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I was approached in January 2009 by Julie McLaren of Madras College who had an idea to create a new qualification based on computer games. Julie proposed a small National Progression Award at SCQF Level 4 based around existing National Units.

But when we consulted the wider educational community it was clear that people wanted more. So the development grew to include three levels, SCQF Levels 4 to 6, and nine new Units, written explicitly for the new awards. The initiative culminated in three new National Progression Awards in Computer Games Development at SCQF Levels 4, 5 and 6 (equivalent to Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2 and Higher).

From the outset, the qualification design team tried to create awards that would engage young people, and embed some of the aims of the Curriculum for Excellence.

The awards are ‘hierarchical’, which means that their contents are effectively the same from level to level but differentiated by the quality of the candidate’s work.

This will mean that candidates are free to achieve the highest level of award they are capable of achieving. The assessment consists entirely of building a portfolio of their work, illustrating the best examples of their work over the year — and no end of year examination to stress over. The games that candidates will develop range from traditional PC games to game ‘apps’ for mobile phones.

We’re hoping that these new qualifications will be attractive to both genders. While 40% of gamers are female, only 11% of game developers are female. The awards were made available to centres from August and already there has been a huge amount of interest in them.

They seem to appeal to all types of people, from third year school pupils who want undertake a practical and engaging alternative to traditional school courses, to sixth formers who want to brush up their programming skills prior to departing for university. 

The awards were formally launched at the Scottish Learning Festival in September (see photos). You can find out more about these new awards at the SQA website.

Bobby Elliott, Qualifications Manager for Computing, IT and Multimedia at SQA