A Scottish teaching union is urging schools not to “overreact” to the prospect of pupils being ill over exam season by putting them through additional mock examinations.
Prelims - the Scottish term for mock examinations - are traditionally sat around Christmas time. However, the general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA), Seamus Searson, has told Tes Scotland that some schools are responding to the prospect of coronavirus interfering with this year’s exams by asking teachers to put their pupils through another round of prelims.
The schools were taking this “belt and braces” approach because they wanted up-to-date evidence of performance in case pupils were off sick or isolated during the official exam diet, Mr Searson said.
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However, Mr Searson urged schools not to create additional work for teachers and pupils. In the event of teenagers not being able to sit exams, there were well-established Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) processes for awarding grades, he said.
Mr Searson said: “If a child can’t do their exams because they are ill or isolated, then the school will have to produce evidence of their performance. We have been contacted by a member in one school which was asking people to do another prelim so they would have it just in case pupils went off sick.
“The problem is, they are putting every child through another exam when it might just be a couple of kids who are off ill or in isolation [as a result of Covid-19]. They are overreacting to what needs to be done and taking a belt-and-braces approach but there are always youngsters off sick during the exams so this will just be about upscaling those processes.”
He added: “Teacher judgement will be critical and we need to trust teachers - they know the results their youngsters are going to get.”
Fears that this year’s SQA exams, which start in late April, will be disrupted by the spread of the coronavirus have been circulating for a while but the SQA has made it clear that, at present, there is no change to the published exam timetable, and the exam diet remains on track.
Schools will, however, be concerned about ensuring any pupil off ill or isolated is not disadvantaged.
The SQA’s Exceptional Circumstances Consideration Service supports candidates who have been unable to attend an exam, or those whose performance in the exam may have been affected by a personal circumstance or unplanned incident on the day, which is outwith their control - this includes those with medical conditions.
This service is available for all exams that appear in the exam timetable, and schools can submit a range of evidence including mock tests, class tests, coursework and unit assessments.
However, at a recent meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee, the SNP MSP Jenny Gilruth - a former teacher - pointed out that, as a result of changes to the exam appeals system in Scotland, “many schools have done away with the prelim”. She went on to ask the SQA representatives giving evidence if pupils could, therefore, end up being disadvantaged if they were absent during the exams.
The SQA’s Robert Quinn said the exam body’s new process looked at “a much wider range of evidence” and that it had been trying to move schools away from the idea “pupils always have to take a prelim”.
Speaking at the committee in January, he said: “We now look at a much wider range of evidence…We would consider class tests and examples of work that pupils had done in examination and non-examination conditions, as well as any mock examinations.”
