The finalised National Qualifications course documents are now downloadable here. These are the formal arrangement outlines for every subject, conformed to the requirements of the Curriculum for Excellence initiative. Included in these downloads are also explanatory leaflets for learners and their parents.

Here’s the latest from Jillian Shields, communications officer for the SQA.

“New Guide
A guide about the new qualifications is now available for parents and carers. It is available to download from the dedicated section of our website – www.sqa.org.uk/cfeforparents

There is also a guide for young people at www.sqa.org.uk/cfeforyoungpeople and updated guides for teachers and employers.

On our website, you can find other useful resources such as our Mythbuster and Jargon buster.

Final Documents

We have now reached a major milestone in the development process and final documents for the new National 2 to Higher Courses are available. The final documents will be used by teachers and lecturers to prepare to teach each new Course. The documents are still of interest to parents and carers as they give information about the skills and knowledge young people will gain.

Use the subject drop-down menu on our website: www.sqa.org.uk/curriculumforexcellence to find the documents for each subject.

Education Scotland has also published a suite of practical advice and guidance to support practitioners in preparing for implementing key aspects of the new qualifications. See www.educationscotland.gov.uk/nq

The development process

To develop these 197 qualifications we have had targeted engagement with over 5,000 practitioners and other stakeholders. We have had nearly 600,000 visits of the subject pages on the website and more than 3,400 comments on the draft documents we published at each stage of the process for review and feedback. We have attended over 700 meetings and 15 events and our development groups, which include parent and carer representatives, have met over 440 times.

Awards

SQA has also developed new awards for young people. These cover work from different subject areas and are shorter than traditional Courses. They recognise success across different levels of difficulty, meaning they’re suitable for young people of all abilities. They will be marked and assessed internally and do not have any external assessments or exams. The final documents for these are also now available – see www.sqa.org.uk/newawards

New Courses
Two new Courses, Music Technology (National 3 to Higher) and Fashion and Textile Technology (Higher), have been developed in response to feedback throughout the development process.

Next Steps

Advanced Higher

We have now begun developing the new Advanced Higher qualifications which will be introduced in 2015/16 and the first draft documents have been published.

Use the subject drop-down menu at www.sqa.org.uk/curriculumforexcellence to find the documents for each subject.

Find out more about Advanced Higher – www.sqa.org.uk/advancedhigher

We continue to seek your feedback on these documents as the qualifications are developed.

You can give your feedback via Have Your Say – www.sqa.org.uk/haveyoursay.

CfE Events

To continue to support practitioners with the implementation of the new qualifications, SQA is hosting 10 Curriculum Area events in May 2012 and 10 in September 2012 to update teachers on the latest developments. Between October 2012 and March 2013 we will host a series of subject-specific events, which every principal subject teacher will be invited to attend. Our CfE Liaison team are continuing to support local events including those with parents: www.sqa.org.uk/cfeteam