What are National Qualifications?
The Scottish Government has recently announced changes to National Qualifications. Find out more about these changes and the future of National Qualifications within Curriculum for Excellence.
Current National Qualification framework
National Qualifications (NQs) are for students in secondary schools and are also offered in colleges of further education. NQs are Standard Grades, National Courses and National Units. This framework will remain in place until session 2013-14 when the Next Generation of National Qualifications will be implemented.
| Standard Grades | National Courses/Units |
|---|---|
| Advanced Higher | |
| Higher 1 | |
| Standard Grade - Credit | Intermediate 2 |
| Standard Grade - General | Intermediate 1 |
| Standard Grade - Foundation | Access 3 |
| Access 2 | |
| Access 1 |
NQs have been designed to be as flexible as possible to meet the needs of all students. Qualifications can be built up over time, encouraging students to progress to the highest level they can achieve. NQs cover hundreds of subjects to suit everyone's interests and skills. Schools offer a range of traditional subjects as well as new subjects that will be useful in today's workplace, such as biotechnology, media studies and information systems.