• SQA Centre News

Arrangements for Highers in 2015-16

Session 2014-15 is the final session in which the existing Higher will run in centres; from August 2015, only the new Higher will be available. Any candidates wishing to undertake a Higher Course in 2015-16 will be required to follow the new Higher. As a result, candidates who receive a ‘No Award’ result for an existing Higher Course in 2015 will be unable to re-sit the Course assessment in 2016.

However, SQA is putting an arrangement in place to support these candidates, by including the existing Higher Units in the new Higher Course Frameworks with a finish date of 31 July 2016. Until this date, candidates who have passed all of the Units in an existing Higher Course, but not achieved the Course assessment, may have their Unit passes carried across to the new Higher Course.    Find out more…

Question paper time extended for National 5 Geography

The 2015 National 5 Geography exam will be extended by 15 minutes.

Candidates will now have 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete the question paper. This follows recent feedback from practitioners.

The 2015 exam timetable on our website has been updated to reflect this change.
Continue reading CPD Bulletin 13th October →

CPD BULLETIN 29th September

SQA CENTRE NEWS

Subject updates: September 2014

To date, we have published the following subject updates:

• Art and Design, Photography
• Biology, Biotechnology, Environmental Science, Human Biology, Science
• Chemistry
• Computing Science
• Dance
• Drama
• Engineering Science, Graphic Communication, Practical Woodworking, Practical Metalworking, Practical Electronics
• Modern Languages
• Physical Education
• Physics

These new-look updates are available from the relevant subject pages of our website. Further subject updates will be published by the end of September.
Continue reading CPD Bulletin 29th September →

SQA CENTE UPDATE

Candidate entries

The candidate entry process opens on Monday 22 September 2014.

It is essential that you, and your subject departments, use the most up-to-date code numbers for our qualifications. You can check these in the Catalogue of National Qualifications, which you can find at www.sqa.org.uk/nq.

This is especially important in session 2014-15, while we are dual-running the existing Higher and new Higher qualifications.

When submitting candidate entries for Higher please remember that the codes for the two suites of qualifications are different. All Course codes for the existing Higher start with C0, C1 or C2, and have level identifier 12; all Course codes for the new Higher start with C7, and have level identifier 76. For example, the Course codes for Higher English are as follows:

• English existing Higher C270/12
• English new Higher C724/76

More detailed information on the entry process is available in Section 8 of Delivering National Qualifications: Guide for SQA Co-ordinators 2014-15, which can be found on SQA Connect

Continue reading CPD Bulletin 22nd September →

SQA UPDATE

National 5 History and Modern Studies question papers
It has been agreed that the duration of the National 5 History and National 5 Modern Studies exams will be extended by 15 minutes so that, from 2015 onwards, candidates will have 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete each of these question papers.

This follows feedback from practitioners and evidence gathered during a review of the 2014 exams. The 2015 exam timetable on our website has now been updated to reflect this change. For further information, please see the ‘Updates and Announcements’ section of the National 5 History web page and the National 5 Modern Studies web page

Continue reading CPD Bulletin 16th September →

SQA Centre Update

Computing Science update

We have updated the Unit assessment support packs for National 3, National 4 and National 5 Computing Science. This follows verification activities and feedback gathered from practitioners throughout 2013-14. The packs now include more detailed guidance on assessment activities, gathering candidate evidence, making assessment decisions and completing the candidate assessment record.

For the new Higher Computing Science Course, a bank of three coursework assessment tasks is now available on SQA’s secure site for session 2014-15. We have also renamed the Pseudocode document for Higher Computing Science; it is now titled the Reference Language document.

Accounting event

The Introduction of International Accounting Standards, which relates to the presentation of accounts, has introduced new accounting terminology. SQA is holding a one day training event on the new layouts for National 5 and Higher, on 30 September. Find out more information

Continue reading CPD Bulletin 28th August →

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.

Continue reading CPD Bulletin 22nd August →

SQA

30 June 2014 – deadline for resolution of NQ Verification certification ‘Holds’

This is the deadline by when ‘Not Accepted’ decisions must be resolved to allow full August certification to proceed for candidates who are affected. Please re-submit materials as soon as possible – and no later than 18 June. If you have any queries or questions about this, or require any additional support or guidance, please do not hesitate to contact the NQ Verification team on 0345 213 6766.

NC in Computing with Digital Media Event 24 June 2014

We’re holding an event for centres delivering or considering the National Certificate in Digital Media Computing at SCQF levels 4, 5 and 6. You will be able to see the new frameworks, find out what resources will be available, and speak to members of the Qualification Design Team.

If you would like to attend, please register and book using our Events Booking System by Tuesday 17 June 2014.

Delivering National Qualifications: Guide for SQA Co-ordinators 2014-15

We have now published the 2014-15 edition of ‘Delivering National Qualifications’, our practical guide for SQA Co-ordinators. The guide is a valuable resource and provides all the information you need to run National Qualifications in your centre.

You can view or download it now in the Document section on SQA Connect

Continue reading CPD Bulletin 16th June →

SQA Updates

http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/68833.html/

30 June 2014 – deadline for resolution of NQ Verification certification ‘Holds’

This is the deadline by when ‘Not Accepted’ decisions must be resolved to allow full August certification to proceed for candidates who are affected.

Please re-submit materials as soon as possible – and no later than 18 June.

If you have any queries or questions about this, or require any additional support or guidance, please do not hesitate to contact the NQ Verification team on 0345 213 6766.

Internal assessment support materials

The following new and revised internal assessment support materials were published in May 2014:

• HN: Administration and IT and Business (Integrated); Business
• ASPs: Biology (Revised); Computing; Wellness Therapies
• SVQs: Procurement

Please visit our internal assessment support materials web page to see the complete list: http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/46233.html

Continue reading CPD Bulletin 9th June →