Shirley-Anne Somerville is being urged to take “bold action” and order the Scottish Qualifications Authority to scrap “pseudo exams”The education secretary has been warned that thousands of pupils could be cheated out of the grades they deserve this year because of Scotland’s “wayward” exams body. In her first test since being handed the brief in Nicola Sturgeon’s post-election cabinet reshuffle, Shirley-Anne Somerville is being urged to take “bold action” and order the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to scrap “pseudo exams” and award grades based on teacher assessments. The intervention, by Professor Lindsay Paterson, follows growing criticism over a certification model introduced by the SQA after the national exam diet was called off in December due to the coronavirus pandemic. SponsoredPupils complain that they have not been given enough support or time to prepare for multiple formal assessments that are usually sat under exam

Source: The Times May 29, 2021 22:52 UTC