Covid in Scotland: Pupils at 'breaking point' over school assessments

The system designed to replace formal exams after a year of disruption is causing more stress and anxiety than the usual qualification system, say those currently going through it.

Pupils, parents and teachers have described severe stress and even panic attacks over the assessment system currently under way in secondary schools across the country.

Pupils have told BBC Scotland that evidence of their knowledge is being gathered in a series of assessments under exam conditions.

But these come without the support of an exam set-up, and without study leave or an evenly-spread timetable.

Add to this the broken learning of the past 16 months and young people say they are at breaking point.

National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher exams were all cancelled this year because of the pandemic.

The Scottish government and Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) say results should instead be based on teacher judgement backed up by evidence.

This evidence is to be gathered through assessments, although the SQA says there is no requirement to sit prelims or a full formal exam diet.

However, approaches vary wildly with some schools staging what looks and feels like an exam diet, with study leave and assessments in games halls, under exam conditions.

Others are doing assessments in class time, with up to three assessments in one day for some pupils, alongside normal classes for other subjects.

Mia, a sixth year student at Clydebank High School, is feeling the pressure.

Having missed her maths Higher prelim before the pandemic started, her school couldn't submit evidence, so despite being predicted five As, she was left with four.

This missing grade has meant she has so far been rejected from law courses she was hoping to do at university and needs to get three As this year.

She said: "It's a lot of pressure, it's a lot more competitive for all courses because of the increased pass rate last year."

"My school are doing ongoing assessments but under exam conditions," she added.

"We need three pieces of evidence for each subject, so we are doing three different exams and we need to perform well in every single exam.

"It's a lot more pressure for me. We have been off for months and months and we are expected to come in and perform as well as we would have under normal conditions."

Human rights lawyer Dr Tracy Kirk said critical support for pupils was just not there, despite some sitting three assessments a day.

Dr Kirk said the stress young people are under was unprecedented.

"A lot of people are saying 'young people have always had the stresses of exams' and that's fine, but there is some control over that, when you've been in school, you've had the support and you have had study leave. That doesn't exist this year," she added.

"So we've effectively got a situation where the support networks normally in place are not there but the significance of the exams is still the same."

One parent told BBC Radio Scotland's Mornings programme her son was "stressed to the point of being ill" over the assessments.

One teacher also told the BBC that a pupils were being "gas lit" by the people who were "meant to be running things".

"We have everyone in a position of power telling us that there are no exams, while we all know there are," the teacher said.

Fifth year pupil Dylan Hamilton has had a minimum of two to three assessments a week so far.

"I have to sustain that over seven weeks straight and I am finding it hard to maintain my mental health through this," he said.

"We were told we'd have a couple of sets of prelims and now we are being told pretty much everything is riding on these assessments."

The head of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, Seamus Searson, wants more power to be given to teachers to make a judgement and not be tied down to the results of these assessments.

"Teachers are at their wit's end," he said. "They are listening to pupils and engaging with them and get an understanding of what level they are at, but that can't be put down on paper sometimes."

"It's very difficult to see pupils, who they know could be doing better, not getting the results they deserve.

"What we are going to end up with, if we are not very careful, is a whole barrage of appeals in the summer when the youngsters don't get the results that they deserve and the parents will have every right to complain."

The SQA told BBC Scotland: "We fully appreciate that this is a challenging time for learners across Scotland. There is no requirement to replicate a full formal exam or prelim diet this year and that results need to be based on demonstrated attainment by assessment in a flexible way to suit local circumstances.

"SQA has provided a flexible and consistent framework for schools and colleges this year, including detailed guidance, material and support, based on assessment standards that teachers and lecturers are familiar with."

A spokeswoman for the Scottish government said: "Unlike with exams, schools have flexibility when setting assessments for this year's qualifications to take account of the disruption to learning that their pupils have experienced as a result of the pandemic."