Exam chiefs criticise pupils for ‘cavalier’ use of the internet

In its assessment of the newly introduced writing folio, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) said candidates had poorly referenced their work, often identifying the source of material as simply “the internet”.

The writing folio, which was re-introduced last year, accounts for 20 per cent of the course mark and requires students taking English at Higher or Intermediate 2 level to submit two pieces of writing – one creative and the other discursive.

While the work is externally assessed, it is done throughout the year and not under exam conditions.

There was praise for how students had approached the exercise overall, but the SQA said some pupils had taken a “sloppy” approach to the discursive essay, taking information from the internet and poorly sourcing it.

In its assessment report, inspectors noted: “Some candidates adopted a rather cavalier attitude to the recording of sources, sometimes failing to acknowledge any sources at all, sometimes acknowledging merely ‘BBC website’ and/or ‘wikipedia’, or even simply ‘the internet’. It is unlikely to be coincidental that such pieces were almost always of limited quality.”

Overall, however, it was thought the re-introduction of writing into the external assessment had been “worthwhile,” with many pupils submitting creative writing of “exceptional quality”.

There was also a small selection of works composed partly or entirely in Scots, which examiners said were often “impressive.” But while the majority of candidates were “meticulous” in the recording of sources for discursive pieces, others took a rather more laid back approach.

There was also evidence in a number of submissions of careless, or non-existent, proof-reading, markers said.

Robert Quinn, the SQA’s head of humanities, arts and business, said: “The comments from the principal assessor and the examination team contained in the report should really be allowed to speak for themselves, but I would add that care should be taken to put references to ‘sourcing’ into perspective.

“The report makes it clear that the vast majority of candidates were meticulous in the recording of sources for discursive pieces. But we did find that those candidates who performed poorly in their writing folio tended to take a sloppy approach to sourcing. This is good advice for teachers and learners to bear in mind when preparing for future assessments.”

Ann Ballinger, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, said there were concerns about plagiarism from the internet.

She said: “It’s almost impossible to police. There is software used by some of the universities, but it’s very, very expensive and outwith the budget of most schools.

“In reality, most teachers will find themselves in the position where if something doesn’t sound right they will have to go and search the internet and that takes a long time for English teachers who have no time as it is.

“I think it would be fair to say that English teachers had huge concerns about the folio. The concern is that there’s sometimes a difficult situation where there’s more of a capacity for there to be additional input in a child’s work than there would be in class.

“I’m not suggesting people are cheating, but some are getting a bit more support at home.”