Thousands of pupils are continuing to sit controversial classroom-based assessments - criticised for creating a testing treadmill in schools - despite being told by ministers they should only be used in “exceptional circumstances”.
The so-called “unit assessments” were scrapped by John Swinney the education secretary back in 2016 but re-introduced “in exceptional circumstances” and for “an interim period” when the government realised the move would leave pupils who failed the National 5 exam - roughly equivalent to GCSE - with no fallback.
Pupils sitting N5 who fail the exam can be awarded the lower National 4 instead if they sit the unit tests in a process known as “recognising positive achievement”.
However, new figures - released following a Tes Scotland freedom of information request - show there have been 14,230 entries for National 5 units this year, with the exam body, the SQA, saying that figure is likely to rise.
Opposition politicians said the figures showed Mr Swinney’s guidance on how the units should be used was being ignored by schools.
Previous investigations by Tes Scotland have shown the process of axing unit assessments has cost £5.5 million - with Scotland’s exam body warning the bill could grow still higher.
Assessment compensation
Last week Tes Scotland revealed there would be longer exams and exams in subjects where none previously existed in order to compensate for the removal of the assessments at Higher.
Liz Smith, education spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservative Party, said: “These statistics are firm evidence the numbers of pupils using the fallback system are substantially more than the last resort hoped for by John Swinney.
“They are indicative of the concerns among teachers about the weaknesses within the National 4 exam and the fact that these weaknesses put pressure on the teachers to present more pupils for National 5 when these pupils are less able to cope.
“It is abundantly clear National 4 needs reform so Scotland’s qualification system better caters for the needs of pupils.”
Further discussion
An SQA spokesman said: “The entry data provided was provisional and continues to change as centres make amendments to entries.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish government said it was crucial that pupils were presented at the right level, both to meet their educational needs and to avoid assessment becoming over-bureaucratic for teachers.
She added: “This is outlined in the guidance issued from the Assessment and National Qualifications group. The deputy first minister also wrote to representative organisations of education directors, headteachers and teachers stating that learners should only be presented for both the National 5 course and units in exceptional circumstances - and school leaders should help to deliver this.
“We will be discussing this further with our partners.”
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