Scotland could rely on teachers to deliver accurate grades
Scotland is “not a corrupt society” and has a “strong, professional” teaching workforce that could be relied upon to assess accurate grades, an academic has told MSPS.
Professor Gordon Stobart, who was appointed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to consider global assessment models to compare to the Scottish system, told MSPS on Holyrood’s education committee on Wednesday that teachers could be hesitant and might “need convincing” to change to a more continuous assessment-based approach for senior level exams.
He also said vocational subjects should be given the same respect as academic qualifications in the UK, as they are in countries such as Norway.
Prof Stobart told the education committee: "There are cultural changes that would be needed and we would need to convince teachers – and parents, but teachers particularly – that this isn’t going to be huge amount of extra coursework, it would be more continuous day-to-day assessment.
"I think we would need a shift there and you’re better placed than I am as to how we would get that change of attitude.”
In response to a question about the validity of teacher assessments, which were used more during the past two years when the traditional exams diet was disrupted by the pandemic, Prof Stobart said: “There are cultures in which I would say you can't rely on teacher assessment, because there would be sufficient corruption in the system, pressure on teachers and the like to award [grades].
"That happens in various countries and certainly the ex-soviet countries have had to really deal with cor rupt systems of assessment and entry to university, so they have introduced exams, very standardised exams.
“I don't put the Scottish culture in that position. I think it has a strong professional workforce and it's not, in that sense, a corrupt society.”
Prof Stobart added: “Scottish teachers are skilled professionals and they're asked to assess throughout the school. We trust our university lecturers and our further education [lecturers].
"It's a system that has a large degree of trust in it and professional recognition and professional qualifications, so I'm comfortable in that way.”