£170,000 to be spent on new jobs at exam board

LAST night it emerged £170,000 is to be spent on five new jobs at Scotland's exam board (SQA).

The news increases pressure on education secretary Mr Russell, who was embarrassed yesterday after Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton denied she had agreed to advise on the new school curriculum

The new "liaison managers" will advise schools on the new Curriculum for Excellence due in August.

But teachers said the SQA is responsible for exams, not the curriculum. Ann Ballinger, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association, said: "The new exams are four years away.

"If it works, the additional support will be very welcome to teachers, but how these five people will get round Scotland's 400 secondary schools I don't know."