Pupils found alternative assessments ‘akin to gaslighting’, MSP tells Hoyrood
The Scottish Government’s insistence this year’s school assessments are not exams is akin to “gaslighting” in the eyes of some pupils, MSPS have been told.
Scottish Labour’s Paul Sweeney said in Holyrood on Wednesday that one pupil he had spoken to said students had been told repeatedly the assessments they sat at the end of the year were not exams – but found them to be exams in all but name.
His comments came as he questionededucationsecretary Shirley-anne Somerville about the use of historic data in decidingpupils’gradesintheabsence of formal exams for Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) qualifications.
It emerged earlier this week thatalthoughthescottishgovernment had said that 2021 results would be based purely on teachers’ professional judgements, councils across the country have put in place a system to compare proposed results this year with grades from previous years.
However, data from last year, when the pass rates improved, is not being included in these comparisons.
Mr Sweeney said: “Teachers and pupils have been contacting me in distress and under pressureduetowhatoneteachercalledexamsbystealth,while one pupil likened the approach from the SQA to gaslighting.
"These concerns have been compounded by the elimination of last year's results from historic grade boundaries. It seems to me that the government has failed the most disadvantaged pupils again. There is no room for teacher judgement. Estimate grades must be evidence based.”
Ms Somerville said the model had been created in conjunction with teachers and other
stakeholders and that historic data only “helped identify patterns and trends”.
She said: “The model that we have in the alternative certification model home has been co-produced with the National Qualifications 21 group and that does include teachers’ representation. They specifically asked as part of that process
thatthiswasaboutdemonstrated attainment.”
Ms Somerville added: “If a learner demonstrates that they have earned a certain grade, that is what they will get.”
The education secretary also said parents should watch school sports days remotely on schools’ “online, secure platforms” and reiterated the Scot"one
tishgovernmentdidnotbelieve it was safe for families to attend nursery graduations.
She explained the decision had been based on the “disruption” that could be caused to pupils, staff and parents having to self isolate. However, she pledged to look into other optionsforthenewschoolyear.
Ms Somerville said: “I absolutelyrecognisetheimportance
ofeventstomarktheendofakey stage in a child or a young person's in life, and very careful considerationhasbeengivento this. The current guidance has been considered very recently once again by the Covid education recovery group, and by the advisory subgroup on education and children's issues.
of the reasons that we've not been able to propose a change in that is that if we know of cases identified within an education setting, then they can often disrupt the whole setting, with perhaps many children and young people and teachers having to self isolate.”