Ministers scrap some exam unit assessments to cut teacher workload
Assessments included in some exams are being scrapped in a bid to ease teachers' workload, Education Secretary John Swinney has announced.
Assessments included in some exams are being scrapped in a bid to ease teachers' workload, Education Secretary John Swinney has announced.
Mandatory unit assessments are being removed from both National 5 and Higher exams, with a pupil's grades instead determined by final exams and coursework which will be marked externally.
Mr Swinney said the changes will "significantly reduce teacher workload" as well as cutting bureaucracy and over-assessment in schools.
With the unit assessments being removed from National 5 exams from 2017-18 and then from Highers the following year, the Education Secretary added: "They will ensure that teachers in Scotland have more time to teach in the classroom and make the significant contribution they can to reducing the attainment gap, delivering excellence and equity in Scotland's schools and maintaining the credibility and integrity of our qualifications."
The EIS teaching union hailed the move as a "victory for common sense", adding the change had been brought about after industrial action by its members.
In June, teachers in the union voted by 95% to 5% in favour of taking action short of a strike because of workload concerns.
EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said: "Since the introduction of new National qualifications, pupils and teachers have been placed under an excessive and unnecessary assessment burden during the senior phase of secondary, leading finally to EIS industrial action.
"The agreement to remove mandatory unit assessments as a requirement from all N5 and Higher courses is a victory both for common sense and for that campaign of action carried out by EIS members in secondary schools across Scotland."
The union will consider suspending its programme of action at a meeting of its national council next week.
Mr Flanagan said: "The EIS recognises the work undertaken by the Scottish Government, since the appointment of John Swinney as Cabinet Secretary for Education, to respond to the EIS campaign on teacher workload and the excessive assessment burden on pupils.
"A number of other issues remain to be resolved and the EIS will continue to engage constructively with the Scottish Government, the SQA and other stakeholders to ensure that these are addressed, and that the planned changes can be delivered as quickly and as seamlessly as possible."
Mr Swinney became the Education Secretary when Nicola Sturgeon reshuffled her cabinet after May's Holyrood election and prior to that had spent nine years as finance secretary.
He announced the changes to the exams as he addressed the Scottish Learning Festival in Glasgow for the first time and said: "Since I became Education Secretary in May, I have spoken to teachers across the country about what it is like to teach in Scotland's classrooms.
"We have much to be proud of in our education system, but there are issues around workload that are preventing teachers from maximising the time they have available to teach and the positive impact they can have on the children and young people of Scotland.
"I have acted to declutter the curriculum guidance for teachers, instructed a review of the workload demands placed on teachers and schools by local authorities, and sought assurances from the Scottish Qualifications Authority that everything possible is being done to reduce workload associated with assessment around the new national qualifications."
Tory education spokeswoman Liz Smith welcomed the removal of the unit assessments but said it had "taken far too long for this to happen".
She added: "It was perfectly clear that they provided very little educational benefit yet, at the same time, added significantly to teacher workload.
"Their removal should allow teachers to concentrate more on coursework and on preparation for SQA examinations. That has to be a good thing and will be welcomed by teachers, pupils and parents."
Labour education spokesman Iain Gray stated: "Any move to reduce workloads on our teachers is a welcome one but this is a big climbdown by John Swinney, who had previously said this could not be done without compromising the integrity of the National exams.
"It is a pity the teaching unions have had to threaten industrial action to get the government to listen to them.
"The truth, though, is that teachers will continue to be burdened by heavy workloads as long as the SNP continue to cut education budgets."