Education Secretary & SQA must acknowledge serious exam errors
Ross Greer, Education & Skills spokesperson for the Scottish Greens and MSP for the West of Scotland, today questioned the Education Secretary in Parliament about the National 5 computing science exam paper that was full of errors.
The exam was described by some teachers as one of the worst ever set and at General Questions in Holyrood Education Secretary John Swinney responded to Mr Greer, saying he accepted that typographical errors should not have been there.
Ross Greer MSP said:
"This thoroughly flawed exam paper has caused stress for students, parents and teachers and I welcome the commitment from the Education Secretary to ensure that the Scottish Qualifications Authority considers the impact of this paper when awarding results. Both the Education Secretary and the SQA must acknowledge that these errors were not just typographical; at least one question was described as impossible by teaching professionals.
"An investigation into how this exam paper got through the quality control process is essential. The SQA have yet to provide that information, and I urge them to outline clearly to students and teachers how such mistakes will be prevented in future."