the award is unchanged. So, we (the development team) were delighted with the outcome.

This means that there will be a new suite of National Progression Awards, at SCQF Levels 4, 5 and 6, available to centres from April of this year. Readers of this blog will know that we're pretty excited about Digital Passport since we think it's the most advanced digital literacy award in the UK.

Once we get the award fully validated and "on the system", I'll say more about the launch events that we're planning. In the meantime, please contact Hilary for more information about this new award. I reassured the panel that we hadn't forgotten about PC Passport. A refreshed version of PC Passport will be available to centres within the next few months.