Establishing the need

Before a PDA is developed or revised, there is a requirement to establish the need for the qualification and its viability. Permission to proceed must be sought from the relevant Business Manager.

The schedule for all consortium, single centre and collaborative developments/revisions is published in the Status Report and Development Schedule.

If there is a PDA on the schedule that appears to cover the same area and SCQF level to the one you intend to develop/revise, you need to contact the SQA Qualifications Manager listed on the schedule. 

If the PDA you want to develop appears unique, initial considerations on whether to proceed with the development/revision will include:

  • whether there are similar qualifications at that SCQF level in the same occupational area — it is essential that you find this out before proceeding with any development 
  • uptake figures for an existing PDA
  • achievement rates for an existing PDA
  • estimated uptake figures for a new/revised PDA
  • amount of development required, eg writing new Units or revising existing Units
  • cost of development
  • validation costs
  • cost of marketing and on-going costs

Note
It is important that you have support from your centre's senior management to carry out the development or revision of the qualification.  SQA will assume that the centre's senior management approves of any developments proceeding past this point.