The validation of PC Passport took place today in the SQA offices in Glasgow. The Validation Panel was made up of representatives of colleges, employers and SQA.\u00a0The purpose of a validation event is for fresh eyes to review the proposed\u00a0changes to a qualification. The Qualification Development Team (QDT) presented a new Group Award Specification and explained the reasons behind the choices that we have made.<\/p>\n
It was a good meeting, held in a constructive spirit, with both sides trying to improve the award. The outcome was that the QDT\u00a0have a number of conditions and recommendations<\/strong> to address. The conditions are mostly simple to carry out (such as include a statement on accessibility) but one was significant. The QDT was asked to look at the structure of the qualification to include information skills and provide an element of choice to learners. We discussed a number of ways of doing this and I offered to consult with stakeholders about the best way of\u00a0going about that.<\/p>\n The validation of the component Units is done separately from the validation of the group awards. These units are not yet validated. We are trying to make them as compatible with vendor awards as possible and this is taking more time than planned. I hope to have the Units validated by the end of January.<\/p>\n We would rather get the new PC Passport right than get it quickly. I had hoped to have the new award available to centres from January but that looks more likely to be March<\/strong> given the work still to be done. I think that the wait will be worth it. The updated qualification will\u00a0significantly update the existing award (with a focus on collaboration and cloud computing), be a better fit for the latest productivity software (such as Office 2016<\/a>), and ties in with a number of national developments (such as Developing the Young Workforce<\/a>).<\/p>\n