Scotland should consider scrapping next year's National 5 and Higher exams, according to the country's largest teaching union.

Our sister title The National says the Education Insitute of Scotland (EIS) want the country to instead focus on continuous assessments for pupils due to sit school qualifications next year.

This year's exams, which were due to take place in May and June, were cancelled due to lockdown restrictions, and the union's general secretary Larry Flanagan claims that contingency planning is required to ensure this year's pupils do not face the same uncertainty. 

“If schools were trying to deliver the 160 hours these courses normally have attached to them there would be no hours left for 1st, 2nd and 3rd years,” he told the Sunday National.

“The second issue is what will be the nature of the assessment.

"We’re clear from an EIS point of view that we have to proof the accreditation against a second wave of the virus and the exams being cancelled again. This year the exam diet was cancelled at the last minute and we’ll survive that."

Flanagan claimed a combination of reduced in-school teaching time and a possible second wave of coronavirus would impact the ability of teachers to prepare pupils.

He also said National 5 and Higher pupils could face additional pressures if a winter resurgence caused a further lockdown.

“If a second wave meant schools had been shut through winter then that would mean exams couldn’t really happen even if they weren’t cancelled," he explained. “All of that means that the EIS thinks there needs to be a focus of continuous assessment through the year.

“So we are in favour of essentially scrapping the diet and looking at continuous assessment across the year.”

A spokesman for the SQA confirmed that it was part of the Scottish Government’s Education Recovery Group along with the EIS, and “is looking at and monitoring a wide a range of issues, including qualifications”.

“The Strategic Framework for Re-Opening Schools, Early Learning and Childcare Provision, published this week by the Scottish Government, made clear that planning for the 2021 examination diet is underway and will continue.

“The Scottish Qualifications Authority will provide further advice to schools to ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place to capture, on an ongoing basis, the learning outcomes met by young people in the Senior Phase in school year 2020/21. This will provide a strong evidence base to support assessment and certification.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said planning for the 2021 exam diet “is underway, and will continue”. He added: “The SQA will provide further advice to schools to ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place to capture, on an ongoing basis, the learning outcomes met by young people in the Senior Phase in school year 2020/21. This will provide a strong evidence base to support assessment and certification."

Read the full story on The National