Teachers across Scotland are telling us the same things. They want to build skills that actually matter for young people’s futures, but feel boxed in by assessment structures that don’t leave room for creativity.

They know employers are crying out for people who can problem solve, communicate and think on their feet, but there’s a gap between what education says it values and what it formally recognises.

And when something new comes along, they’re often expected to commit before they’ve had a proper chance to see what it looks like.

We built the Creative Innovation qualification with all of that in mind.

Turning creative thinking into real-world skills for learners

Our Creative Thinking qualifications, already delivered in schools across Scotland, teach young people how to think differently.

Creative Innovation takes that further. It asks learners what they’re going to do with those ideas.

They research, develop concepts, test and iterate when things don’t work, pitch their thinking persuasively, and evaluate the impact of what they’ve built.

Five learning outcomes drive the whole qualification: Research, Conceptualise, Fail & Fix, Communicate, and Evaluate.

If that sounds more like what happens in a design studio or a startup than a traditional classroom, that’s deliberate. This is a qualification that gives young people the tools to take an idea somewhere real.

Industry-led challenges that build employability skills

Creative Innovation is designed for S4 to S6 learners at SCQF levels 5 and 6, and it’s structured around playlists of challenges created with real industry partners:

• The Caring Innovators challenge, developed in partnership with NHS Scotland, invites learners to pitch ideas that help people thrive, exploring how creativity and empathy can shape the future of healthcare.
• Other challenges see learners reimagining how we experience school, designing bold new food concepts, or building business ideas rooted in joy.
• Opencast, a technology company, is another partner helping to ground the qualification in what the workplace actually needs.

These aren’t abstract exercises. The challenges connect learners to communities and industries beyond school, and the skills they’re developing are the ones that employers and universities are actively looking for.

Try before you deliver: download the full teaching playlist

Here’s something we think matters: you can download a full playlist, an entire academic year of challenges, resources, and activities, before you decide whether to deliver. No commitment, no sign up. Just download it, look through it, and see if it’s right for your learners.

Each playlist contains three challenges with structured project decks, creative warmup activities, video content and downloadable templates.

Teachers are also supported by Dreamcatcher (our electronic marking tool), a network of Daydream Ambassadors, and a Slack community, so no one delivers in isolation.

The qualification is open to any teacher interested in fostering creativity, enterprise and innovation. You don’t need to be in any particular department.

How does the qualification fit within the SCQF, Insight and UCAS?

The qualification carries 24 SCQF credits at level 5 or level 6, Insight points and, at level 6, UCAS tariff points for grades A to D.

It’s credit rated by Edinburgh Napier University and sits within the SCQF, connecting to the progression pathways schools already understand.

Assessment is portfolio-based, practical, and creative, built around the innovation process learners have been living through all year.

Learn more about the Creative Innovation qualification

Find out more about the qualification here and see for yourself. If you’d like to find out more or talk to us about delivering Creative Innovation in your school, get in touch.

We run introductory meetings to support new teachers through the process, and we’d love to hear from you.

We are hosting a CPD event at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh on Monday 11th May. Walk The Walk brings the five learning outcomes of our qualifications off the page and onto their feet. You’ll step through each one and see what they actually look like when teachers and learners are in the thick of them. Sign up for the event.

This blog has been hard to write – so many perspectives to consider, issues to distil and questions to articulate, but they’re important so bear with me while I try to explain.

Do you know the difference between a Higher, a National Progression Award (NPA) and a Foundation Apprenticeship (FA)?

No need to panic if not as, for this blog, it’s their similarities that are important.

Potentially, all three learning programmes could be deemed to have the same level of difficulty as they are credit rated at level 6 on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF). They could also all earn those successfully completing them the same number of SCQF credit points – 24 (one SCQF credit point equals 10 notional hours of learning).

How SCQF level 6 qualifications are structured and recognised

All Scottish Highers are awarded 24 SCQF credit points, but some NPAs carry fewer while FAs carry more. All three are potential programme types on offer in fifth and sixth year in Scottish schools and, as of April 2026, there are 735 level 6 programmes on the SCQF Register.

In addition to differing credit values, some programmes must also meet specific design principles to be classified as a particular type of qualification – a Higher, for example, typically requires an externally marked exam.

Others have no such set criteria and credit rating against SCQF level descriptors has enabled them to be assigned a level on the SCQF and, through doing so, built credibility, confidence and recognition of attainment in a way which previously wasn’t possible.

SCQF qualifications: Freedom, flexibility and choice

The variety of programmes on the register is vast and caters for interests as diverse as E‑sports, classic ballet and Scottish Studies, through to Preparation for HE (all are 24‑credit SCQF level 6 courses – see more examples below).

Many of these are often referred to as ‘alternative level 6 qualifications’ (alternative to a traditional Scottish Higher qualification, even though they may carry fewer SCQF credit points). They are offered to senior phase pupils in our secondaries and the range of choices are far from those on my own 1990s school options forms.

Increased personalisation and options can be very motivating for young people, indeed for any learner, but freedom, flexibility and choice present other challenges, particularly when it comes to university entry.

The value of alternative qualifications

These courses have intrinsic value and often practical relevance in the workplace: one pupil told me recently that they secured a job in Costa Coffee because they had completed their SCQF level 5 Barista Award in school.

The majority of learning programmes aren’t designed with university entry in mind. However, when we start delivering them in schools, we all want to get it right for those pupils undertaking them, especially those who are applying to university and, therefore, need to know whether alternative qualifications at SCQF level 6 will be considered currency for entry or not.

Will SCQF level 6 alternative qualifications allow university entry?

If a learning programme has been credit rated at SCQF level 6 and carries 24 credit points (as a Higher does), should it be considered ‘equivalent’ to a Higher as an accepted qualification for university entry? And if not, why not?

Is the level of difficulty someone can cope with (which is what an SCQF level tells us) what universities need to know to determine that individual’s ability to succeed on a degree course? Or is sitting an exam in the traditional sense a fundamental measure or gauge of degree potential? Or is the type of assessment not as important as the requirement that it is marked externally (not by your own teacher)?

Once core curriculum aligned qualifications have been attained (e.g. Physics and Maths are usually required Highers for Engineering degrees), what else determines degree readiness as few (if any) universities only ask for 2 Highers for entry to a degree? Do the other 1, 2 or 3 Highers normally required indicate an individual’s ability to work at a certain level of difficulty and, if so, could this also be demonstrated through attainment of an alternative 24-credit, SCQF level 6 qualification?

Putting equivalency of SCQF level 6 in the spotlight

Unfortunately, I can’t answer these questions but I can raise them, and my role at Scotland’s Community of Access and Participation Practitioners (SCAPP) affords me the opportunity to set up online discussions and to invite key stakeholders along to probe important questions like these. We did this at an initial webinar on this topic in January, but it was clear that more stakeholders representing different organisations and perspectives were needed in the virtual room to try and answer these questions and explain the complexities further.

There were admissions officers, careers advisers, teachers and widening participation practitioners present, but we would love to have Qualifications Scotland and Education Scotland representatives among others in attendance at a follow-up session.

The challenges of SCQF level 6 alternative qualifications

Some of the issues and challenges raised at the initial webinar include:

• Learners, parents, teachers and advisers can find it hard to keep track of universities’ entry criteria as these vary not just by university but course by course, and some courses and universities will recognise an alternative SCQF level 6 qualification for entry while others will not.

• Universities are autonomous institutions free to set their own entry criteria, so there is no requirement for them to adopt a blanket policy on accepting FAs, NPAs or other SCQF level 6, 24 credit point qualifications for entry onto their degrees.

• Many universities will consider alternative SCQF level 6 qualifications in the holistic context of an individual’s application, but sometimes applicants incorrectly describe these on their UCAS forms, so it can be difficult to assess their merit.

All of these factors contribute to the challenges presented by alternative SCQF level 6 qualifications.

What does this mean for widening access?

Does uncertainty about the recognition of a qualification create an additional barrier for university applicants from widening‑access backgrounds, potentially compounding the difficulties they already face?

I don’t know the answer to this either, but it’s where my professional interest in this topic lies.

Reflection and next steps

Scrolling through the SCQF Register, I think I would have loved the level 6 Achieving Excellence in Sport 24-credit qualification (if it had existed in 1998 and been on offer to me). But, as it’s not a Higher, would it have affected my chances of getting into university, even though the Higher Music I did in S6 was no more relevant in terms of curriculum alignment to the Arts degree I was applying for? The SCQF level 6 Preparation for HE course would have been infinitely more useful but, again, would it have counted towards ‘getting me in’, despite there being no doubt it would have helped me ‘get on’ well in my studies once there?

If we can all agree, which I think we can, that we want university applicants to make well informed options choices, knowing the currency of alternative SCQF level 6 qualifications when it comes to admissions criteria, then a discussion on how to move closer to achieving this should be had by all those involved in the writing, delivery and credit rating of, as well as those advising and participating in, these programmes.

Join the follow-up conversation online on Thursday, 28 May, from 3pm to 4.15pm. Find out more and sign up here.

To keep in the loop, sign up to the SCAPP mailing list.

Patricia Anderson is a former secondary teacher and current Development Manager for SCAPP (Scotland’s Community of Access and Participation Practitioners).

Lothian has become the first Scottish bus operator to provide its new drivers with a qualification on completion of their training.

The training is certified and quality assured by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

The transport operator, which services Edinburgh and the Lothians, has an award-winning in-house training school. It successfully trained 450 new bus drivers in 2024.

The school aims to develop new recruits’ knowledge and understanding, and lays the foundations for a long and rewarding career as a Lothian bus driver.

Bus driver qualification at SCQF level 6

With this new accreditation, trainees will not only be fully prepared to get behind the wheel as a safe, competent bus driver, but they will have earned an SCQF level 6 Customised Award for Driver Training with 10 credits. They will also receive a record of achievement for their efforts.

Lothian’s training school teaches new recruits a wide range of skills that go beyond the operation of their vehicle. This includes:

• How to work safely in the bus depot
• Effective communication
• Customer interaction
• How to deal with unusual or emergency situations.

No matter your background or experience, Lothian’s training school will give you all the skills and tools you need to get your new career in gear.

Driver and trainer testimonials

“Lothian’s Training School taught me everything I need to know about what it takes to be a bus driver. The SCQF level 6 qualification is a great way to demonstrate all the hard work that goes into learning a new skill like this.” Andrew Moffatt, trainee driver

“We’re delighted to now be able to offer trainee drivers this customised award which demonstrates the breadth of their learning. It will hopefully inspire others to consider a career in the bus sector as a bus driver.” Willie Hamilton, director of operations at Lothian

Useful links

Learn more about a career as a Lothian bus driver.

Find out more about getting your training programme on the SCQF.

Watch a case study on the benefits of having your training programme credit rated to the SCQF.