The number of penalties being received by schools for breaking the rules around the delivery of the exams nearly trebled between 2016 and 2017.
A total of 61 sanctions were dished out to schools by Scotland’s exam body in 2017 because teachers failed to adhere to the rules on the delivery of national qualifications - up from 21 sanctions the previous year.
On seven occasions last year, pupils’ marks or results were changed because schools failed to comply with Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) rules and regulations.
The figures, revealed through a freedom of information request, also show that in both 2016 and 2017, the SQA was forced to use its most serious sanction: the removal of a school or college’s approval to deliver SQA qualifications.
The next most serious sanction, the removal of approval for a specific qualification, was also used by the body last year.
The details of the sanctions handed down to schools by the SQA follow the revelation earlier this year that proven cases of “centre malpractice” - which range from teachers deliberately flouting regulations and falsifying documents, to administrative errors - had risen from 18 cases in 2016 to 51 last year.
The most common reason for a finding of centre malpractice was pupils being given too much support by teachers.
The SQA, however, refused a Tes Scotland request to reveal the details of individual malpractice cases. The body argued that it “relies heavily on self-reporting” and to put the detail of cases “in the public domain would substantially inhibit this culture of self-reporting”.
Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS teaching union, said it was “a matter of regret” that the number of malpractice cases was rising. The SQA was guilty of making “significant changes” to qualifications, which had been poorly communicated to teachers, he added.
In 2016, education secretary John Swinney decided to scrap unit assessments, which were blamed for creating a testing treadmill in schools, and putting pressure on both teachers and pupils.
These were removed from National 5 last year, apart from in exceptional circumstances, and this year they have been removed from the Higher, with knock-on effects for coursework and the final exam.
Mr Flanagan said: “Last session, significant changes took place in relation to National 5 qualifications and EIS members in schools had to raise concerns about late notification of altered arrangements and poor SQA communications around the new processes.
“Despite that, only 51 cases emerged over the whole qualification system where SQA had to intervene. No doubt increased familiarity in schools with the new qualifications and procedures will address some of the issues highlighted.”
This is an edited version of an article in the 4 May edition of Tes Scotland. Subscribers can read the full article here. To subscribe, click here. This week’s Tes magazine is available at all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here.
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