Late August shone out like a beacon in the calendar for secondary teachers when schools returned from the summer holiday and the Covid-enforced break - because in the week beginning 31 August, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) had promised them clarity about course content and how national courses were going to be assessed. Aside from all the subject-by-subject details that teachers needed, they were also waiting to find out if the 2021 exams would be going ahead.

There was consensus that this school year could not be a normal year, given the learning time lost in lockdown and the likelihood of further interruptions to schooling owing to the coronavirus. But 31 August came and went and no guidance appeared.

Scottish schools had been back for nine weeks when finally - on 7 October, over a month late - guidance was published. This coincided with the headline message from the education secretary, John Swinney, that there would be no National 5 exams in 2021, but there was a sting in the tail for school staff - because Swinney also said that more “subject-specific guidance” would follow “after the October break”.

The wait for clarity, therefore, was not over - particularly with regard to National 5. However, some significant modifications - including to Higher courses - were revealed. So Tes Scotland spoke to 10 teachers, who are responsible for delivering everything from maths to drama, to find out what they thought of their long-awaited guidance.

Some are happy with what the SQA has delivered. In PE, Higher candidates now have to perform one physical activity, not two. The PE teacher we spoke to says that, in light of restrictions on team sports such as football and basketball, this was the right decision. In modern studies, the assignment has been removed - and the teacher we interviewed says that this was a “turgid” part of the course anyway. In maths, an element of choice has been introduced for teachers; this was deemed “unavoidable”, especially at Advanced Higher, owing to the “sheer volume of content”.

However, because the guidance was delayed, many teachers said they had already wasted time covering parts of the course that had now been removed. All wanted more clarity on the evidence they now needed to gather for N5 pupils, who were no longer sitting an exam, and many also questioned how their subjects were being “future proofed” - an issue that was also raised in the independent Priestley review of August’s 2020 results debacle.

The reviewers point out that the SQA proposals seek to make up for missed teaching and learning time, but are “premised on an assumption that the examinations in 2021 will proceed as planned”. The review highlights that this is “by no means a given” and there seems to be “little consideration of the need to create a robust evidence base in the event that exams are not possible”.

Ultimately, as the drama teacher who we interviewed says, “students won’t be disadvantaged, because the teachers won’t let that happen.” But, as Swinney himself pointed out this year, “we have more time to prepare”, so surely the Scottish government and the SQA will have to face some tough questions if, in teachers’ eyes, they have failed to do precisely that?

Emma Seith is a Tes Scotland reporter. She tweets @Emma_Seith

The English teacher: ‘It would be nice if our voices were heard’

The cancellation of National 5 exams had been widely predicted and heavily rumoured since we came back, so one wonders why it took so long before the decision was made. Courses would normally have started in June, so, as we’ve been in “recovery mode” since returning, too much time has been lost.

For teachers, it would be nice to think that our voices will be heard, but, more than likely, we will be faced with an assessment-heavy schedule, with all of the marking that entails. And that’s fine - it’s what we do. But I hope we have seen the back of a National 5 exam and this year will be used to show that there is a better way of teaching our students. Perhaps the true spirit of Curriculum for Excellence will be rediscovered - the thought of teaching literature this year, without the worry of a win-or-bust exam at the end of the year, pleases me.

For Higher and Advanced Higher, dropping external folio work and the talk assessment makes sense on a workload level. However, it worries me that students will have gone through two years without assessment of these skills. But you can’t have everything.

The physics teacher: ‘Workload will probably increase’

When it came to physics, all the SQA had proposed initially was to change the exam length. That had just increased by half an hour last year, and the proposal was to reduce it by half an hour.

I expect teachers voted against that change because they didn’t think it was sufficient - half an hour off the exam was not going to help anybody. The result, though, is that, bizarrely, we are continuing with the longer exam and the assignments - the experiments that they do at Higher and Advanced Higher - have been removed.

That was an obvious thing to do because practical work is harder just now and it will buy me a bit of time, but some schools like to start the assignments early because they are worth 25 per cent of the mark, so those will now be in the bin.

It bothers me that there’s no contingency plan in case learning is interrupted again. In maths, for instance, there is some choice and optionality, but in physics there are no changes to the content so there is no future-proofing if more time is lost.

In reality, overall, workload will probably increase because we will have to do more internal assessment to get the estimates at National 5, with there being no exam.

The modern languages teacher: ‘A lot of people are angry’

My view and the view of everyone I have spoken to is that getting rid of the N5 exam was the right decision. But the guidance is vague about teacher assessment - so the kids will be wondering, ‘Does everything I do in every lesson count? Or do I just have to raise my game for certain assessments?’

When it comes to Higher and Advanced Higher, nine weeks down the line, people have started doing some parts of the course that now are no longer going to be assessed. In Advanced Higher, for instance, there is the portfolio essay, which they write in English based on a piece of literature in the modern language, and is 15 per cent of the overall award. That has been removed. The initial proposal said that they had no intention of changing Advanced Higher, and only 20 per cent of modern languages teachers who responded to the consultation disagreed with that - so there are a lot of people who are angry.

That is really good preparation for university and it feels like we are doing the pupils a disservice by not covering it. Similarly, the Higher assignment has been removed, but it’s a good preparation for Advanced Higher. There are no easy answers but the SQA should have been sharing this information some time ago.

The modern studies teacher: ‘I’m in favour of radical change’

I’m broadly positive. It’s great that the assignment has been taken out of the Higher and the exam has been made a little bit easier. I’m in favour anyway of radically changing the assignment: it’s outdated and dull, and not what it’s supposed to be.

The whole point of the assignment was to give a bit of personalisation and choice in the course for the youngsters, so they could select the topic they were most interested in or best at, and take ownership and create a piece of writing on it.

What it has been turned into is essentially a memory test where they are allowed to make notes on a piece of paper and there are all sorts of Byzantine rules about what they are allowed to copy and what they are not allowed to copy.

It has become a turgid process for teachers and youngsters. So I’m seeing this as an opportunity to renew it and I hope they don’t bring it back the way it was - that would be a backward step.

The home economics teacher: ‘I’m fearful about future uptake’

I’m so relieved. We hadn’t started cooking before the October holiday, so now I will hopefully be able to focus on dishes that can be assessed.

But we are still in limbo a bit. We know that at Higher and Advanced Higher there will be one mandatory question, but we don’t know yet what part of the specification it’s coming from - so it may be something we’ve taught or it may not.

There’s also an element of choice so the students can choose three out of four questions. Again, whether that works will depend on how much you manage to cover, so they might be able to answer two really well but struggle with the third.

I think the SQA forget sometimes that we don’t just teach seniors, we teach the broad general education as well.

I look at my Monday, I’m teaching seven periods with no gap and no technician support. That’s a lot of washing, cleaning, weighing and measuring if I’m to give all my classes a really good experience so we don’t put them off in S1 and S2 because they have had no practical.

I’m fearful about the impact all of this will have on uptake further down the line.

The maths teacher: ‘Progression is the biggest issue’

There are lots of views about whether exams are the best way to award qualifications, but they are perceived as fair and provide motivation for students. Those pupils who have been working hard towards National 5 will be gutted at this lost opportunity.

There will also inevitably be concerns about the additional burden of creating, moderating and administering assessments. This evidence gathering process for senior-phase students is no mean feat - hopefully the SQA will provide banks of moderated questions.

The tweaks to the Higher exams make fascinating reading for maths teachers. The change of length of the exam isn’t that exciting, but we’ve never had the scope to choose topics like this. Dilemmas will include “Which optional section will students cope with best?” and “Can we afford to ditch all of vectors or exponentials if these kids are heading for Advanced Higher next year?”

Progression is the biggest issue here. It would be brutal for a student to have to subsequently learn all the material they didn’t cover at Higher to enable them to cope with the content in Advanced Higher. Similarly, the optional elements at Advanced Higher will have a ripple effect for those progressing to university.

I’ll have a few sleepless nights figuring out which option we’ll teach.

The D&T teacher: ‘The answers are already out there’

Standards and conventions are like the graphic design bible, and any teacher worth their salt will start the Higher with that because it contains the tools pupils need to unlock the rest of the course. Basically, it’s an integral part of the course: if the pupils don’t cover that, it’s like a Higher English student not knowing the alphabet.

But that’s the bit that has been removed from the exam - so the SQA took out part of the course, but I’ve already spent time teaching it. It’s not wasted time because they need to know it. Still, I wouldn’t have hammered it in quite so much if I’d had this information sooner.

The SQA is also reissuing last year’s assignment, which is 40 per cent of the mark. Some students who are resitting will have done that assignment already, but, more worryingly, other students could have had it as a practice folio this year, before this decision was taken.

The answers are essentially already out there, and if the grades shoot up my students will be disadvantaged.

The drama teacher: ‘I worry about teachers’ mental health’

Some schools are still not allowed to do practical work, but there has been no change to the Higher drama exam. When I compare it to maths, where teachers have more time to teach less, it’s quite a striking contrast.

At Higher, most students perform two scripted pieces. They don’t write the script - the teacher allocates the right script to the right group of two to four students - and they perform in February or March, and it counts for 60 per cent of the mark.

In any year attendance is a concern for drama, but, of course, that’s heightened now because of Covid - if your partner isn’t there you can’t do the work. Also, many staff willingly give up their lunch times and stay on after school and even come in on Saturdays to meet groups of pupils, but now that’s something they will struggle to do because rooms are being aired out or cleaned.

The students won’t be disadvantaged because the teachers won’t let that happen, but I’m worried about the mental health and workload implications for teachers trying to make it work.

Two things could have been done - there could have been clarification earlier in the school year by the Scottish government, Education Scotland and SQA that practical work was allowed. And consideration should have been given to moving the practical exam window to later in the school year.

The music teacher: ‘It’s still very airy-fairy’

They’ve got rid of the composition at Higher, which I’m quite relieved about. They have to compose a piece of music that is a minimum of one minute long and write a review - but I know it’s an issue for some of my colleagues.

Because of the restrictions on singing and wind instruments - which you aren’t allowed to practice in school just now - a lot of people had been focusing on that. My kids hadn’t made a big start [on the composition] and it would have been quite a struggle to get it completed, so now we have more time to focus on performance and listening.

They’ve reduced the time for performance on each instrument because of the lost time over lockdown, and also because a lot of instructors are not able to come into schools every week. Some students are getting lessons online, but that works for some and not for others.

Singers, brass and woodwind are not allowed to perform in school, so they are not getting the face-to-face tuition that kids need. But there’s disparity across Scotland because some councils have done more advanced risk assessments and signing is allowed in some situations.

We need clear guidance about what is allowed - it’s still very airy-fairy. Everyone should be in the same position.

The PE teacher: ‘A good thing for a lot of pupils’

For PE, the changes have actually been quite a good thing. In the past at Higher, students’ performance has been assessed on two different activities, but now they are to be assessed on their performance in one; in the current climate, that will be a good thing for a lot of pupils.

A lot of students do very well at football, netball, rugby and basketball, but in school at the moment we can’t really teach team sports. If you take the boys, a lot of them would have got full marks for football, but if you were to ask them to do two alternative activities they might score highly on one but probably not on two, and their mark would have been dragged down.

A lot of schools are going for athletics, particularly long-distance events. My Higher class will be doing 1,500 metres or cross country, and it actually ties in pretty well with the training programme they do for stamina, where they identify their strengths and weaknesses and design a programme to improve and then evaluate it.

If National 5 is to be internally assessed, what I would like to see is more professional development for teachers delivered by SQA to improve confidence in marking, moderating and assessment. I moderated another teacher’s work recently and gave it 16 marks out of 60 fewer because of inaccuracies in the marking.

This article originally appeared in the 23 October 2020 issue