With exam season underway in Scotland, the first row has already broken out. Teachers have hit out at the exam body, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), over a decision to delay their access to question papers until the day after the exam.
Here, we take a look at why teachers are angry about the new rules, what heads make of them, and how the SQA is justifying the changes.
What’s the row about?
Surplus exam papers. It used to be that these were made available to teachers as soon as an exam was over, but now the SQA is saying that “no access to examination materials is permitted for anyone other than the chief invigilator, before, during or immediately following the examination”. They will now be available the next day.
Why has the SQA made the change?
In its letter to schools about the issue, the SQA says that last year “distress was caused to some candidates” by posts of exam questions and answers on social media immediately after the exam “by a person other than a candidate”. It went on: “This is clearly not appropriate, and surplus materials must be controlled to minimise the opportunity for this to happen again.”
The SQA also told Tes Scotland that the new policy had been introduced to “prevent any breach of question paper security and confidentiality”.
Is it likely that security and confidentiality could have been breached?
It is easy to see why the SQA would be uncomfortable with exam papers circulating around schools before an exam has started, but it’s harder to understand why access after the exam is being denied.
What has the reaction been from teachers?
Anger. Scotland’s largest teaching union, the Educational Insitute of Scotland (EIS), is calling on the SQA to rethink the exam paper policy, saying the move is not about student wellbeing but is “an ill-judged retort by the SQA to teachers’ past criticism”. EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said the SQA was “putting the management of its own public image ahead of the desire of pupils to discuss exam papers with their teachers”.
What criticism has there been of the SQA from teachers in the past?
Teachers have been highly critical of the new national qualifications, accusing the SQA of over-assessing pupils and contributing to their workload woes. Teachers took industrial action over the issue, but further action was called off when the government agreed to scrap unit assessments.
There has also been criticism of specific exam papers. In a survey presented as evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s education committee last year, more than half of The Scottish Association of Geography Teachers’ members described the 2016 Higher geography exam as “poor, shocking, terrible, worst ever and nothing like the specimen paper”.
The SQA also admitted mistakes in the National 5 computing science exam, including some coding errors, which led to John Swinney, the Education Secretary, telling the Scottish Parliament the exam body’s performance was “not good enough”.
And in 2015, the pass mark for Higher maths was dropped to just 34 per cent, with the SQA admitting the exam had been too hard.
Under the new rules, when will teachers get access to the exam papers?
The day after the examination has taken place or via the pupils who take the paper out of the exam hall with them when they leave.
So pupils will be allowed to leave the exam hall with the question paper, teachers just won’t have access to the surplus papers immediately after the exam?
Indeed. So pupils who wish to will still be able to discuss the paper with their teachers - unless, of course, the question paper is also the answer booklet. According to the SQA it’s “roughly half and half” in terms of exams that have a combined, as opposed to separate question and answer booklet.
Does that solve the problem as far as the EIS is concerned?
No. The EIS believes the SQA is displaying a lack of trust in teachers and that teachers should not have to rely on pupils to get their hands on exam papers in a timely fashion.
EIS assistant secretary Andrea Bradley has written to the SQA chief executive, Janet Brown, saying that teachers are unhappy about being “universally admonished” and at the SQA assuming “a social media policing role”. Teachers play a key role in “alleviating the stress and anxiety that many candidates experience at the end of an exam”, Ms Bradley said in her letter. By not allowing teachers immediate access to exam papers the SQA was “undermining teachers’ ability to perform this essential nurturing role, with the perverse result that the anxiety and distress of students will be heightened”.
She added: “A further ironic consequence is likely to be that a greater number of anxious students will take to scouring social media for clues as to how well or otherwise they have performed.”
And what do headteachers make of it?
Secondary headteachers’ organisation, School Leaders Scotland, said that it was supportive of any moves the SQA deemed necessary to improve exam security. But Jim Thewliss, the group’s general secretary, pointed out that the question paper enters the public domain once the exam paper is in the public domain - so why wait until the next morning to allow teachers access?
@Emma_Seith
