Schools are told: hold prelims if you want
EDUCATION bosses have still to finalise new contingency measures f or pupils’ exam results following the shutdown of schools.
The National Qualifications 2021 Group is set to meet and discuss options to ensure a fair standard for those receiving grades this year.
All exams, including Highers and Advanced Highers, have been cancelled for a second year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
It means pupils in S4 to S6 will be awarded f i nal grades based on teacher assessment – after a moderation process was ditched last year due to mass outrage over the lowering of results.
Yesterday, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) said schools can hold prelims and use the results to influence final grades.
However, it is up to individual schools whether they go ahead with exam conditions or count on teacher assessments instead. An SQA spokesman said: ‘We acknowledge that some schools and colleges may have already run prelims or had plans in place to run a formal prelim diet for Higher and Advanced Higher courses in early 2021.
‘While the decision to hold prelims is one for schools and colleges to make, it is important that learning and teaching time is maximised.
‘The National Qualifications 2021 Group will consider contingency arrangements for the alternative certification model, should they be needed.’
The Scottish Government said there was ‘no requirement for schools and colleges to hold prelim exams’, adding: ‘It is a school or college decision whether or not to conduct them and, if so, the timing of holding these.
‘Some schools will already have held prelims, and results from these may count towards evidence and determination of the provisional results for the National Qualifications.
‘However, schools will also be using a wider range of evidence in arriving at provisional results which will be submitted at the end of May.’