Science Baccalaureate Training Day

Forth Valley College delivers SQA's Scottish Baccalaureate in Science in partnership with a number of secondary schools in the Clackmannanshire, Stirling, Falkirk and West Lothian local authority areas.

Their students recently attended an interactive training day at Glasgow's Science Centre. Following a talk from Scottish meteorologist Heather Reid about the importance of effective communication in science, the students learnt about how to engage with an audience and were given the opportunity to put these skills into practice. In teams they created and delivered a presentation based on one of the Science Centre's exhibits.

Supporting the event, SQA Director of Qualifications Development, Dr Gill Stewart, said: 'SQA are delighted to support this partnership and wish all the students involved well in their studies for the new Science Baccalaureate. The training day at the Science Centre will provide the students with invaluable experience that will assist them in their studies and in future years of further study and employment'.

The Big Experiment!

The Big Experiment is a competition open to all students studying science at school or college. Have you worked with your students to develop an innovative scientific experiment -  then tell us about!

The experiment can be in any science discipline: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, or related subjects, and your submission should be in the form of a science report - including pictures and film clips.

More information, competition rules and application forms are available on our website.

The closing date for applications is Wednesday 30 June 2010.
 

I Inspire! Science/Engineering Teacher of the Year

Do you know an exceptional teacher? Do they have a real passion and flair for teaching science or engineering? Then nominate them for SQA's Teacher of the Year Award.

The competition is open to teachers in primary schools, secondary schools, FE colleges and training organisations in Scotland.

More information, competition rules and online nomination form are available on our website.

Launch of Building the Curriculum 5 - A Framework for Assessment

The Scottish Government has launched new guidance for teachers to help them implement assessment for Curriculum for Excellence.  The package of support includes events and best practice examples. It provides an outline of the approaches to assessment to support the purposes of learning 3 to 18.

The package includes a commitment to provide a funding boost to help pay for additional local work and is designed to make sure teachers are able to maximise the new assessment system to raise overall standards and attainment as well as assessing and explaining  pupils' overall skills and knowledge.

The Assessment Framework is available and is supported by an associated paper on quality assurance and moderation.

Read the Scottish Government's press release.

Read the guidance.
 

SQA at BETT 2010

SQA exhibited at the annual BETT Conference held in London recently. The show attracts delegates from across the UK and abroad and presents the latest developments in technology supporting the education sector. We showcased a range of qualifications including Internet Safety (the UK's first qualification about the safe and legal use of the internet), Digital Literacy and Social Software PDAs. Visitors to our stand had the chance to try our e-assessment systems and e-portfolios.

SQA is a Cycle Friendly Employer

SQA has been awarded the Cycling Friendly Employer Award, Cycling Scotland's national award which recognises SQA's commitment to encourage staff at both their Dalkeith and Glasgow sites to cycle to work.

Cycling Scotland's Cycle Friendly Employer Award is run in conjunction with the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives. The aim of the award is to give employers the incentive to achieve a nationally recognised award for promoting cycling in the workplace which will result in benefits for employers and staff alike.

SQA Chief Executive, Dr Janet Brown, said: 'I'm delighted that we have achieved this national award, which recognises the facilities and systems that we have put in place to make it easier for our staff to cycle to work. We are very pleased with the numbers of staff who have got involved and hope the numbers will continue to rise.'
 

SQA and PACE

SQA has been actively engaged with the PACE Partnership.  PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment) is the Scottish Government's national strategic partnership framework for responding to redundancy situations. It ensures that public sector agencies respond to potential and proposed large-scale and small-scale redundancies as quickly and effectively as possible.

In the main SQA's involvement will be:

• ensuring that potential PACE customers are aware of the PACE service provided by Skills Development Scotland and our partners
• that local partnerships and potential learners are aware of the range of SQA provision that could help them quickly back into the workforce
• that we can support any agencies in tracking candidates that access the PACE offering

For further information please go to our website.

This webpage will be updated at regular intervals. For further information about the SQA's links with PACE please contact Liam Priest.

SQA and the Commonwealth Games 2014

The 20th Commonwealth Games in 2014 will be held in Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland.

The winning city was announced by the Commonwealth Games Federation on 9 November 2007 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Games will run for 12 days from 23 July to 3 August 2014. It will be the largest multi-sport event ever held in Scotland, although the country previously hosted the Games in 1970 and 1986 in Edinburgh.

SQA has been actively engaged with Scottish Government and the Legacy Committee of Scotland's Commonwealth Games 2014. While the Organising Committee organise the event, the multi-agency legacy committee ensure that the surround is in place to ensure that the Games leave a lasting legacy in Scotland. The main thrust of Legacy Committee is to use the Games as a vehicle for engagement and economic development. For further information please go to our website.

This section will be updated at regular intervals. For further information about the SQA's plans to link in with the forthcoming Commonwealth Games please contact Liam Priest.

PrintIT! Scotland – Schools Programme

The PrintIT! Scotland programme for schools, a vocational learning concept driven jointly by SQA and Proskills, will be open for registrations from Wednesday 27 January 2010 onwards.

The programme offers schools a curriculum - mapped project to support teachers of Standard Grade Graphic Communication. Students will design promotional and display materials to promote the Fairtrade Foundation and its products. The programme allows access to a 'twinning' scheme in which schools are linked to print employers for advice on the project and an insight into the industry.

Teachers can submit the most promising entries to a competition in which prizes will be awarded to students for the best work. Entries for this year's competition must be submitted by 30 June 2010. We recommend teachers and employers register to take part as soon as possible in this important initiative. For more information e-mail Jan Cassidy at Proskills. 
 

Product Design: First Steps Exhibition

In partnership with the Glasgow School of Art we are holding an exhibition to showcase some of the exceptional Design Assignments submitted for the 2009 Intermediate 2 Product Design Course.  The student brief was to design street furniture for the iconic Glasgow School of Art building and it is fitting that the exhibition of work from 10 students will be displayed in the School's Atrium Gallery.

The exhibition will be an inspirational visit for your students and as is the centenary year of the Glasgow School of Art in the Art Nouveau Building deigned by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, schools and colleges visiting the Exhibition can book tours of the Mackintosh building at a discounted price. 

The Exhibition opens on Wednesday 24 February and will run until Tuesday 9 March 2010.

To arrange a visit to the exhibition and book a tour of the Mackintosh Building please contact the Glasgow School of Art on 0141-353 4525 for details.

Last Call for Show Racism the Red Card Competion Entries

Show Racism the Red Card is the UK's premier anti-racist charity. 

SQA is a proud supporter of their annual creative competition. The 2010 competition  is the biggest yet, with categories for further education colleges and special schools.

Entrants have to develop a piece of creative work that gets across loud and clear our message that racism is not welcome in Scotland.

The last day for submissions is Friday 29 January 2010. Find out more.

SOLAR E-assessment Training

We will be running a FREE training session about SOLAR e-assessment. on Monday 1 February 2010. The session will run from 10am to 12pm in our Glasgow office and finish with lunch.

The sessions are aimed at all SQA approved centres. It would also be of great benefit if you are approved or are seeking approval to one of the subject areas covered by SOLAR either now or in the near future to maximise your benefit through these training sessions. Please also check with us to see if you already have a centre administrator available as they would be able to set you up straight away.

Please e-mail to book a place.

We would prefer a maximum of two people from a centre to each session, should you wish more to attend please contact us. (We may be able to arrange a session at your centre however a minimum of 10 staff are requested for these individual sessions).

SQA Deskspace E-portfolio Training

We are running more FREE sessions of the new Deskspace e-portfolio system for Skills for Work Courses. The date for these are:

• Tuesday 26 January 2010 - 1pm - 3pm (lunch available prior to this session)
• Monday 1 February 2010  - 1pm - 3pm (lunch available prior to this session)

These will be held in our Glasgow office.

We would prefer a maximum of 2 people from a centre to each session, should you wish more to attend please contact us. (We may be able to arrange a session at your centre however a minimum of 10 staff are requested for these individual sessions).

To book a place please contact esf@sqa.org.uk or Linn van der Zanden.

The Scottish Education Awards 2010

SQA are proud sponsors of The Scottish Education Awards. The annual awards celebrate the hard work and success which takes place in Scottish education.

Nominations for the 2010 awards are now open.

The categories are:

• Health and Wellbeing Award
• Getting Scotland Active Award
• Literacy and Numeracy Across Learning Award
• Enterprise and Employability Across Learning Award (Primary and Early Years)
• Enterprise and Employability Across Learning Award (Secondary)
• Entrepreneurial Learning Award
• Aiming High Award

The closing date for entries is Friday 5 March 2010. Visit the awards website for more information and make your nomination today.