The Framework for employers

There are more qualifications available to learners today than ever before. People are being encouraged to gain knowledge and skills all through their lives.

As an employer, you will come across many different kinds of qualifications on CVs. You also have more opportunities than ever before to encourage employees to improve and develop their skills.

The Framework has been developed to help you to understand what the different qualifications are and how they compare with one another.

How does it work? (view diagram)

The Framework includes different qualifications at the same level. It doesn't mean that the qualifications are the same. The subject content may be different and how they are assessed, but they can be just as hard to achieve and demand the same level of skill or understanding, so they are positioned at the same level in the Framework.

Credit points are allocated for the amount of learning people have to do to earn a qualification. That's why some qualifications - even at the same level - earn more credit points than others. For example, both an Advanced Higher and an HNC are at SCQF level 7. But the Advanced Higher course has 32 credit points and the HNC has 96. For more information on credit points view the Summary of Credit Points. Our leaflet Crediting Learning is available in the download library.

It's possible to transfer the credit points that they get for one programme of learning to another, related programme of learning. The Framework doesn't guarantee that will happen and there's no automatic transfer. It's up to the SQA, and colleges and universities to decide how relevant the earlier programme of learning is to the new programme. But it's possible to move onto another pathway to learning without having to do the same work over again. For example, to move from an SVQ in Food Preparation and Cooking to a Scottish Group Award in Hospitality: Professional Cookery or, if they were going into full-time learning, from an HND in Engineering to the third year of a Degree in Engineering.

The Framework can help you as an employer:

• decide if an applicant's qualifications are at the right level for the job
• plan training and development programmes by showing the range of qualifications available and the way that your employees can progress through different routes to learning
• avoid costly training mistakes by giving you a simple reference to check the level and credit value of a training package and how it compares to others. At present, the Framework is only for Scottish qualifications, but soon it will link to UK and European frameworks
• gain credit for your own in-house training packages. Our aim is to include all forms of learning in the Framework that have been quality assured. In this way, all learning in Scotland can be given a level and a credit rating

An Employer's event was held in September 2005 with further information available under the 'news and updates' section of the website. Following on from this event, an Employer Representatives' Forum was held on the 19th of October 2005 as an attempt to engage further with the implementation of the SCQF in this sector. A leaflet is currently being constructed to help employers learn more about the SCQF and how it may benefit business. This will soon be available as PDF format on the website, with copies being distributed to this sector within 2006.

'The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework: Good for Business'

The recent event for employers at the Lighthouse in Glasgow on the 16th Sept 2005 was held to raise employers' awareness of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), which aims to bring together all Scottish Qualifications into a single framework, succeeded in its objectives.

Bruce Milne, Head of Learning Support at Tulliallan Police College, stated that the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework was "a social inspiration" and that It provided ideas and opportunities of where we want to go. It supports business goals.

The event was Chaired by Dr Andrew Cubie, former Chair of the Confederation of British Industry, who referred to the need for employers to have both confident employees and also confidence in the qualification structure. He stated that:

"The SCQF provides a framework for the education system for Scotland and the strength of its success is that it is a voluntary framework underpinned by quality"

Aileen Ponton, Head of Policy and Development, said that Sector Skills Development Agency and Sector Skills Alliance Scotland were working with Sector Skills Councils to map their qualifications and learning programmes against the SCQF as they had found:

"...employers do not understand the plethora of qualifications available, which makes it difficult to make choices for recruitment and staff development"

Colin Morrison, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Education at The Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland gave his full support to SCQF. He said that it helped aid Industry Regulators in the approval of appropriate awards within the sector and also helped employees' career development in terms of education and training. CIOBS is the first professional body to have its qualifications recognised by the framework.

"Quite frankly it is good for business" he said.

Bringing together all Scottish Qualifications in a unified framework, with 12 levels of learning, is a key pillar that has emerged from the Scottish Executive's Life Long Learning Strategy (2003). SCQF helps to provide the clarity that is needed to help employers make choices for recruitment and courses for staff development. In addition it is beneficial to employees who can carry credits for the learning they have achieved and move up and across the framework.