SSERC

Education charity SSERC has their Awards formally recognised through Qualifications Scotland’s SCQF credit rating service.

About SSERC

SSERC offer a wide range of services, principally in support of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) areas of the curriculum. These services aren’t available anywhere else. They cover three main strands of activity:

The Young STEM Leader Programme (YSLP) Award

Their work with us centres around their Young STEM Leader Programme (YSLP) - Sharon Macnab, Programme Manager (YSLP) tells us about the award:

‘The YSLP is a youth award for young people in Scotland that allows them to design and lead STEM activities, events or interactions for their peers.’

‘The programme is designed in a way that enables young people to develop important leadership, communication and teamworking skills while they explore topics such as stereotypes in STEM, opportunities in STEM and challenges in STEM.’

‘Since its inception in 2018, the programme has reached over 30,000 young people in schools, colleges, community organisations and more across Scotland.’

Getting qualifications formally recognised

Credit rating was the most suitable service for SSERC to achieve their objective of having their training and qualifications formally recognised on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) — Scotland’s National framework.

Speaking about Qualifications Scotland credit rating for YSLP awards, as well as what this means for learners and centres, Sharon said: ‘SSERC chose SQA to support the credit rating process for the formal awards levels – at SCQF Levels 4, 5 and 6. The project plan for the design of the Young STEM Leader Programme specified that the qualifications for secondary aged learners would be part of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework. This allows:

It was hoped that this recognition would increase the attractiveness of the award, maximising the uptake among young people and centres, and ultimately increase the credibility and value of completing a Young STEM Leader award.’

Formally recognising more qualifications

After the success for the programme, SSERC got another qualification credit rated, Sharon says: 'building on the ongoing success of the existing programme, a new addition to the programme is STEM Leader at SCQF Level 7. This new level will enable young people in the senior phase, colleges and community settings to continue their STEM engagement at a more advanced level.’

Why choose Qualifications Scotland?

Alastair MacGregor, Chief Executive Officer at SSERC shares why they chose to work with us: "Qualifications Scotland is a reputable organisation with international recognition. Having our awards SCQF credit rated by Qualifications Scotland means that centres were easily able to understand the value of the qualifications and it increased the confidence of educators in delivering a reputable programme."

“They provided a good level of support through the credit rating process for all four qualifications and was able to offer competitive pricing."

Continuing to work with Qualifications Scotland

Speaking about other work with Qualifications Scotland, Alastair said: “since the credit rating for the YSLP, a continued relationship between SSERC and Qualifications Scotland has led to other packages of work, such as annual External Quality Reviews, also undertaken by Qualifications Scotland.”

“Qualifications Scotland is also the chosen credit rating body for other SSERC programmes, including Leadership in Technical Support, which has recently been successfully Levelled at SCQF 9 with 11 credits.”

You can find out more about our SCQF credit rating service here.