Senior pupils should be considered for early return to schools for assessment, MSPS told
Pupils who were due to sit exams this year should possibly be allowed to return to school before other children in order for teacher assessments to be carried out, MSPS have heard.
Holy rood’ s education committee was also told by teachers’ union representatives there was“anxiety and concern” about how an assessment process would be conducted if remote learning continues past January.
They also stressed that current online schooling was to be focused on learning and not on gathering “evidence” for assessing grades.
Education Secretary John Swinney previously announced that Highers, Advanced Highers and National 5 exams would be cancelled as a result of the pandemic.
Sea mus Sears on, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, told MSPS that as a result of lockdown it could be “some time before we get children back into school” and as a result “the teacher assessment and materials they’re expected to provide will become less reliable”. Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland union, said the “alternative assessment model” would be “based on evidence produced by the pupils and we should be confident of that – it won’t be based on an SQA algorithm or a factoring in of past school performance.”
But he added that while teachers should not be“looking to gather assessment evidence during this remote learning period” there will “come a point when, if pupils are not back in schools, there will be practical difficulties around how you produce the evidence on which professional judgement is made.”
MSPS also heard from Fio - na Robert son, chief executive of the Scottish Qualifications Authority, who admitted there was a need to “work through” the implications of the lockdown and remote learning, and assured them it was happening “at pace”.
She agreed that senior phase pupils could return for assessment, but the SQA was likely to consult on a set of proposals, including how appeals could work, next month, and teachers would not be expected to “rank” pupils as they had done last year.