The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Executive responsible for the development, accreditation, assessment and certification of qualifications other than degrees in Scotland. It is a non-departmental public body, partly funded by the Scottish Executive Education Department, employing 650 staff, based in Glasgow and Dalkeith. SQA is perhaps best known for the delivery of the annual diet of public examinations within Scotland; each year the Authority organises public examinations in a wide range of subjects, at various levels, for school pupils and college students. However, a greater number of candidates of all ages participates in SQA specialist, vocational and higher education qualifications. Image File history File links Scottish_Qualifications_Authority_Logo. ... An Executive Agency is a British public institution that carries out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Executive, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive. ... The term Scottish Executive is used in two distinct but closely related senses. ... The term Scottish Executive is used in two distinct but closely related senses. ... For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ... Dalkeith (Scottish Gaelic: Dail Cheith) (pop. ...

The SQA's functions and responsibilties are laid out in the Education (Scotland) Act 1996 as amended by the Scottish Qualifications Act 2002.

National courses

National Courses combine three National Units, each lasting 40 hours with a Course Assessment, normally taken at the end of a one-year Course in the early summer.The main levels at which students in Scotland can take examinations are referred to as Standard Grade (at three levels, Foundation, General and Credits, normally sat at age 14-15) and National Courses at 7 levels: Access 1, Access 2, Access 3, Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, and Higher (normally at age 15-18), Advanced Higher (normally at age 17-18). Intermediate 1 and 2 and Access 3 are sat at age 16 in place of Standard Grade in some schools, and at ages 16-18 in addition to Highers and Advanced Highers. National Courses can be taken in a wide range of subjects, from the purely academic, such as English and Mathematics - to the purely vocational, such as Accounting and Mental Health Care. Roughly equivalent to Englands General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), Standard Grades form Scotlands examination system for students aged around 15-16 years. ... Higher is one of the educational levels of National Course on the Scottish Qualifications Certificate (SQC) offered by the Scottish Qualifications Authority which supereded the old Higher Grade on the Scottish Certificate of Education (SCE). ... Advanced Higher Grade, roughly equivalent to Englands A-Levels, is the non-compulsory Scottish examination for students aged about 17-18. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Euclid, detail from The School of Athens by Raphael. ... Accountancy (British English) or accounting (American English) is the process of maintaining, auditing, and processing financial information for business purposes. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Other qualifications

National units and programmes

Most important to the integrated Scottish system are the many qualifications often imperfectly referred to as vocational, though these are frequently stepping stones to, or second chances on, a fairly standard academic pathway.The largest group of students at Scottish Colleges of Further Education pursue one- or two- year programmes tailored from a wide ranging catalogue of National Units. The actual programme may be very rigidly prescribed by employers or be entirely freely chosen by the student to meet particular needs. The prescribed programmes may be recognised by a National Certificate or a Scottish Progression Award.

SVQs and Modern Apprenticeships

Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQ) are an award for vocational education and training awarded by the SQA in conjunction with industry bodies. Scottish National Qualifications and Scottish Progession Awards are often important in a Modern Apprenticeship scheme along with Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQ). SVQs are developed by United Kingdom employers in tandem with National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A Scottish Vocational Qualification, or SVQ, is a certificate of vocational education in Scotland. ... A blacksmith is a traditional trade. ... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the British Isles Languages English (de facto) Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st... For an explanation of often confusing terms such as Great Britain, Britain, United Kingdom and England, see British Isles (terminology). ... Dieu et mon droit (Royal motto) (French for God and my right)2 Northern Irelands location within the UK Main language English Other recognised languages Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Peter Hain MP Area  - Total Ranked...

SVQ are assessed in the workplace (or closely regulated training workshops) by employers, training providers or colleges approved and monitored by the SQA (or other awarding bodies) accredited by its independent Accreditation Unit.

Higher National Certificates and Diplomas

Qualifications aimed at students in their first two years of Higher Education include HNCs (Higher National Certificates)- taken as a one year full-time course or as a two year part-time course - and HNDs (Higher National Diplomas. These qualifications are extremely popular in colleges, workplaces and community education centres in Scotland, the rest of the U.K and throughout the world (most recently in China. The University of Cambridge is an institute of higher learning. ... A Higher National Certificate (HNC) is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom, and is a BTEC qualification awarded by Edexcel, in England. ... A Higher National Diploma (HND) is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom. ...

Students with learning difficulties

These include specific qualifications for those with severe to moderate difficulties (Access),the right to aid in completing assessments (for example, a scribe) and the right to challenge any unfair or artificial barrier in the rules for any qualification

English as a Second Language

There is a suite of National Units addressing the needs of economic migrants, asylum seekers and (the biggest group) those seeking to master English before returning to their own countries.

British Sign Language

A suite on National Units answers the needs of those who prefer to communicate in BSL BSL could mean any of the following: Biologic Space Laboratories from the Metroid Fusion video game. ...

Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework

SQA has joined with Universities Scotland, QAA Scotland and the Scottish Executive to create the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework or SCQF. Every Scottish qualification - from the Access level for those with learning difficulties to a Doctorate and including vocational as well as ESOL and BSL qualifications - is allocated a level and credit value within this framework, which all partners have agreed to recognise. The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) was established in 1997 to provide an integrated quality assurance service for United Kingdom higher education. ... SCQF Logo The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is the national credit transfer system for all levels of qualifications in Scotland. ... The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is the national credit transfer system for all levels of qualifications in Scotland. ...

Responsibilities

SQA has a statutory responsibility to provide public examinations for Scottish state schools, for example Firrhill High School, though these are used more widely. It has a statutory responsibility to accredit vocational qualifications (that is formally scrutinise them and confirm that they conform to agreed UK criteria). None of its qualifications, still less its vocational qualifications, is protected by statute, but the Authority has a largely dominant position within all sectors of qualifications within Scotland. SQA awards are exported to a number of countries including China, Africa, the Middle East, Russia and former soviet republics and other countries. SQA also provides the licensing certification for many merchant navies throughout the world. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

History

Up until their merger in 1998, the two major Scottish examination authorities were the SEB (Scottish Examination Board) and the Scottish Vocational Education Council (SCOTVEC). It is the former of the two that issued the Standard Grade and Higher Grade examinations. The year after Higher Grade was called CSYS (Certificate of Sixth Year Studies) until a reform of Scottish exams (the National Qualifications or Higher Still reforms) replaced it with a broadly equivalent qualification called Advanced Higher. Some curriculum changes were also made to the Higher, but this was not renamed. 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... CSYS - Certificate for Sixth Year studies. ...

A legacy of its two precursor bodies, the Authority's offices remain split over two sites, one in Glasgow and one in Dalkeith. For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ... Dalkeith (Scottish Gaelic: Dail Cheith) (pop. ...

Controversy

The introduction of the reformed examinations system in 2000 was criticised in the press and by the government after a series of administrative and computer errors led to several thousand incorrect Higher and Intermediate certificates being sent out. Also some schools were given the wrong, or incomplete exams, on the published exam day. The crisis took several months to resolve, and several management figures including the Chief Executive Ron Tuck resigned or were fired. Again in 2003, a series of blunders led to thousands of students missing out on a university place (or being given one they did not deserve) because of incorrect Higher exam results. This article is about the year 2000. ... Chief Executive may refer to: Chief Executive of Hong Kong Chief Executive of Macau Chief Executive Officer This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Ron Tuck was Chief Executive of the Scottish Qualification Authority until the SQA exams fiasco in 2000 forced him to resign. ...

See also

• SQA Exams Fiasco

In 2000, the new Higher Grade examination system in Scotland, through a mixture of incompetence and genuine bad luck, ground to a complete halt resulting in administrative chaos and misery for thousands of students. ...

Higher Still Notes

Recently a website called Higher Still Notes (Higher Still Notes) has been created specifically for helping with SQA National Qualifications courses. There are notes for such courses as Higher Maths, Higher English, Higher Chemistry, Higher Physics, Higher Computing and many other courses. The front page of the English Wikipedia Website. ... The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is the authority which issues examination papers and awards examination results to students in Scotland. ... Mathematics is commonly defined as the study of patterns of structure, change, and space; more informally, one might say it is the study of figures and numbers. Mathematical knowledge is constantly growing, through research and application, but mathematics itself is not usually considered a natural science. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Multicolored chemicals are frequent hallmarks of chemistry. ... A Superconductor demonstrating the Meissner Effect. ... Originally, the word computing was synonymous with counting and calculating, and a science that deals with the original sense of computing mathematical calculations. ...

There is also a very helpful discussion forum for students to help each other: Higher Still Notes Forum Gaia Online, the largest English language forum-based community as of April 2005 — powered by a modified version of phpBB. An Internet forum is a facility on the World Wide Web for holding discussions, or the web application software used to provide the facility. ... Alternate uses: Student (disambiguation) Etymologically derived through Middle English from the Latin second-type conjugation verb stŭdērĕ, which means to study, a student is one who studies. ...

External links

• Scottish Qualifications Authority - Official website
• Higher Still Notes - Website for helping with SQA qualifications