Qualifications Body Transition Board minutes - November 2024

Attendees and apologies

Members

• Shirley Rogers, SQA Board Chair – Transition Board Co-Chair (SR)

• Clare Hicks, SG Director for Education Reform – Transition Board Co-Chair (CH)

• Kirsty Ayed, School Leaders Scotland (KA)

• George Brown, SQA Accreditation (GB)

• Liz Cunningham, SQA Unison Representative (LC)

• Laurence Findlay, ADES, Aberdeenshire Council (LF)

• Seán Hagney, SQA Board (SH)

• Andy Harvey, EIS (AH)

• Allan Lindsay, Young Scot (AL)

• Erin McCabe, Unite (EM)

• Stuart McKenna, Scottish Training Federation (SMcK)

• Isabel Nisbet, Independent Adviser (IN)

• Pauline Radcliffe, SCQFP (PR)

• Jon Reid, SLS/ADES, Falkirk Council (JR)

• Fiona Robertson, SQA Chief Executive (FR)

• Ken Thomson, SQA Board (KT)

In attendance

• Eni Adesida, SG (EA)

• Naureen Ahmad, SG, Deputy Director (NA)

• Andy Alston, SQA (AA)

• Lisa Bird, SG Deputy Director, Education Reform Programme (LB)

• Steve Borley, SQA (SB)

• Bill Cullen, SQA (BC)

• Sarah Hart, SG (SaH)

• Dawnne Mahmoud, SQA Director of People (DM)

• Jaxon Parish, SG (JP)

• Richard Pidgeon, SQA (RP)

• Manvinder Reid, SG (MR)

• Mark Wilson, SQA (MW)

Secretariat

• Karen Ferguson, SQA (KF)

• John Keenan, SG (JK)

• Niamh McGhee, SG (NM)

Apologies

• Reid Aiton, Young Scot

• John Booth, SQA

• Euan Duncan, SSTA

• Laurence Findlay, ADES/Aberdeenshire Council

• Keegan Friel, SQA

• Anna Kerr, SQA

• Isabel Nisbet, Independent Adviser

• Pauline Radcliffe, SCQF

• Mark Ratter, ADES

• ​​​​​​​Kieran Watson, SG

Items and actions

Opening remarks

Welcome and apologies

CH welcomed everyone to the meeting and noted apologies.

CH welcomed RE to his first meeting of the transition board. CH went on to inform members that Mark Ratter would be replacing Laurence Findlay as ADES representative and thanked LF for his contributions.

Declaration of any conflicts of interest

There were no declarations of conflicts of interest.

Previous meeting – approval of minutes from 22 October 2024 and matters arising

The minutes of the meeting of 22 October were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

CH noted that two Below the Line (BTL) papers were produced in response to comments from the previous meeting – one from JP on transitional governance and one from BC on programme level dependencies.

Members were also informed that the minutes of previous meetings were ready to be published on SG website with other Education Reform programme materials. Members will be informed when these are uploaded.

Implementation plan

Vision for QS: where are we trying to get to?

Corporate plan

RP gave an update on SQA’s Corporate Plan, A Prospectus for Change. He explained how the plan provides a roadmap for the transition to Qualifications Scotland (QS) and acts as a blueprint for achieving the goal of both delivering credible qualifications today and building for the future.

RP highlighted the extensive stakeholder engagement that had been undertaken, assuring members that this would help ensure that QS was collaborative and inclusive. Members welcomed this commitment and highlighted the need to ensure that all aspects of education, skills and training are fully considered to ensure genuine and wide-ranging transformation.

Members emphasised the need for clearly defined cultural and structural changes in the transition to establishing Qualifications Scotland, whilst highlighting that regaining public trust was key. The importance of an effective communication strategy was discussed, which should ensure that the transformational change taking place is clearly articulated to stakeholders and the wider public, where the benefits are understood.

Members noted that buy-in from SQA staff was considered crucial for a successful transition. DM described a wellbeing plan that has been developed for SQA staff.

SR noted that the corporate plan is just the start of setting a direction for change, signalling a collective effort towards how SQA wants to relate to both the wider education community, but also internally. SR acknowledged the effort from teams to put the plan together and thanked transition board members for their comments and contributions over the past six months.

Transition: what is required for day 1?

Day 1 approach

BC presented a verbal update on transition progress so far to day 1 of QS, noting that while the project boards have not yet been set up, some projects have started. These include branding and visual identity development, TUPE, and the CMS website. BC added that the aim is to hold at least one meeting of each project board in advance of the next transition board meeting.

BC noted that transition funding has been approved by SG for the financial year 2024 to 2025 and a letter of comfort for 2025 to 2026. CH added that the funding had been secured for the approach where all transition activities take place before day 1, as opposed to the phased approach, for which members had previously expressed concerns.

BC described the work completed during SQA’s ‘Qualifications Scotland Week’ with its staff. BC added that feedback from staff will be collated, and fed back to staff in January, and transition board will also be updated. A further meeting with JB is being arranged regarding the development of a comms plan.

BTL paper: dependencies

BTL paper: QS transition governance

CH asked members if they wished to comment on either of the BTL papers. No comments were made.

Transformation: what will happen longer term?

Cabinet Secretary's commission

SR updated TB members on her progress towards responding to the Cabinet Secretary’s commission where she had been tasked with examining how SQA interacts and engages with schools, possible approaches to enhancing the separation of QS’ accreditation and awarding functions, and QS’s leadership structure.

SR indicated that the response will go to the SQA Board for clearance, then on to the Cabinet Secretary.

Members noted the importance of securing an appropriate level of funding for the accreditation function. Members were also keen that work relating to the proposed schools’ unit was extended to post school settings and they were also keen to hear more about timescales.

Charters and committees: progress-to-date

MR and RP updated members on the progress of the Charters and Interest Committees. This included information on the engagement and delivery work for the two Charters (Learner and Teacher) and two Interest Committees that will be established under Qualifications Scotland.

Some members indicated that these proposals appeared to be awarding body focused. JP noted that the legislation will not prevent engagement on accreditation.

Members highlighted the importance of ensuring language within the Charters was appropriate to the specific audiences they were intended to support. Members also emphasised the importance of effective stakeholder engagement on the development of the Charters.

Members spoke about the importance of clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the different institutions across the education system and how that interacts with the part played by QS.

Action – Presentation on Charters and Committees to be conducted at SQA Qualifications Committee.

Action – CH to feedback to transition board on the paper relating to governance and roles and responsibilities that is to be discussed at the next meeting of the Education Reform Programme Board.

Any other business

CH proposed the cancellation of the 17 December transition board meeting and that the next meeting would be on 21 January. This was due to the impact of the Christmas holidays and other conflicting schedules including the Scottish Budget and Education (Scotland) Bill Committees in December. No objections from members were made.

Co-Chairs noted that they were both happy to engage with any queries or concerns from members following on from this meeting.

Date of next meeting

The date of the next meeting is Tuesday 21 January. SR to chair.