As we celebrate 25 years of the SCQF, we’re delighted to share a guest blog from Tigers, who are also marking 25 years.
In Beyond the Certificate, Tigers reflects on its journey alongside Scotland’s changing qualifications landscape, and how qualifications, relationships and partnerships can help learners recognise their achievements and see what comes next.
We’re pleased to welcome Tigers as a sponsor of our SCQF@25 Conference on 22 September.
For 25 years, Tigers has believed that meaningful relationships create meaningful learning.
As Scotland celebrates 25 years of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), our own 25-year journey provides a powerful example of how qualifications can transform lives when they are delivered through trusted relationships, strong partnerships and a genuine belief in people’s potential.
That belief has developed into what we now describe as Relationship-Led Practice. Our understanding that people are more able to learn, develop and thrive when they feel safe, supported, valued and believed in.
Empowering young people and adults
Since our beginnings in 2001, Tigers has supported thousands of young people and adults to develop skills, gain nationally recognised qualifications and progress towards employment and career opportunities.
Throughout that journey, our work has evolved alongside Scotland’s changing qualifications and skills landscape, including our long-standing relationship with SQA, now Qualifications Scotland.
Our commitment to quality qualification delivery is fundamental to who we are.
As an accredited training organisation, Tigers has developed the expertise, systems and relationships required to deliver a broad range of recognised vocational qualifications and apprenticeship programmes.
This includes qualifications delivered across SCQF levels, helping learners understand not only what they have achieved, but where that achievement can take them next.
Foundation Apprenticeships
Our Foundation Apprenticeship provision demonstrates this in practice. Working in partnership with local authorities, schools and employers, Tigers provides young people with opportunities to gain industry experience alongside nationally recognised qualifications, including programmes at SCQF levels 4 to 6.
For many learners, this is their first experience of vocational education and the workplace, and can provide a valuable bridge between school, further learning and employment.
Every level can represent something different: confidence gained, capability recognised, progression achieved or a new opportunity opened.
Modern Apprenticeships
For those who continue their learning journey, our Modern Apprenticeship provision provides opportunities across SCQF levels 6 to 10.
Learners can develop from initial vocational achievement through to advanced professional and leadership qualifications, demonstrating that education does not stop when someone leaves school.
Learning can, and should, continue throughout a person’s working life.
Our recent delivery at SCQF level 10 is an example of this progression in action. Work-based qualifications at this level recognise advanced knowledge, professional judgement and leadership capability, demonstrating the breadth of opportunity available through vocational learning.
Much more than qualifications
But qualifications alone do not create successful outcomes.
People do. Relationships do. Partnerships do.
We work collaboratively with employers, schools, local authorities, Skills Development Scotland, Qualifications Scotland, colleges, sector organisations and community partners. These relationships enable us to understand the needs of learners and employers and to create programmes that connect qualifications with real-world opportunity.
Our partnerships have also enabled us to deliver qualifications at significant scale. Recent quality assurance activity recognised the strength and consistency of our qualification delivery, with more than 500 live candidates and over 1,000 candidates certificated during a single contract year.
Yet the numbers only tell part of the story.
Behind every certificate is a person who has achieved something. A young person who has gained confidence. An apprentice who has developed new skills. An employee who has progressed into a more senior role. An employer who has invested in its workforce. A learner who may once have believed that qualifications were beyond their reach, but now has the confidence to ask, what can I achieve next?
Changing lives
Our journey has demonstrated that vocational education can change lives, strengthen businesses and contribute to Scotland’s wider skills ambitions.
As both Tigers and the SCQF celebrate 25 years, we are proud to reflect on what has been achieved, but even more interested in what comes next.
Our ambition remains unchanged: to create learning pathways where every learner can see a future beyond their current achievement.
Because a qualification should never be the end of the journey. It should be the beginning of what comes next. Another opportunity to inspire and support people to develop their infinite potential.
