Qualifications Support Team meeting for NC/PDAs

The Qualifications Support Team (QST) for the NC and NPA awards in my area met yesterday afternoon in the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow.

The purpose of this committee is to monitor the operation of NC/NPA awards, and advise me about what needs to be done to support centres. Members include teachers, lecturers and representatives of support agencies. The main discussion points at yesterday's meeting were PC Passport and the development of the new NPAs.

The new PC Passport is being introduced by many centres this year (it was available in 2007 but most centres stuck with the the original awards) and there are a range of implementation issues arising from centres. I received helpful advice about what SQA could do to support centres.

With respect to NPAs, members wanted SQA to provide support materials for all units that form part of NPAs (at present some units have assessment packs and some don't). I agreed to take this forward.



An important function of the committee is to discuss proposals from centres for changes to existing awards and changes to assessments. We looked at nine proposals yesterday and agreed (subject to funding) to create some new units for the existing NC awards.

QSTs provide an important link between SQA and centres, and serving on it gives members an opportunity to influence how and what SQA does to support our qualifications. We're always looking to be as representative as possible so please contact Shirley if you want to find out more about serving on a QST.