SQA CENTRE NEWS

SQA.org.uk improvements

Following customer feedback, we are pleased to announce that a number of improvements to SQA.org.uk will be going live this weekend.

Home page/navigation

The new home page has clear user selection panels as the main focus and a more streamlined layout for key content and information. Some customers thought the old home page design was too busy and that it was not clear how to get to pages specifically aimed at them.

Qualifications

We have merged Subjects and Qualifications into a single area so that it’s more straightforward to access all qualification information from one place.

Page layout and content

We have changed the site layout on all pages from a three-column to a two-column layout and increased the font size used. These changes improve clarity and will help you get to what you are looking for more quickly.

Site personalisation

There are several personalisation options now available:

• I am… provides access to specific content that is most relevant to you
• Choose Country provides specific content depending on where you are, with new content for SQA’s international and ‘rest of UK’ customers
• myAlerts, our e-mail alerts service, has been improved so that you can subscribe to website pages and sections simply by using the ‘Subscribe’ button located on every page
• Sign in, a simple way to access SQA’s secure web services such as SQA Connect, SQA Secure, MySQA, and SQA Academy has been added to the site, next to the site search
• What do you think?
• We’re always looking to improve the website. So if there are areas that you think can be improved, or if you have any other suggestions, please let us know by e-mailing web.team@sqa.org.uk

Higher Art and Design

A communication was issued to centres this week advising of an update to the Specimen Question Paper for the new Higher Art and Design. Following feedback from practitioners, four questions within the paper have been changed to clarify what candidates will be expected to focus on within their answers. Practitioners are urged to use this latest version when preparing their candidates. To coincide with this update, the Course Assessment Specification has also been revised to provide further details on social, cultural and other factors that influence art and design work. A comparative document has been published to clearly illustrate the changes made. Further details of these changes are provided in the Updates and Announcements section of the Higher Art and Design Page

Mathematics and Lifeskills Mathematics

National 3 to National 5

Unit assessment support packs for National 3 to National 5 Mathematics and Lifeskills Mathematics have been amended and are now available on SQA\'s secure site. The amended packs are dated July 2014.

Available soon

• Additional National 3 and National 5 Numeracy Unit assessment support packs
• National 4 Added Value Unit Additional Questions (more questions to facilitate the construction of tests which match the amended Unit Specifications)
• Amended Higher Mathematics Unit assessment support packs

NQ Advanced Higher dissertation topic titles 2015

RMPS

Titles in Advanced Higher Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies no longer require to be submitted for approval. An approved list of topics is available.

History and Modern Studies

The 2015 Dissertation Topic Title Approval Forms for Advanced Higher History and Modern Studies are now available on the relevant subject pages of SQA\'s secure site.

Approved lists of titles for Advanced Higher History and Advanced Higher Modern Studies are on the relevant subject pages of our main website. It is acceptable to make minor changes to their wording.

Titles that are not included in the revised lists may be submitted to SQA for approval. The SQA Co-ordinator should send details on the appropriate form to dissertation@sqa.org.uk by 1 November 2014.

No entries will be accepted from candidates. No entries will be accepted in paper format except in exceptional circumstances.

If you have any queries relating to Dissertation Topic Titles please contact Alex Purves on 0345-213 6713 or e-mail alex.purves@sqa.org.uk

College Co-ordinator Conference — August 2014

We are hosting a conference to offer on-going support and guidance to SQA Co-ordinators. The conference will be held in Stirling on 26 August 2014 and will have both a qualifications and operations focus, including a range of keynote information sessions. Online bookings are now open. To find out more, visit www.sqa.org.uk/cfeevents

SQA Connect — tutorial videos

We have produced a suite of tutorial videos to help you navigate and use SQA Connect more efficiently. There are eight tutorial videos providing instruction on how to activate your account, add or remove services, change user e-mail addresses, change user permissions, create accounts, delete accounts, edit centre details and reset your password. The Connect tutorial videos can be viewed on our website or via a link on the landing page of SQA Connect.

Prior verification

Requests for 2014–15 prior verification can be made from Monday 18 August. For guidance on making a request for prior verification, please visit www.sqa.org.uk/cfedelivery This web page contains a guidance document and request form which have recently been updated for session 2014–15.

Assessment Arrangements updated

We have updated our guidance on Assessment Arrangements for disabled candidates and/or those with additional support needs. The documents Introduction to Assessment Arrangements, Assessment Arrangements Explained and Quality Assurance have been updated and are now available from the ‘Related Information’ section of the Assessment Arrangements page.

Please note that changes made to this guidance reflect the provision and quality assurance of Assessment Arrangements in the new National Qualifications.

Internal assessment support materials

The following new and revised internal assessment support materials were published in July 2014.

HN: Administration and IT and Business, Commissioning, Procurement and Contracting for Care Services, Computer Science, Social Sciences.

ASPs: Built Environment, Computing Digital Media

SVQ: Procurement

TAP: Construction

To see the complete list, please visit our internal assessment support materials web page.

Your Coursework

We have produced a new edition of Your Coursework — this replaces the previous edition published in July 2013. Hard copies of the new version have been sent to centres this week for distribution to learners. You can also download the publication.

HN Business-related subjects

The August 2014 update letter is now on the subject pages for HNC/D Accounting; HNC/D Administration and Information Technology; and HNC/D Business. The letter provides centres with a general update plus information which relates to each of the Group Awards. The appendices relate to HNC/D Accounting and provide information on accounting standards and terminology.

HN Business-related subjects web pages:

• HNC/D Accounting
• HNC/D Administration and Information Technology
• HNC/D Business

HN Mathematics

The updated HN Mathematics web page is now available.

H72L 33 Mathematics for Construction

We have clarified the wording in Statement of Standards Outcomes 2 and 3 and corrected the wording in the Support Notes for Outcome 3.

Version 3 of H72L 33 Mathematics for Construction

HN Engineering Mathematics

Unit specifications are now available for:

• H7K0 33 Engineering Mathematics 1
• H7K1 34 Engineering Mathematics 2
• H7K2 34 Engineering Mathematics 3
• H7K3 35 Engineering Mathematics 4
• H7K4 35 Engineering Mathematics 5

Assessment Exemplars for Units 1 and 2 will be available late September 2014; Units 3 to 5 will be available late October 2014.

NQ subject updates

Over the following weeks, we will be introducing a new look to our subject update letters. These updates complement our regular monthly and weekly communications, with more subject-specific information and reminders of what we have been working on. The 2014–15 update letter for Biology, Biotechnology, Environmental Science, Human Biology and Science is now available from the relevant subject pages. Other subject updates will be available by mid-September.

Higher Art and Design

A communication was issued to centres last week advising of an update to the Specimen Question Paper for the new Higher Art and Design.
Following feedback from practitioners, four questions within the paper have been changed to clarify what candidates will be expected to focus on within their answers. Practitioners are urged to use this latest version when preparing their candidates.
To coincide with this update, the Course Assessment Specification has also been revised to provide further details on social, cultural and other factors that influence art and design work. A comparative document has been published to clearly illustrate the changes made.
Further details of these changes are provided in the Updates and Announcements section of the Higher Art and Design page.