Teacher and Scottish exam board relations '˜near breaking point'

Relations between teachers and the national exam board are 'near breaking point.' Picture: TSPL

Concerns over “excessive and unclear guidance”, red tape and mistakes in exam papers are among the issues uncovered – along with claims that teachers are being gagged from speaking out about the problems.

The findings have emerged in a report by Holyrood’s education committee into the key bodies providing education policy in Scotland. It comes amid concerns that Scots youngsters are failing down global league tables in key performance areas.

Teachers have hit out at the additional workload associated with the new curriculum for excellence and new national exams to accompany this,

Education committee convenor James Dornan said: “The evidence our committee received was nothing less than eye opening about some of the problems faced by those working so hard on the front line of education.

“We heard first-hand about the time-consuming burden of guidance that has been placed on teachers, something the cabinet secretary has already shown his commitment to deal with.

“However, there continues to be confusing and contradictory messages coming from the very bodies that should be making it easy for our teachers to focus on the needs of our children.”

The report calls for improvements to be made in the “design, delivery, supporting documents and marking of national qualifications”, with a warning that “urgent work” is needed to rebuild the organisation’s relationship with teachers. The report also calls for greater efforts from the body to ensure there are “no errors” in the production or marking of exams.

Mr Dornan added: “The committee found it hard to understand how, in particular, the SQA has met the needs of Scotland’s learners having designed qualifications that have created a huge workload for teachers and led to a breakdown in trust and threats of industrial action.”

A spokesman for the SQA said relations with teachers are “critically important” to the delivery of Scotland’s exams system.

He added; “Every year 15,000 teachers work with us as appointees.

“We are committed to addressing the committee’s findings, especially in this period of change and are working to continue to improve our communication with the wider  community.”