THE Scottish Qualifications Authority is insisting that the reason for disappointing results in Higher art and design lies in teachers’ inability to understand the standards, a view that is likely to further enrage the profession.
A succession of principal teachers have contacted The TES Scotland to complain about rogue results which are well out of line with teachers’ own estimates and those of previous years. Students and parents have protested but few were successful on appeal.
Meanwhile, art colleges have not been been fooled by the freak results and have accepted talented students on their existing folio work despite their failure in the Advanced Higher. At least one Fife PT is now advising students to avoid the Advanced course if they want to go to college.
Another PT in the south-west said: “Our kids are getting a bad deal and it shouldn’t be that way. They are better than the results they are getting.”
The SQA this week responded by issuing a clarifying letter to schools and local authorities, stressing that it will offer fresh guidance and staff development as part of the wider strategy to help teachers and lecturers come to grips with the standards.
Maurice Jackson, qualifications manager, points out that a number of interim amendments were made last year and that schools had raised concerns about them.
New guidance will look at how best to select evidence for externally assessed folios; how to prepare candidates for the practical assignment; how to prepare them for the art and design studies question paper; and how to submit evidence for appeals.
Many art teachers, however, are convinced something is seriously wrong and want an independent review similar to the inquiry into English and communication.
Letters, page 2
