Main navigation:
Breadcrumb navigation:

Subjects & Qualifications

In this section

Core Skills for the Future - Summer 2007


Issue 3
Summer 2007

Welcome

Welcome to the third issue of the Core Skills for the Future Bulletin.

This Bulletin will outline our progress in terms of stakeholder engagement and will summarise the progress of the refresh of the Core Skills Framework and associated qualifications. The Bulletin will also provide you with up to date information on other developments within the area of Core Skills. We do hope you find the content both informative and interesting!

Core Skills Draft Framework - Engagement Period Complete

But there’s still a lot of work to do!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank stakeholders for the valuable contribution they have made to shaping the draft Core Skills Framework. We are pleased that your feedback suggests only minor adjustments to the proposed Framework.

The engagement period for the Framework, finished on the 27th April 2007. We have now collated the comments and taken into consideration all of the feedback received and the draft Core Skills Framework will now be amended to reflect these considerations, where appropriate. You will be able to see this on SQA Academy from the end of June. SQA Academy is open for your comments, feedback and discussion points on Core Skills issues generally as we prepare for the development of the qualifications. Already there are comments about strategy and delivery, parts of qualifications that you'd like to see changed and requests for more exemplification from the workplace.

Next steps!

The Development of the Core Skills Qualifications

The next stage of the process is our qualification development phase. We are developing the qualifications in three phases as detailed below.

Phase One - The Draft Ten Hour NQ Core Skills Units in Communication and Numeracy at SCQF 2 and 3

Engagement Period June 20th 2007 – July 6th 2007

We have aready started engaging on the draft ten hour units in Communication and Numeracy at SCQF 2 and 3 and we welcome your continued feedback.

The draft units are available for comment and discussion on the SQA Academy web-space. We are particularly interested in hearing from those of you working with fragile learners, be that in schools, colleges, prisons or elsewhere. SQA also hosted an engagement event on Wednesday 20th June 2007 in Glasgow, which was very well attended.

Practitioners from the areas of Numeracy and Communication held face to face discussions on the first phase of the qualifications. The morning event went extremely well and we would like to thank those who took part and gave us such valuable feedback. We are pleased that there was a broad welcome for these units and that the content was considered appropriate, however, there were comments that will focus our attention on improving the overall format for learners at this level.

The engagement on this particular phase of Unit development will continue until the 6th July 2007, through SQA Academy, so please take some time to contribute, we really value your thoughts on this development!

If you haven’t joined SQA Academy, you will find instructions on how to join and take part in the discussion later in this Bulletin. Phase Two – Refreshed Workplace Core Skills Units

The next step will be the engagement around the Workplace Core Skills Units which will commence in October 2007. We will be holding a National Engagement event 4th October 2007 in Glasgow. If you would like to register your interest for this event, please e-mail core.skills@sqa.org.uk and we will add your name to the list!

Phase Three – National Qualifications Core Skills Units (40 hour)

This final phase of Core Skills qualifications will be ready for discussion at the end of October 2007. We will keep you posted regarding the date for the engagement event in our September Bulletin and on SQA Academy updates.

SQA Academy

Core Skills

GRAPHIC: SQA Academy logo

SQA Academy is a webspace, devised to allow stakeholders the opportunity to make comment on some of the current developments within SQA. Core Skills for the Future has its own area within SQA Academy which has, to date, allowed stakeholders to view the refreshed Core Skills Framework and make comment on its appropriateness. As indicated above, although the period of engagement is complete for this part of work, we will be using SQA Academy to collect your feedback on the refreshed Core Skills qualifications. It is so important that you take part in the discussion and debate around the qualifications and give us your thoughts. To gain access to SQA Academy follow the instructions below!

SQA want you to join in our process of updating Core Skills qualifications, and are keen to engage with you in our Curriculum for Excellence discussions too!

Curriculum for Excellence

This virtual space has been developed to create a place where you can participate in debate about the possible impact of Curriculum for Excellence on qualifications. Relevant documents, think-pieces, questionnaires and work-shop materials are posted here, and you will be able to comment on them and make suggestions, by using the on-line forum.

To Join SQA Academy

Open your web browser and navigate to www.sqaacademy.org.uk

In order to use the SQA Academy you’ll need to create an account. Instructions on how to do this are available from the link ‘Creating an Account on the SQA Academy’. You will be asked for an ‘enrolment key’. The ‘enrolment key’ for Core Skills for the Future is ‘Framework’.

If you have any problems contact the SQA Academy team - e-mail: academy@sqa.org.uk

Other Core Skills Developments...

Personal Development Planning for Core Skills Delivery
Jewel and Esk College

IMAGE: Jewel and Esk Valley College

Working in partnership with SQA, Jewel and Esk Valley College hosted a launch event for the Personal Development Planning project on 11th May 2007. This project was to form a pilot, using the Personal Development Planning Unit as a vehicle for delivering Core Skills across four HN vocational areas.

The aim of the project was to enhance Core Skills provision at Higher National level through online support and assessment, using SQA Academy as a platform for delivery.

A key feature of the afternoon was the hands on experience offered to delegates to see and explore the SQA Academy site for themselves.

If you would like further information regarding this exciting development, please contact Ruth Henderey at Jewel and Esk Valley College on RHendery@jevc.ac.uk.

St Margaret’s Academy, Livingston : Preparing for Core Skills and Curriculum for Excellence

St Margaret’s Academy in Livingston have been working hard to prepare for the emerging outcomes within Curriculum for Excellence and are committed to providing their pupils with a wide range of experiences across the curriculum. One of their current developments is exploring how Core Skills can be naturally integrated into the delivery of the broad curriculum areas in S1- S3 and have come up with some exciting thoughts on how this can done. SQA are working with colleagues at St Margaret's Academy to support the curriculum preparation which we believe will add value to the learning, transferability and sense of achievement for pupils there. St Margaret's Academy is preparing to take things forward in a systematic and holistic way to ensure that all areas contribute appropriately to development of these essential skills.

Why not share your good practice with us? To let us know what exciting things you’re doing with Core Skills delivery, contact gill.macfarlane-CSPT@sqa.org.uk

Core Skills at the Customer Conference

IMAGE: Amanda at the Customer Conference

SQA’s Annual Customer Conference was held on the 14th and 15th June in Glasgow. The Core Skills Team presented workshops on the Initial Screening Tool and an update on the progress being made within Core Skills for the Future. All workshops were extremely well attended and we would like to thank our stakeholders for taking part. The Core Skills for the Future presentation is available on SQA Academy if you would like to take a look. All in all it was pretty fantastic!

Tech Ed Teachers Do It With Core Skills

SQA would like to thank those Technical Education teachers, mainly from the special school sector, who joined our Core Skills workshop at the Technical Education Teachers Conference. The teachers found great similarity between what they do already and what is available in the Core Skills area. Yes, lots of problem solving in action, with good opportunities to further develop skills in measuring, working safely with others, being creative in design and working to specifications. SQA would also like to thank HMIE for their invitation to participate in this conference!

So What Should You Do Now?

All Centres who deliver National Qualifications Core Skills

As mentioned earlier, we have started our engagement on the Smaller Units at SCQF 2 and 3 in Communication and Numeracy. To contribute to the discussion, you need to join SQA Academy.

This SCQF 2 and 3 engagement period will be followed by a period of engagement on the National Qualification Core Skills Units across all five Core Skills. This engagement period is due to start in October 2007. If you don’t join and take part then you will miss a valuable opportunity to take part in this important development.

All Centres Delivering Workplace Core Skills

We are in the process of developing the refreshed Workplace Core Skills qualifications, which will be ready for comment in September 2007. We will be holding an event to get discussion on the content and appropriateness of the qualifications. Please register your interest by emailing core.skills@sqa.org.uk. We would ask you to ensure that you are enrolled in SQA Academy before this event, as there will be a questionnaire on-line which we would encourage you to participate in.

The next issue of the Core Skills Bulletin will be September 2007!