Establishing The Need For The Qualification

Centres are required to review their portfolios on a regular basis. Most centres require course teams to complete an annual course report. The course team should form the nucleus of the Qualification Design Team which will take forward the research and development required for the qualification.

You should start with initial research to establish stakeholder needs. You should access existing market research at national level, eg FutureSkills Scotland, National Occupational Standards, and research taken from more local sources. (See Centre Tools 3, 4 and 5.) It is important that a broad spectrum of stakeholders is involved in this consultation.

The proposed Group Award should be given a working title at this point. Note that the title should be unique and distinct from any other consortium or specialist development.

The information sources consulted are likely to include:

• current and former candidates
• staff
• advisory groups
• reports from central or local government or government agencies
• employment bodies, former National Training Organisations and Sector Skills Councils (SSCs)
• major employers both local and national
• professional institutes
• training agencies and employment agencies
• reports from other awarding bodies
• HEI and universities (including QAA Subject Benchmarks)
• FutureSkills Scotland

Centres may already hold significant information from candidate and employer evaluations, Course Teams etc, which could also be used as evidence of consultation.

Consultation would usually include feedback on:

• the working title of the Group Award 
• the aims of the Group Award — both general and specific
• comments on the existing Group Award (if appropriate)
• working title of any proposed new Units
• the proposed content of all Units
• the balance of Units in particular subject areas within the Group Award
• the mandatory/optional structure
• the Core Skills development strategy
• the strategy and rationale for the Graded Units

Some suggested templates for initial market research are included in the Centre Tools, especially Centre Tools 3, 4 and 5. These can be adapted to suit your needs. Centre Tools 6 and 7 are a sample second-stage market research document and feedback summary.

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