Cases of assessment malpractice among students have fallen compared with pre-Covid levels, new Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) figures show.
The new malpractice figures, for 2021-22, are the first since 2018-19, although the SQA has warned that they are still not directly comparable and that care should be taken in making comparisons.
The new figures show 76 cases of malpractice, compared with 150 for 2018-19.
The most common form of malpractice in 2021-22 was plagiarism (30 cases), followed by “prohibited items: mobile telephones” (24) and “prohibited items: notes, etc” (12).
In 17 cases a warning was issued, while in five the award of a qualification was cancelled. In two there was a warning and a change of marks in light of plagiarism or collusion with other candidates.
In the remaining 52 cases, only a component of a course was cancelled, which is a new option for the SQA.
The SQA, in a note under the figures, explains this move: “The ‘cancellation of component’ penalty was introduced for the first time by SQA in 2022. This provides a more proportionate penalty than ‘cancellation of award’ in many of the investigated cases and is in line with other UK awarding bodies”.
There was no data published for 2019-20 or 2020-21, after the Covid pandemic led to the cancellation of national exams.
The SQA said in its notes: “Course modifications were in place across National Qualifications courses, often with removed or reduced coursework components. Because of these modifications, any comparisons with the candidate malpractice data from the 2019 diet should be applied with caution.”
An SQA spokesperson said: ”We welcome the reduction in the number of cases of malpractice reported for National Courses in 2021-22. SQA has a duty, in the interests of fairness and equity for all candidates, and to maintain the integrity and standards of our qualifications, to investigate where concerns of malpractice are raised.
“We will continue to work with our centres, the teaching profession, and our markers and invigilators, to ensure that our robust approaches to malpractice are applied.”
The SQA candidate malpractice data for 2021-22 can be viewed here.
