|
2006 - 2007 News
NEW FACE AT THE TOP
The appointment of a Chief Executive at the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) will help Scotland’s education and training system continue to score top marks.
 The SCQF was created by bringing together all Scottish mainstream qualifications into a single unified framework, making the overall system of qualifications and relevant programmes of learning easier to understand. When Aileen Ponton steps into the new post on 9 July 2007 she will focus on embedding the Framework across Scotland, developing the Framework by extending its recognition of prior informal learning, and developing linkages with other such frameworks internationally.
Reflecting on her new position, Ms. Ponton said:
“I passionately believe that the Framework supports and enhances Scotland’s education and training system by providing recognition for a range of learning and achievement taking place under circumstances that range from formal learning through to learning in the workplace. I look forward to working with the SCQF Board to further develop, and implement in full, a framework which will ensure that Scotland continues to be at the leading edge of international education and training.”
Aileen stood out amongst numerous applications due her extensive experience with educational matters in Scotland. She joins the SCQF from the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) where she was the Head of Policy Development, Scotland; prior to that she was the General Manager of the Scottish Qualification Authority’s (SQA) External Development.
Andrew Cubie, Chair of the SCQF Partnership, said:
“When the SCQF was incorporated at the end of last year it was a milestone that saw us bringing together all Scottish qualifications, both academic and vocational. Creating the new position of Chief Executive is another milestone, and with Aileen in this role, we look forward to seeing the Framework develop to its full potential, staking a claim on the world stage that proves Scottish education is the best of the best.”
The SCQF was launched in December 2001, and was incorporated as a Company limited by Guarantee in November 2006.
PDF press release
Research on Degree to HN Qualifications Underway
Scoping Study : Degree to HN articulation
The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) has commissioned the Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning (CRLL) at Glasgow Caledonian University and Ruth Whittaker Educational Consultancy to undertake a small scoping study of degree to Higher National (HN) articulation. Though considerable research interest continues to focus on the articulation of students from HN programmes to study within higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Scottish context, to date comparatively little attention has been devoted to ‘reverse articulation’ or ‘bulk credit transfer’, referring to the movement of students from a degree programme to HN study. Such processes may involve students leaving part way through a degree programme and using credit towards an HN qualification, or students completing a degree and then undertaking HN study, again using credit towards the new qualification.
The project aims to explore the current picture with regard to these processes of articulation, barriers that exist and how they might be overcome, and ways to extend opportunities for this practice. The project will increase understanding of issues associated with such transitions, and the ways in which these can be better supported, including the role of the SCQF. The research has involved an email survey to Scotland’s colleges, universities and relevant organisations, and a discussion workshop to which all sectors were invited.
The research team is due to report to the QAA by the end of June 2007. Further details of the project can be obtained from Beth Crossan, E: b.crossan@gcal.ac.uk: T: 0141 273 1343 or Vic Boyd E: Victoria.Boyd@gcal.ac.uk T: 0141 273 1294.
Research on the Evaluation of SCQF Achievements
In 2006, the Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning at Glasgow Caledonian University was commissioned by the Partners of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework to undertake an evaluation of the achievements of the SCQF against the National Implementation Plan. Professor Jim Gallacher, Professor of Lifelong Learning, led the research and produced a report for Partners on his findings. The report, a summary of which is attached was very useful in providing a signpost for the future direction of the SCQF.
The SCQF Partnership thanks Professor Gallacher and his colleagues for the work that they undertook. The SCQF Partners have produced a response to update stakeholders, and other interested bodies, with recent SCQF developments, particularly with regard to the structure of the SCQF; extending the Framework; involvement of stakeholder organisations; credit transfer; and work-based learning and SVQs.
SQA Revise their Ready Reckoner Publication
SQA have revised their Ready Reckoner to reflect their own qualifications in the SCQF. This publication is available to download from SQA's website [link to www.sqa.org.uk] or the downloads section of the SCQF website. Hard copies can be made available from SQA's Customer Contact Centre - 0845 279 1000
ECVET Consultation – Raising Awareness Seminar
Following the consultation and support for a European Qualifications Framework proposed to the European Parliament for approval, a consultation on a European Transfer System for Vocational Education and Training (VET) was launched in 2006. A consultation document, outlining the main characteristics of ECVET, was issued as part of this process in November. To help inform a national response to the consultation, the SCQF Partnership hosted a seminar on 13 February at the Forthbank Stadium in Stirling, where delegates were invited to identify the main principles and issues for vocational training and education in Scotland. The day also provided an opportunity to raise awareness around other European and UK Framework Developments for those who had a particular interest in transnational mobility exchanges within the vocational strand of education and training. Feedback obtained from the workshops will help inform the SCQF Partnership's response to the ECVET consultation which ends in March.
The SCQF Quality Committee
The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership Board of Directors have agreed to establish the SCQF Quality Committee that will make recommendations to the Company on all issues concerning the ongoing maintenance and assurance of the Framework. The Quality Committee’s work will include aspects such as maintaining the SCQF Guidelines; ensuring consistency in the process and criteria for credit rating of learning, whether formal or non-formal; and the articulation of the SCQF with other national and international frameworks.
Professor Alex MacLennan, Principal of Bell College, was pleased to accept the appointment as Chair of the SCQF Quality Committee, stating that “this was indeed a positive time for the SCQF”.
Picture: Professor Alex MacLennan, Principal of Bell College and Chair of the SCQF Quality Committee
The SCQF Quality Committee will comprise members with expertise and experience in the development and assurance of credit, qualifications and frameworks, and will be representative of a range of sectors, awarding and quality assurance bodies associated with and encompassed by the SCQF. Further updates will be provided as developments unfold.
Launch of the SCQF Partnership Company
Following the implementation phase, Partners of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework agreed that the way forward was to establish a Company limited by Guarantee. Partners have been working towards this aim and the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership was incorporated on 7 November 2006.
The main aims of the SCQF Partnership are to:
- Maintain the quality assurance and integrity of the Framework;
- Promote and develop the SCQF; and
- Maintain and develop relationships with other Frameworks in the UK, Europe and Internationally.
Members of the SCQF Partnership Board are David Caldwell, Director of Universities Scotland; Norman Sharp, Head of QAA Scotland; Stephen Kerr, Head of the Skills for Life and Work Division at the Scottish Executive; John Young, Director of Qualifications at SQA, and representing the Association of Scotland’s College is Dr Ray Harris, Prinicpal of Edinburgh’s Telford College. Dr Andrew Cubie has been appointed as Chair of the SCQF Partnership Board. Further information can be found on the homepage.
Colleges as SCQF Credit Rating Bodies: Experiences of the Early Adopters
 Sheila Page from HMIe delivering her presentation at the SCQF Conference - ‘Colleges as SCQF Credit Rating Bodies’ in PerthIn 2005, all colleges were invited to participate in a college credit rating pilot project which was set up with funding from the Scottish Funding Council and Scottish Executive. Eight colleges took part in the pilot and were involved in credit rated some of their own provision .
An SCQF conference was held on 2 October at the Quality Hotel in Perth to disseminate the outcomes of the pilot and the participating colleges shared their experience of the process to a wider audience.
The Conference was opened by Dr Andrew Cubie who set the scene for the day on how colleges as credit rating bodies contribute to the aims of the SCQF. This was followed by Sheila Page of HMIe who presented the findings of the HMIe Evalutation Report on which was produced as an outcome of the College Credit Rating Pilot. The report will be available in mid-November online at both the the SCQF and HMIe Websites.
Each of the eight colleges who participated in the pilot disseminated their experience and explained the credit rating processes put in place within their college. This was followed by workshops which focussed on opportunities for building greater credit rating capacity in colleges. Bill Harvey from the Scottish Funding Council closed the day by outlining the opportunities for colleges as credit rating bodies and the vision for the future.
This successful event attracted a number of delegates from colleges that had not been involved in the pilot which indicates the interest that colleges have in this exciting development within SCQF.
Further information on the materials and resources used in the pilot will soon be available on the Scotland’s Colleges webpage
Scottish Vocational Qualifications and Modern Apprenticeships and the SCQF
The Scottish Executive funded a project to credit rate SVQs in 2005-06. By March 2006, 24 SVQs had been credit rated with a final report on this work now available. Feedback has been gathered from those who participated in this work and Awarding Bodies, Sectors Skills Councils and Standard Setting Bodies all valued the opportunity to work together.
The next phase of the project continues to build on this work and to focus on credit rating a further 40 SVQs as well as credit rating the mandatory elements of the top 9 Modern Apprenticeship Frameworks – an important and exciting step.
The project will continue to work closely with other frameworks in the UK – both those that are operational and in development. In order to look at the relationship between vocational qualifications in the SCQF and the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales (CQFW), the project will be involved in credit rating some UK wide qualifications in both frameworks. The Welsh Assembly Government has allocated funding to support this work.
The European Commission issues call for proposals
A Consultation on a European Transfer System for Vocational Education and Training (VET) will be launched in September and the paper will be available on the ECVET website. In the meantime, the European Commission has issued calls for proposals.
One of the calls invites proposals to organise actions to support partnerships:
- to develop and test the principles and mechanisms of the future EQF
- to exchange experiences of developing national and sectoral frameworks, and test the principles and mechanisms of such frameworks, using the EQF as a common reference point.
The deadline for this proposal was 31st August 2006
Another call is aimed at supporting transnational co-operation in the field of credit systems for vocational education and training (ECVET) that is actions:
- Actions for creating or strengthening partnerships, joint consortia or joint platforms
- Experimental actions in order to implement concretely the ECVET system to the benefit of the various categories of public
- Pooling and dissemination of information and expertise necessary to promote and implement the programme in the field of the credit systems for VET.
The deadline for this proposal is 31st August 2006
Further information on all calls for proposals can be obtained from http://ec.europa.eu/education/index_en.html
Partnerships within the SCQF
A major conference, focusing on strengthening partnerships within the SCQF between higher education, Scotland's Colleges and other key sectors was successfully staged in Dundee on 22 May. The conference, chaired by Dr Andrew Cubie, heard from a number of key speakers, including Professor Alex Maclennan, Principal of Bell College; Dr Ray Harris, Principal of Edinburgh's Telford College; and Dr Bill Harvey, Depute Director of Learning and Teaching, Scottish Funding Council. Around 120 delegates attended the conference.
SCQF and the College Credit Rating Pilot
In November 2005, all colleges were invited by the CCRIG to Glasgow Metropolitan College to find out more about the extension of credit rating. Several of the colleges expressed interest in becoming part of a pilot project been set up with funding from the Scottish Funding Council and the Scottish Executive. Eight colleges are taking part and are credit rating some of their own provision. The participating colleges are: Aberdeen, Adam Smith, Clydebank, Forth Valley, James Watt, Lauder and Edinburgh's Telford College and Sabhal Mor Ostaig. A range of provision from these colleges has been identified for the pilot phase which includes evening courses, programmes aimed at young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) and qualifications designed to meet the needs for employers.
Partnership working to build the colleges' capacity to credit rate is a very important element of this project and the support received from the Scottish Qualifications Authority and higher education institutions, such as Napier University, has been invaluable. They have shared their expertise and experience of credit rating with the participating colleges at two seminars held in February and April. At the April seminar, participants had the opportunity to take part in some practical credit rating exercises and also heard from Professor Bill Thomson, former Head of the Professional Development Unit at the University of Strathclyde. Professor Thomson was responsible for writing the SCQF Credit Rating Guidelines.
Participating colleges have the additional practical support of experts in credit rating from the SQA, Napier and Paisley Universities who have agreed to mentor each of the participating colleges.
HMIE will carry out on-going monitoring as the pilot develops and will report on the evaluation of the process in August 2006. In due course this area of activity is likely to be incorporated within the HMIE review process for B6 and B7 Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement.
The SCQF Implementation Period comes to an end
A Joint Advisory Committee seminar was held on 31 March 2006 at the Abode Hotel in Glasgow, to mark the end of the implementation period and to plan the way forward for the SCQF. The focus of this well attended seminar, chaired by Dr Andrew Cubie, was to explore ways in which, through working together, the range of organisations and learning providers can make full use of the opportunities created by the SCQF to support wider access and participating in learning.
The key note speech was from Mark Batho, Head of Lifelong Learning Group, Scottish Executive, on the role of the SCQF in achieving Scotland's lifelong learning goals. This was followed by Jim Gallacher, Head of the Centre for Lifelong Learning and Research at Glasgow Caledonian University, who presented the findings from his research on identifying the achievements of the SCQF against the National Implementation Plan. Discussion then followed on the role of the Joint Advisory Committee beyond 2006.
The day progressed with a number of stimulating soap box presentations on the key opportunities and challenges for the SCQF to meet the needs of learners. Finally, the day was concluded by Breakout sessions in which members were asked to discuss areas of work which can be taken forward utilising the full use of the SCQF.
Launch of SCQF Core Team Office and Mapping Website
The SCQF Core team recently moved offices to Glasgow Caledonian University which was formally opened on the 30 of January 2006, in conjunction with the launch of the Mapping, Tracking and Bridging website. Margaret Cameron, SCQF Project Manager (contact m.cameron@scqf.org.uk) along with Elizabeth Hendry SCQF Project Officer (contact e.hendry@scqf.org.uk) and Iain White, SCQF Project Administrator (contact i.white@scqf.org.uk) will act as the central point for the channelling and dissemination of information about the Framework. Their new contact details are as follows:
Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework
Room H037
William Harley Building
Glasgow Caledonian University
Cowcaddens Road
Glasgow
G4 0BA
Tel: 0141 331 3303
The national ‘mapping’ website is now live at www.scqf.org.uk/college2uni and contains information on HNQ to degree routes. The formal launch event for the website was hosted by the SCQF core team at Glasgow Caledonian and attended by Dr Andrew Cubie who opened the event as well as Professor Alex MacLennan, Principle for Bell College, who provided an online demonstration of the website and how the toolkits can be used to help support individual learners and institutions access and identify key support and transition needs.
Access more information on the Mapping database.
Learning Across Boundaries - Glasgow 22-23 September 2005
Under the auspices of the UK Presidency of the European Commission, a conference examining the implications of the proposed European Qualifications Framework (EQF) was held in Glasgow on the 22-23 September 2005. Access the full report on the conference. Following on from the conference, the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework issued a direct response to the European Commission in December 2005 regarding the EQF Consultation. Access the full SCQF response.
News archive |
