NQ entry deadlines
The deadline for the submission of changes to level or withdrawal of entries is Friday 31 March 2023. Please ensure that entry data for your learners is as accurate as possible by this date. Any late entries or change of level made after 31 March will incur a fee, as detailed in the ‘SQA Charges 2022–23’ letter sent to you in November 2022.
We appreciate that you, and your colleagues, are best placed to decide which qualifications and levels your learners are entered for. When deciding, please consider the workload implications associated with each qualification. Dual-entering a learner at both National 4 and National 5 will clearly increase their workload. You should only enter learners for qualifications at the most appropriate level for their ability. We currently have a higher number of learners than normal entered at more than one level.
Accurate and timely submission of data will ensure that your learners are certificated in August 2023. It is also critical for the planning and preparation of the exam diet. We use it to issue the correct amount of stationery and question papers. Importantly, it also ensures that we recruit the required number of appointees for marking and keep release from centres to a minimum.
As you know, Recognising Positive Achievement (RPA) – the automatic fallback to National 4 for young people who were unsuccessful at National 5 level – has not been in operation for a number of years. If you submit National 4 course entries or entries for contributing units after 8 August 2023, we will defer them to the following session. Certification for these learners will then take place in August 2024.
You should be aware that we reserve the right to quality assure National Qualification units at any time in the academic session. Round 2 of verification may include targeted selections of National 4 units in addition to freestanding units at SCQF levels 5, 6 and 7. Please ensure that evidence is available for all units entered. In some cases, we will request that you provide evidence from specific learners rather than choosing the sample. For internally assessed qualifications and components, you should retain evidence for all learners until the end of December of the year in which the qualification is being certificated.
Should you have any questions about this, please contact Data Services at national.qualifications@sqa.org.uk.
Your support with this request is hugely appreciated.