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.
National Courses/Units
Access levels
Programmes of study at Access levels 1, 2 and 3 are unit-based and do not involve national examinations. Groupings of units built up by learners at Access levels 2 and 3 lead to course awards, eg Business, Computing, Media Studies and Social Subjects.
National Courses
National Courses are available from Intermediate 1 to Advanced Higher. They usually consist of three subject-related National Units, which are assessed by the class teacher/lecturer, plus an external assessment. To gain a full Course award, students have to pass all the Unit assessments as well as the exam.
National Units
Each National Unit is a qualification in its own right. It is a block of work which generally takes around 40 hours to cover and is achieved following the successful completion of Unit assessments - see below. Many full-time NQ college courses are made up of groupings of National Units.
To find teaching and learning resources to support National Courses and Units, visit the subject pages of this website.
Unit assessments
Unit assessments are tasks set and marked by teachers and lecturers to national standards. Before starting a Unit, teaching staff will make sure that students know what has to be learned and what they have to do to pass. Many assessments (often known as NABs) are drawn from the national assessment bank. This helps teachers and lecturers ensure that national standards are applied to all Unit assessments.
The students will be told in advance when the assessment will take place, and students will be awarded the Unit when they have passed all parts of the assessment satisfactorily. If they don't pass first time, they can be reassessed. The Units are marked on a pass/fail basis. It is important to be aware that passing the Unit assessments does not guarantee that the student will pass the exam. In the exam, students have to show that they can use and apply the knowledge and skills gained from the whole course..
External assessment
External assessment can take many forms. In many subjects it is an exam taken in May/June, but in some subjects it is project work or folios completed during the Course. The assessment should demonstrate the knowledge and understanding students have gained while working towards their qualification. In all cases, the assessments are set and marked by people appointed by SQA, normally teachers and lecturers.
Students' performance in the external assessments decides the final Course grades that they will achieve. External assessments play an important role, too, in ensuring that the rigorous standards of National Qualifications are achieved and that all students are being assessed in the same way across Scotland.
Grades and Course awards
To get a full Course award a student must pass all three National Units as well as achieve a grade in the external assessment. Pass grades are awarded at A, B, and C, and a grade D is awarded to a student who just fails to get a grade C. Access Courses and Units are not externally assessed.
Project-based National Courses
Project-based national courses (PBNCs) are usually delivered in colleges. These Courses consist of Units, and a project that has to be assessed by SQA. To gain a Course award candidates have to pass all component Units and achieve a pass for their project. Examples of PBNCs include Fitness and Exercise at Higher and Intermediate 2 levels, Care at Intermediate 2 level and Care: Health Care at Higher level.