Question reference: S6W-05790
- Asked by: Paul McLennan, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 20 January 2022
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Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 February 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the SQA will communicate the key areas to be covered within the forthcoming exam diet to (a) teachers and (b) pupils, in light of reported concerns regarding disruption to learning as a result of staff and pupil absences due to COVID-19 and the impact of the availability of subject specialists in secondary schools on the completion of courses.
Answer
As I confirmed on 1 February, based on the ongoing disruption arising from Covid, the SQA has taken the decision to invoke the Scenario 2 contingency and revision support will be made available in early March.
This revision support will complement the significant modifications to courses and assessments that the SQA have already made to take account of the expected disruption to learning this year.
The timing of the revision support gives learners the opportunity to complete the learning for their courses and focus on their coursework before their attention moves more fully to preparing for exams. It is important that teaching and learning is not narrowed too far in advance as this would negatively impact the learners’ breadth of knowledge and understanding as well as the next steps in their learning. In addition, the timing allows SQA to fully align the revision support with the question papers which are still being finalised.
Further information regarding the 2022 exam diet preparation, including the approach to exceptional circumstances, grading and appeals as well as support for learners, was included in my statement on 1 February 2022 and can be found at: Meeting of the Parliament: 01/02/2022 | Scottish Parliament Website .