Higher Still and Care Qualifications

Higher Still & Care Qualifications

Higher Still is a major initiative reconstructing post-16 education and permitting a wider range of subjects to be offered at Higher level.

The Scottish Higher has been the traditional "Gold Standard" since 1888 but following the Howie report in the early 1990's it was recognised that the traditional Higher was unsuitable for many pupils. Many vocationally based subjects were omitted from the Higher framework giving the impression that they were less worthy.

With the revision of the traditional "O" grades into Standard grades, most of which could be taken at, Foundation, General or Credit levels, almost all pupils were able to access Standard Grade awards.

It followed that Highers should have a similar revision, especially with the growth of SQA National Certificate modules and group awards such as the General Scottish Vocational Qualifications.

The Higher Still framework allows for study at different levels called Intermediate 1 (similar to Standard Grade General) Intermediate 2 (similar to Credit), Higher and Advanced higher (formerly 6th Year Studies). Students can take a course made up of component units, similar to modules. A unit generally lasts for 40 hours and so a course usually consists of 3 of them giving 120 hours plus 40 further hours for induction/study time etc. Courses can be packaged together to give even more extended awards called group awards and these are to be available at different levels too.

Whilst it is possible that some schools might take up the opportunity to offer the new Higher in Care it is much more likely that these awards will be on offer in Further Education Colleges and that they will form part of the new group awards, (called Scottish Group Awards), which will replace GSVQ's.

It is likely that the Intermediate 2 course in Care will be embedded in the new Scottish Group Awards Intermediate 2 in Care and that the Higher course will be embedded in the SGA (Higher) in Care.

For employers, whilst it is possible that a candidate for employment may come to you with school-based qualifications which could include an Intermediate Level 2 Higher, it is more likely that they will apply from the position of having completed one of the new Scottish Group Awards in Care which will comprise a wider range of Care related units and core skills similar to the existing GSVQ's.