Colleges in Scotland will set up “college quality panels” to support quality assurance in assessments after exams were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
This comes after colleges were closed for face-to-face teaching in March, and exams were cancelled as the country entered lockdown. Communication to the college sector from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), dated 13 May, said that, together with Colleges Scotland, the SQA had published guidance for the following: Higher National Certificates and Diplomas, Professional Development Awards, National Certificates, National Progression Awards, Skills for Work courses and NQ freestanding units. This sets out the approach for college delivery and quality assurance of these qualifications.
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This, according to the SQA, allows for a “flexible approach to assessment and evidence gathering that enables you to use your professional judgement to assess other evidence, including knowledge of your learners’ progress and achievements to date”.
Quality assurance processes had been adapted to allow for the change in approach for this session with the introduction of college quality panels, external to course teams, said the SQA. This, it added, allowed for “a consistency in approach to judgements across your college and ensures fairness and equity to all your learners”.
“Colleges are asked to retain the evidence of course team decisions and internal quality assurance panels, until 31 December 2020. College quality managers can assist with the documentation needed to support this. Candidate evidence retention periods remain unchanged for these qualifications.”
A spokesperson for Colleges Scotland said that, following the cancellation of the exam diet, there had been “excellent levels of engagement and dialogue with Scottish Qualifications Authority over how assessments shall be done”.
“The college and university sectors have agreed with Scottish government and NUS Scotland that the assessment process should be based on fairness to students and upholding the system’s integrity,” Colleges Scotland said.
“The adapted quality assurance of qualifications is centred on flexibility in assessment and professional evaluation based on holistic assessment, course team decisions and other relevant evidence, such as learners’ progress and previous achievements.
“Colleges’ internal quality assurance panels - which comprise of quality specialists, senior staff and experienced internal and external verifiers, separate from the course teaching team - will provide a consistent approach to evaluation to uphold those key principles of fairness and integrity as well as ensure that the procedures being put in place are robust. SQA also reserve the right to carry out external verification, although the scale is likely to be less extensive than in previous years.”
