Qualification Support Team for NC Computing

The Qualification Support Team (QST) responsible for supporting non-advanced awards met this afternoon in the SQA offices in Glasgow. Representatives of various colleges attended to discuss ways in which SQA can support non-advanced awards such as the National Certificate in Digital Media Computing and the various NPAs that exist at SCQF Levels 4, 5 and 6, such as PC Passport.

The main purpose of each QST meeting is to discuss the suggestions for improvement or support that we receive from centres but today we also had an interesting discussion on the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), which will have a big impact on vocational education. It was very pleasing to hear from the school representatives that Computing is already well positioned to meet the requirements of CfE through such provision as the new NPAs in Computer Games Development.

We also had a presentation from Julie Carruth, of SQA, who explained the new process for developing qualifications. The days when people like me decided (or not) to develop awards have gone and there are now formal processes that must be gone. Julie pointed out that this might slow things down a little but is more transparent and professional way to go about things.

An issue came up about the way centres sometimes ask for support. We receive requests in various formats and this can cause problems when we try to interpret what is meant (one request today had to be returned to sender because we didn't know what he actually wanted). So, we agreed, that from now on we would only accept requests for support if they were received on the proper forms, which is either an HN comment form or a QST form.

We're always looking for new blood so contact Hilary if you are interested in serving on this QST.