SQA News

Thirty-eight awards in fourteen different categories were presented to a variety of education and training success stories from across Scotland recently at the annual Star Awards.

Research and Information Services have produced a new SQA Guide to Assessment. The Guide gives an overview of the different purposes and principles of assessment. It contains information sheets on each of the most common assessment instruments and outlines the processes for assessing SQA Units and Courses. A glossary of assessment terminology is provided, as well as a reference section of publications and websites.

SQA operates a service for the issue of replacement certificates. An online service is available for obtaining replacement certificates as well as a downloadable application form.

We have been working on a number of initiatives to improve our website and have some exciting new developments that will be available over the coming months.

The Core Skills Framework has undergone a refresh, which means that some of the components within it have changed. These component changes were necessary to ensure that the Framework remained current.

Our monthly free e-zine 'Connecting with SQA', is packed with the latest news and developments, events and publications from all areas of our business. To ensure you are among the first to receive this invaluable resource - fill in our registration form.

View the current issue or Register here today

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has announced the 2008 National Course results, which include Standard Grade and Access Courses.

This new SQA tutoring award is aimed at those new to the field of ESOL, or experienced tutors who have no recognised ESOL tutoring/teaching qualifications. It might also be appropriate for teachers of other subjects who have ESOL learners in their classes and wish to develop a broad understanding of issues related to English language development.

• More information about the event

Use our new booking facility to reserve your place on one of SQA?s Professional Development Workshops.

We have developed four new qualifications to support the Licensed Trade sector in implementing the mandatory PLH qualification and staff training requirements arising from the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005.

The Scottish Learning Festival - the annual national education conference and exhibition for education - takes place on 24 and 25 September 2008 at the SECC and Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow.

SQA has announced that from session 2008/09, entry charges for National Qualifications, Higher National Qualifications and Scottish Vocational Qualifications will rise by 3%. A letter has been despatched to all centres with further details.

Visitors to our Dalkeith offices between 23 June and 26 September 2008 are advised that road works at the Sheriffhall Roundabout may cause delays.

Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, has announced that the next generation of National Qualifications will be introduced for pupils in the 2013/14 session.

Thank you to all who came along to our 2007 Customer Conference – Connecting with SQA – on 14 and 15 June at the Radisson Hotel, Glasgow. We are pleased to offer you access to the workshop presentations.

We want you to have confidence in our qualifications. For that reason, we are bringing everything we do to set, maintain and monitor qualification and assessment standards under the label of the 'Scottish Standard'. These new pages provide you with a lot more information about our qualification and assessment processes.

Follow this link to view the Scottish Standard web pages

Every year, SQA lays a formal Annual Report and a full Annual Financial Report before the Scottish Parliament. The Annual Report and Accounts gives details of our performance against the aims and objectives for the financial year 2007/2008.

A new alerts service that emails you whenever content you are interested in is added or updated on SQA's website is now available. For information on how it works and how to subscribe, please use the following link: MyAlerts