Design principles, main changes and additional information


Design principles

Professional Development Awards: 

  • will be available at SCQF levels 6–12
  • at SCQF level 6 will be made up of Units with a minimum credit value of 12 SCQF credit points 
  • at SCQF levels 7–12 will be made up of a minimum credit value of 16 SCQF credit points
  • will be made up of at least two Units
  • will have at least half the SCQF credit points at the level of the Group Award
  • will be made up of mandatory and/or optional Units which reflect the title of the Group Award
  • will be aligned to National Occupational Standards, or other professional body standards, as appropriate to the Group Award area


Main changes

There are four main changes to the design of PDAs under the new principles. These are:

  • all PDAs and their component Units will be credit rated against the SCQF
  • PDAs will have a minimum number of SCQF credit points and be made up of at least two Units
  • there will be seven distinct levels — SCQF levels 6–12
  • there will be new titles for all revised PDAs. These will reflect the vocational context and the SCQF level of the Group Award. They will be titled 'Professional Development Award in XXXX at SCQF level X', for example, 'Professional Development Award in Enterprise at SCQF level 8'

Note: Revised PDAs are certificated under the new title.


Additional information on the revised design principles

  • PDAs can comprise HN, NQ and Workplace-assessed Units
  • All Units will be validated and credit rated by SQA
  • PDAs can have mandatory and optional Units; or all mandatory Units; or all optional Units. The choice of structure must reflect the title and aim of the award, and this will be checked at validation. For example, if an award is comprised solely of optional Units, you would have to show how each choice of the optional Units provided the skills and knowledge outlined in the aims of the Group Award
  • It will be possible to have PDAs with the same vocational context at different SCQF levels. However, each Group Award must have distinct aims that are commensurate with the level of the PDA, and there would have to be a separate need and demand for each level
  • PDAs can be embedded within another qualification, such as an HNC or HND. In these cases, a separate rationale, aims, purpose and structure must be given for the PDA, and this must be supported by market research (although the PDA can be validated at the same event as the HNC/HND)