£25m laptops...but they won’t even work
TENS of thousands of laptops given to children during the pandemic by the Scottish Government are incompatible with the software used by the country’s exams body.
Last year, millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash was spent on Google Chromebooks to give to young learners who did not have access to a computer.
It was hoped that the move would prevent more disadvantaged children from being ‘digitally excluded’ from their classmates.
Many parents will also have chosen to buy the popular Chromebooks for their children.
Yet, in a body blow to Education Secretary John Swinney, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has now said that Google Chromebooks cannot connect to the exam portal, where practice tests are uploaded and marked.
It could mean children across Scotland studying for their National 4s and 5s could miss out on important practice worksheets.
Last night, critics feared the ‘astonishing error’ would seriously impact young people.
Scottish Conservative education spokesman Jamie Greene said: ‘Our pupils have already been badly let down by those in charge and now many are in danger of being left behind yet again in their education over a simple computing problem.
‘The question is really whether or not John Swinney could have avoided such a simple error before spending millions on devices which weren’t technically compatible.’
Scottish Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: ‘The SNP government must now guarantee all measures are in place to ensure continued education and minimise any more disruption for pupils.’
Due to the pandemic, Ministers have allocated £25million for a rollout of 50,000 laptops and tablets to combat digital exclusion for learners at home. In July, it transpired that none of the laptops had yet actually been given to pupils, prompting First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to promise the devices would be available in time for the start of the new school year.
Now a memo from the SQA has revealed the laptops may be redundant for those studying for its exams.
It explained that previously, the SQA’s ‘OpenAssess’ portal, where students can find practice exams and have them marked by officials, used to run on a software system called Adobe Flash Player.
However, due to security concerns around the software’s susceptibility to ‘malicious attacks’, the exam board has now moved its portal onto Surpass Viewer.
From this month, pupils will only be able to access the practice papers by downloading the Surpass Viewer programme.
However, the SQA report warns: ‘The Surpass Viewer is not supported on mobiles. This is also not supported for Chromebooks or Linux devices.’
Last night, a Scottish Government spokesman said that if teachers want to use other assessment tools with pupils, they can ask the exam board to convert them into an appropriate format.