The Scottish Government

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The future of National Qualifications

The Scottish Government wants Scotland to have a qualifications system that works for everyone and that reflects the learning that takes place in the curriculum. This consultation sets out a range of proposals to ensure that our system of National Qualifications equips our young people for the demands of the 21st century.

The proposals have grown out of Curriculum for Excellence, which is an educational reform programme that is designed to establish a coherent, flexible and enriched curriculum for everyone from age 3 to age 18. Qualifications are just one aspect of Scottish education that will change under Curriculum for Excellence. The programme will transform learning and teaching, enabling all children to become confident individuals, successful learners, responsible citizens and effective contributors. It is particularly important that our young people are equipped with skills for learning, skills for life and skills for work. You can find information on Curriculum for Excellence on-line at www.curriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk.

About this consultation

The consultation covers National Qualifications. Like other Scottish qualifications, National Qualifications are available at a range of different levels on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF):

You can find out more about the SCQF on-line at www.scqf.org.uk.

The proposals

The consultation seeks views on four main proposals:

1 Access, Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications will be retained as points of stability and updated

Highers will remain the 'gold standard' of the Scottish education system. However, the content of all these qualifications will be updated to reflect Curriculum for Excellence.

2 A new qualification will replace Standard Grades and Intermediates

Standard Grade and Intermediate qualifications are good qualifications, but the system at these levels is complex and needs to be simplified.

We propose to introduce a new qualification at SCQF levels 4 and 5 to replace Standard Grade General and Credit levels and Intermediate 1 and 2. The new qualification will be available in a wide range of subjects at both levels and will include the best features of Standard Grade and Intermediate. Standard Grade Foundation will be replaced by Access 3 courses.

3 New awards in literacy and numeracy

Literacy and numeracy are key priorities of Curriculum for Excellence and will be embedded in teaching across the curriculum from 3-18.

We propose to introduce new qualifications - the Scottish Certificate for Literacy and the Scottish Certificate for Numeracy - to formally recognise these skills. Almost all young people would be presented for the new qualifications, which would be based on a mixture of internally assessed evidence from coursework across the curriculum and an external examination.

Available at SCQF levels 3, 4 and 5, the awards would also be flexible enough to be available to adult learners in colleges.

4 Increased flexibility when taking qualifications

Our aim is for qualifications to support and reflect individual learning. Increasing flexibility in qualifications would allow young people more freedom to personalise their learning.

Ideas for increasing flexibility include:

• opportunities to study qualifications over 18 months or 2 years as well as 1 year;
• introducing a winter diet of examinations; and
• encouraging the most able pupils to bypass lower level qualifications and to study for Highers from S4 onwards.

Because the Government wants to promote rich learning in S1-S3, young people will not generally be presented for examinations before S4.

Timetable

To ensure smooth progression, we are suggesting that the new and revised qualifications may be needed from 2012/13 onwards. This means that children entering P7 in August 2008 could be the first to sit the new qualifications. The consultation asks for views on this.

How can I get involved?

We would welcome your views on these proposals. The full consultation paper containing the proposals and consultation questions can be found on the Scottish Government website at www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations(look for A Consultation on the Next Generation of National Qualifications in Scotland amongst the list of 'current consultations').

If you wish to respond, you can:

• fill in an on-line questionnaire on the Scottish Government website (details as above); or
• extract the consultation questions (available on the website or in Section 5 of the paper version) and post your response to:

Whether you are responding on-line or by post, please complete a Respondent Information Form, again available in the paper version or at www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations.

The consultation closes on 31 October 2008.

Further copies of this leaflet and the full consultation paper are available on request (in standard, audio and large print formats and in community languages). Please contact: qualificationsconsultation@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or telephone 0131 244 0232 if you require copies or have any questions about the consultation process.

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