Badenoch school is game for new computer games qualification
Kingussie High School is giving its Higher, and Advanced Higher computing science candidates an extra life, offering them the chance to supplement their learning with an enticing qualification in computer games design.
The students are taking SQA’s National Progression Award in computer games development as part of their studies in their senior phase at school.
National Progression Awards are available in a variety of sectors, from construction and childcare to areas such as digital literacy and social software. They're aimed at assessing a defined set of skills and knowledge in specialist vocational areas.
They also link to National Occupational Standards, which are the basis of SVQs.
By combining them with qualifications such as Highers, and Advanced Highers, learners get the benefit of developing a theoretical understanding of a topic, and the chance to develop valuable practical skills too.
For the S5 and S6 pupils at Kingussie, having the option to study computer games design at school while they were undertaking their Higher, or Advanced Higher in computing science provided a solution that was the best of both worlds.
Deputy head Rhona MacAskill said the combination of practical skills, and academic understanding benefitted students keen to take their study of computing science to the next level.
“This is giving this group of young people a deeper understanding of the topic, and awareness of how the theory they are learning in one lesson can be applied in real-life situations in the other.
“What we’ve found this year is that our learners have really benefitted from us offering a blended approach to our computing courses and broadening the computing pathway. Everyone undertaking the NPA gets a chance to work on their assessment over the course of the year.
“For many of them, making that progression over the year balances out the end of year assessments in the other courses.”
Steve Bailey-Young, computing science teacher at the school, said: “We know that games, and games design is hugely popular with our learners. For many of our pupils, it’s their hobby as well as the topic of their studies, so if there’s a chance to capitalise on their interest and develop their skills, we’ll hopefully help them achieve a valuable vocational qualification at the same time, which will help them as they progress on to the next stage of their education, training, or even employment.”
S6 pupil Oscar Milbauer, said: “I enjoy the course because it is related to something I enjoy and it coincides with my Advanced Higher computing science course as they share similarities in some of the coding languages, such as Python and GDScript.”
Cael Godsman, also a S6 pupil at Kingussie added: “Overall, the course is great as it forces you to take a step back and look at the bigger picture as a whole when it comes to preparing for the future.”
SQA’s portfolio of games and gaming qualifications are proving to be popular with learners. In 2023, SQA launched its NPA in esports, giving learners the opportunity to study the esports industry, where teams compete against each other in organised competitive gaming events.
Robert Fraser, liaison manager at SQA, outlined the progression routes available to learners after completing the SQA’s NPA in the subject: “After completing the NPA, learners can go on to study an HNC or HND in computer games development at college. These vocational qualifications then allow learners to progress onto degrees in the gaming sector offered by many Scottish universities or seek opportunities in the workplace Scotland’s thriving games industry.”#
More information on SQA’s portfolio of vocational computing qualifications on the SQA website.
