Glossary

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Glossary

Scottish education and training is full of acronyms and special terminology. These are some of the ones that you'll come across in everyday use by SQA, but it is by no means a definitive or exhaustive list!

A

ACE	Adult and Continuing Education
APL	Accreditation of Prior Learning (the process which enables candidates to receive certification for past achievements. These may have been acquired through work experience, leisure pursuits or training. APL focuses on the competences which can be demonstrated at the time)
Appeals	The process where a centre can appeal against either a candidate's external assessment result or a quality assurance decision against the centre
Approved Centre	The term used by SQA to describe the place where candidates undertake qualifications
APS	Awards Processing System (SQA's computer system for processing candidate registrations, entries and results)
Assessment	The process of collecting and interpreting evidence of candidate performance
Assessment on demand	The use of the assessment process to confirm competence without requiring candidates to undertake any further training
Assessor	The person who applies the assessment process to candidates for their achievement of a qualification
Assessor and Verifier Units	Nationally-devised Units which centre staff can complete to prove their competence in the assessment process

C

Candidate	The term given to a person undertaking an SQA qualification
CBAL	Community Based Adult Learning
Core Skills	Transferable skills and knowledge which underpin lifelong learning, work and social life, and are assessed as part of all SQA's qualification families
CoSLA	Convention of Scottish Local Authorities View CoSLA website
Credit transfer	The process by which recognised competences or formal qualifications in one area are accepted as evidence of achievement in another area
CSYS	Certificate of Sixth Year Studies (discontinued)

D

DfEE	Department for Education and Employment - now called Department for Education and Skills (DfES) View DfES website
DGSA	Dangerous Goods Safety Advisers View DGSA website
DSO	Data Solutions Officer

E

EBP	Education Business Partnerships
EV	External Verifier (the SQA official who checks that the assessment process for SVQs has been valid, reliable and practicable)
Evidence	What the candidate produces to prove competence/ability against the qualification
External assessment	Assessment of a candidate's competence/ability against a qualification under exam conditions

F

FE	Further Education

G

GCSE	General Certificate of Secondary Education (for England, Wales and Northern Ireland - equivalent to Standard Grade)
GNVQ	General National Vocational Qualification (a qualification in England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
GSVQ	General Scottish Vocational Qualification (discontinued)

H

HE	Higher Education
HIE	Highlands and Islands Enterprise View HIE website
HN	Higher National
HNC	Higher National Certificate
HND	Higher National Diploma

I

ICT	Information and Communications Technology
ILA	Individual Learning Accounts View ILA website
Independent assessment	An instrument of assessment applied by the awarding body to improve the rigour and credibility of assessment decisions across different awarding bodies and centres
Internal assessment	Assessment of a candidate's competence which occurs within an approved centre
Internal Verifier/ Moderator	The person within the centre who checks that the assessment process has been valid, reliable and practicable

K

KU	Knowledge and Understanding

L

LEC	Local Enterprise Company
LSC	Learning and Skills Council View LSC website
LTS	Learning and Teaching Scotland View LTS website

M

MA	Modern Apprenticeship View MASCOT website
Marking scheme	Pre-determined answers against a Unit/Course specification which is used to judge candidates' evidence

N

NAB	National Assessment Bank
NC	National Course or National Certificate
NGFL	National Grid for Learning View NGFL website
NOS	National Occupational Standards (see Occupational standards)
NQ	National Qualification
NRA	National Record of Achievement
NVQ	National Vocational Qualification

O

Occupational standards	In SVQs, standards determined by a Sector Skills Council relating to skills and knowledge considered relevant to particular jobs in that industrial sector
Open learning	Learning which is flexibly designed to make education and training widely accessible. Includes flexistudy, open access, distance learning, learning by appointment and independent study
OU	Open University View Open University website

P

PA	Principal Assessor
PBNC	Project-based National Course
PDA	Professional Development Award (SQA qualifications made up of Higher National or SVQ Units)
Portfolio	A folder or booklet containing indexed and organised candidate evidence relevant to a qualification
Practical competence	The candidate's ability to perform manual and/or behavioural tasks
PS	Problem Solving - one of the Core Skills

Q

QA	Quality Assurance
QAM	Quality Assurance Manager. Official appointed by SQA to check a centre's quality assurance management systems in respect of delivery of qualifications.

R

RER	Registrations, Entries and Results - collective term for these SQA procedures, and the manual that covers them (though this has been replaced with the Operational Help Centre). You may also see references to REUR - Registrations, Entries and Unit Results
RET	Record of Education and Training (an earlier form of the SQC)

S

SCE	Scottish Certificate of Education (now discontinued)
SCN	Scottish Candidate Number
SCOTCAT	Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme
SCOTie	SQA individual enrolment system (predecessor of the APS)
SCQF	Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework View SCQF website
SEED	Scottish Government Education Department View SEED website
SEN	Special Education Needs
SFEU	Scottish Further Education Unit View SFEU website
SGA	Scottish Group Award
SLN	Special Learning Needs
SME	Small to medium-sized enterprise
Special assessment arrangements	Alternative instruments of assessment and/or support to enable a candidate to demonstrate competence against the qualification standards
SPA	Scottish Progression Award
SQC	Scottish Qualifications Certificate
SQMS	Scottish Quality Management System View SQMS website
SSA Scot	Sector Skills Alliance Scotland View SSA Scot website
SSC	Sector Skills Council
SSDA	Sector Skills Development Agency View SSDA website
STN	Special Training Needs
SVQ	Scottish Vocational Qualification
SWAP	Scottish Wider Access Programme View SWAP website