Scotland and Me

As part of Scotland's Homecoming year, SQA are delighted to be running the Scotland & Me creative competition.

We know that there is phenomenal creative talent in Scotland's schools, colleges and training centres, and we want to promote and celebrate the very best in Scotland as part of our support for Homecoming Scotland 2009. Scotland may not be where all our learners were born, but it's the place they all call home. Scotland, and home, means different things to each of us, and that's what we want you to explore. So the Scotland & Me competition is really a very simple concept. All you have to do is develop a piece of creative work inspired by one of the five Homecoming Year themes:

• Robert Burns
• Great Scottish Minds and Innovations
•  Ancestry
•  Golf
• Whisky

The creative piece of work could be:

• a piece of music
• a poem
• a short story
• artwork
• photography
• a design
• research project

Entries are welcome from individuals and class groups.

Winners and centre representatives will be invited to the SQA Star Awards ceremony in October 2009 to receive public acclaim for their work and a superb prize relating to the winning entry. The closing date for applications is Tuesday 30 June 2009.

This is a great opportunity to work with SQA to showcase the creative Scottish talent in your centre - we hope you will be part of it.

Find out more

Memorandum of Understanding signing in United Arab Emirates

We have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT).

Our Director of Business Development, John McDonald, signed the deal with Dr. Tayeb Kamali, the Vice Chancellor of HCT. The memorandum commits both organisations to a two-year collaborative agreement in the areas of qualifications development, delivery and quality assurance.

HCT is the largest higher educational institution in the UAE, consisting of 16 campuses with an enrolment exceeding 16,000 students, all UAE nationals.  


A key objective of our collaboration is that we will use our resources to strengthen the technical and professional capacity of the HCT teaching and administrative staff in the areas of specialism stated in the MoU.

Our delegation also attended the Women's College of Higher Technology in Ala Ain (already an SQA Centre) for the launch of the Class Assistant Diploma. In his speech at this event, John McDonald described the Diploma as an enlightened example of how a shared vision between the public and private sector, combined with inspirational educational leadership, would enable graduates of this SQA Customised Award to make a substantial contribution to the education system and to Human Resource development generally throughout the UAE.

We also signed a MoU with the Institute of Applied Technology (IAT) National Qualifications Project.

Faisal Albakeri, in his capacity as Member of the Board of Trustees of IAT and Project Director of the Qualifications Framework Project signed the MoU committing both parties to collaborate for two years in the areas of: design and development of occupational standards and assessment standards; development of national policies on recognition of non-formal and informal learning and credit accumulation and transfer systems and guidelines for implementation of policy arrangements.

Faisal Albakeri will visit SQA at the end of March to firm up the design of a capacity building project for the National Qualifications Project, plan for the provision of Technical Assistance for the development of new qualifications for the UAE police and the military, and discuss procedures to approve IAT as an SQA Centre.

Find out more about our International work.

Microsoft European Innovative Teachers Network

We are pleased to announce that at Microsoft Headquarters in Reading UK recently, Ollie Bray and East Lothian Schools  found out that their Guitar Hero Transition Project had been chosen as one of four projects to represent the UK in the Microsoft European Innovative Teachers Network in Vienna.  We look forward to getting a report on the Vienna event and you can keep track of the latest news at Ollie's blog via this link - http://www.olliebray.com.

Ollie and his school and pupils also made it into the newspapers which can be seen by clicking here.

SQA and Microsoft work together on a number of projects through Partners in Learning and Innovative Teachers Forum.

Finally, a very big well done to all involved.

Board members extended

Keith Brown, Minister for Schools and Skills, recently announced the reappointment of Professor John Simmons and Professor Alex MacLennan to our Board of Management.

He also announced that, with the approval of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland (OCPAS), Judith Gillespie and John Mitchell have had their terms of appointment extended.

The reappointments will run for four years from February 14, 2009 until February 13, 2013. The extensions, which will run until June 30, 2009, will allow Board membership to remain at the maximum permitted under the Education (Scotland) Act 1996 while an open competition is held to find two new members.

Find out more

Edinburgh International Science Festival

We are delighted to be sponsoring an event at this year's Edinburgh International Science Festival, the world's first and Europe's largest celebration of science and technology, now celebrating its 21st year.

As 2009 marks the International Year of Astronomy and the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, the festival is celebrating with a variety of fantastic events, including a look at the cosmos, From the Earth to the Universe, the appearance of ASIMO, the world's most advanced humanoid robot, and Hauntings - a fascinating event that takes a scientific view of things that go bump in the night.

Our sponsored talk, part of the festival's Talking Science programme, is entitled, 'Science Education and Future Prosperity: Are we Getting it Right?', a panel discussion with Professor Heinz Wolff, IFIL, Brunel Institute for Bio-Engineering, Professor Anne Glover, Chief Scientific Advisor for Scotland, Professor Alex MacLennan, Board member of SQA and Seamus Bannon, Public Policy Analyst, Republic of Ireland, discussing if we need more scientists and how best we train them.

The talk takes place on Tuesday 7 April from 18:00 in the Informatics Building of Edinburgh University. If you would like to find out more about the event or book tickets (Adults £6; Concession £4), please visit the talk programme website.

Find out more about the Festival

Scotland’s Land-based Learner of the Year Awards

We were delighted to support the sixth annual Lantra Land-based Learner of the Year Awards recently by sponsoring the Land-based Curriculum for Schools Learner of the Year category.

Johanna Bruce from Alford Academy, Aberdeenshire won this award. Johanna has been taking our Skills for Work Rural Skills Course at the school. Blaine Willison from Hawick High School, Borders was the runner-up. Blaine has also been taking our Skills for Work Rural Skills Course.

Johanna and Blaine were presented with their awards by Anne Mearns, Head of People and Services Qualifications Development at SQA. Anne commented, 'This award recognises the skills and knowledge the nominees have gained through work placement or work experience. We congratulate all nominees in this category for their outstanding achievements.'

Lantra is the Sector Skills Council for environmental and land-based industries.

Built Environment Awards

 
The cream of construction talent was recognised recently at Reid Kerr College's Built Environment Awards, held in Paisley Town Hall.  Family, friends, employers, official guests and College staff gathered to honour the best construction students at Reid Kerr.  Students were presented with prizes and Certificates of Achievement for outstanding performance in their construction trade at College.

We sponsored the Advanced Craft Awards on the night and Gillian O'Hare, Qualifications Officer presented the prizes. Andrew Harvie, was named winner of his course for the Advanced Certificate: Brickwork.

Diane Anderson, SQA Qualifications Manager for Construction said, 'SQA are delighted to have sponsored the Built Environment Awards. I'd like to congratulate all the nominees in the Advanced Craft Award category for their outstanding achievements.'

James Hodge, Director of The Institute of Construction and Engineering at Reid Kerr added, 'The Advanced Craft Awards are the pinnacle of the student craft qualifications and are successfully completed by the students who have achieved an extremely high standard of craft work within their respective fields. I would like to congratulate all of our prize winners as what they have achieved so far will no doubt stand them in good stead to go forward and succeed in their chosen careers.'

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Addressing the Bard

As part of Homecoming Scotland 2009, in partnership with the Scottish Poetry Library and Learning and Teaching Scotland, we are supporting a major teaching resource which will be launched in August 2009 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Robert Burns is Scotland's national poet. His short life was eventful and left us with a rich legacy of songs and poems. In this his 250th anniversary year we are working in partnership to provide a new teaching resource that will help teachers and lecturers illustrate the relevance of Burns to contemporary Scotland.

The anthology, Addressing the Bard, made up of 12 new pieces of writing by contemporary poets and writers, will show how the work of Burns influences their thinking and creativity. The anthology will be accompanied by teaching notes and online support, such as downloadable audio recordings.

Our contemporary poets' response to original Burns work will open out this poetry to readers in fresh and lively ways, and enable them to grasp that living poets have a dialogue with their predecessors and also with their readers.

The poets and writers contributing to the anthology are:

• Meg Bateman
• Robert Crawford
• Carol Ann Duffy
• Matthew Fitt
• Bill Herbert
• Jackie Kay
• Janet Paisley
• James Robertson
• Liz Lochhead
• Tim Turnbull
• Rab Wilson
• Seamus Heaney

The anthology is being edited by Professor Douglas Gifford from the School of English and Scottish Language and Literature at the University of Glasgow.

Full class sets of this fantastic new resource will go to every Secondary School, Further Education College and HM Prisons Education Departments in late August 2009. Lesson plans and back-up resources will be provided on the Learning and Teaching Scotland website.