Informed Scotland April 2019 – Qualifications, assessments & exams
Assessments, qualifications and exams were making the learning & skills headlines last month.
The debate about Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSAs) continued, with reports published from two out of three separate ‘reviews’ – by the Scottish Parliament Education & Skills Committee and the government’s P1 Practitioner Forum.
The annual exam season began for schools, colleges and universities. A Reform Scotland report focused on the number of National Qualifications a student can take at S4. And SCQF Partnership encouraged employers to become ‘inclusive recruiters’ by using SCQF levels instead of specific qualifications in their recruitment processes.
Other items to highlight include:
- Scottish Funding Council’s first statistical report on the articulation of HNC/HND students from colleges to universities
- A report analysing the experiences of disabled staff in Scotland’s colleges by Advance HE
- A review by Skills Development Scotland examining inequalities in educational and labour market outcomes
- LKMco’s report for Founders4Schools on Making Careers Education Age-Appropriate, featuring case studies from Stirling Council schools
- The annual Scottish Technology Industry Survey from ScotlandIS
- And the Education & Skills Committee’s new inquiry into STEM in early years, adding to its already busy agenda that includes subject choices, SNSAs and follow-up work on additional support needs.
April saw the launch of numerous new courses, plus a new preparing for executive leadership programme from College Development Network, a new SSERC/STAC online forum for school technicians, the opening of a second Newton Room STEM learning centre in the Highlands, and a new hairdressing salon run by New College Lanarkshire students for long-term patients at University Hospital Wishaw.
Also last month, the running of Canal College and Canal Heritage projects transferred to Keep Scotland Beautiful as Scottish Waterways Trust sadly ceased trading, plus Newlands Junior College in Glasgow closed its doors after opening for disengaged students five years ago.
Look out for overlapping national themed weeks later in May, including those on Digital Learning, Learning at Work and Learning Disability. Our Learning & Skills Events Calendar contains details of these and more.
Finally, a quick mention with thanks to Edinburgh graphic designers, Mamook, who created the original Informed Scotland design and template – as you may have noticed they’ve provided a few new snazzy cover designs over the last year, and this issue features the final one. We hope you like them as much as we do!
This really is just a taste of all that happened last month! To keep on top of developments you need to become an Informed Scotland subscriber. Email [email protected] to request a sample copy.