Qualification Support Team meeting for NC/NPA awards

The Qualification Support Team (QST) for my non-advanced awards met this afternoon in the SQA offices in Glasgow. QSTs are charged with advising SQA about the support needs of our awards.

A key part of any QST meeting is consideration of proposals from centres, which can request improved assessments or revised unit specifications. We use two types of form: a QST proposal form, for such things as requesting changes to units, and an assessment feedback form, to ask us to revised assessments.





There was only one proposal today, perhaps reflecting the maturity and stability of this area, and this related to the Weblog unit, pointing out that some of the assessments were out of date. We agreed not only to look at the assessments but also the unit itself, in case we need to update both.

We had interesting discussions about a number of other topics. One worth mentioning is membership. We're looking for new members, so if you are interested in serving on this QST please contact Hilary.

I concluded the meeting by informing members about an important change in the way (all) QSTs will work in future. There will be no more face-to-face meetings. QSTs will, in future, be done online, through an online group. This will permit proposals to be considered on an on-going basis, rather than twice per year. Some members expressed regret at this change and suggested that we try to use social media (such as Skype) to keep the face-to-face aspect alive. I agreed to put some ideas together about how we can use ICT to communicate effectively.

Please contact Hilary if you want to know more about QSTs or want to submit a QST proposal form. QSTs are a great way to ensure that you receive the support that you need.