Get to know the people behind the SCQF Partnership (SCQFP). In this new blog series, we shine a spotlight on our Board members and the valuable experience, perspectives and leadership they bring to the organisation. This week, it’s the turn of Marie Hendry.
Marie Hendry is the Chief Executive of the College Development Network, which is the college sector’s development and enhancement agency.
Collaborating with SCQFP, she enhances the Framework’s impact across colleges and skills systems.
With 15 years experience in further and higher education, latterly as Depute Director at the Open University in Scotland, Marie has also worked at senior level in skills-development and roles in the private and third sector. Marie also serves on the Public Engagement Committee of the international development charity SCIAF.
As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the SCQF, we caught up with Marie to learn more about her vision for the Framework’s future.
What’s been the most rewarding aspect of serving on the Board?
For me, the most rewarding aspect has been seeing how the Framework helps people to understand and value their own learning.
Across Scotland’s education and skills system, there is such breadth in what learning means — from school pupils taking their first steps, to apprentices, college and university students, adult returners, people in work, and those rebuilding confidence or changing direction.
Being part of the SCQFP Board has reinforced just how important that shared language is.
The SCQF helps people see that their learning matters, and that there is always a next step available to them.
What do you see as the SCQF’s most important contribution to Scottish education and skills development in the past 25 years?
I think the SCQF’s greatest contribution has been giving Scotland a clear, shared way of talking about learning and achievement. That may sound simple, but it is incredibly powerful.
Across education and skills, it helps show the value and rigour of different types of learning, whether academic, vocational, technical, professional or work-based.
Over the past 25 years, the Framework has helped make the system more transparent and more inclusive. It has also supported something I care deeply about: recognising that people learn in different ways, in different places, and at different stages of life.
How do you see the SCQF evolving over the next 25 years?
Looking ahead, I think the SCQF will become even more important as learning becomes more flexible and more lifelong.
People are no longer following one single route through education and work. They are building skills through school, college and university study, apprenticeships, work-based learning, short courses, community learning and, increasingly, more modular forms of learning.
The Framework can help join that up, and help recognise prior learning.
Across the education and skills system, the opportunity is to keep using the SCQF in practical, meaningful ways — in curriculum design, learner support, progression, quality enhancement and Scotland’s wider skills agenda.
Can you share an example of how you’ve seen the SCQF make a real difference to learners, training providers & employers?
The difference is often very personal. I think of learners who are unsure of where they fit, or uncertain about whether previous learning or life experience really counts. The Framework is a fantastic and accessible way to show them that it does.
Whether someone is moving through school, college, university, an apprenticeship, community learning or work-based learning, the Framework helps make the pathway visible. That can be a real confidence-builder.
It helps learners see not just where they are and what they’ve achieved but where they could go next.
Why should learners, training providers and employers care about the SCQF?
The SCQF helps make all learning understandable and valued.
For learners, it can demystify qualifications and give clarity about level, credit and progression.
For colleges, it supports curriculum planning, Recognition of Prior Learning, credit rating, progression agreements and conversations with employers. But more than that, it helps colleges tell the story of what they do so well: widening access, recognising skills, supporting people into work and further study, supporting the economy through business engagement and strengthening communities across Scotland.
What makes the Partnership model effective for Scotland’s qualifications landscape?
The Partnership model works because Scotland’s qualifications landscape only makes sense when the different parts of the system work together.
Schools, colleges, universities, employers, communities, awarding bodies and national agencies all have a vital role to play.
The SCQFP brings that wider system together around a common purpose.
That partnership approach keeps the Framework grounded in real learner journeys and real skills needs, rather than being something that sits at a distance from practice.
What’s one thing you would like more people to understand about the SCQF?
I think one of the biggest misconceptions about the SCQF is that it is only relevant to those who work in education. In reality, it is a tool for everyone. Learners, parents, employers and communities can all use it to understand qualifications, compare learning pathways and explore opportunities for progression.
The SCQF plays an important role in supporting lifelong learning. It helps people understand how different types of learning and achievement connect, whether gained through formal education, work or community-based learning.
That is why the SCQF matters. It makes learning easier to understand, supports progression between education and employment, and helps people navigate lifelong learning with greater confidence.