The NASUWT recognises that assessment is critical to effective approaches to teaching and learning. The forms that assessment takes, the uses to which assessment data is put, and the context within which assessment is undertaken are therefore critical aspects of educational policy and practice at national, local and school level.

Assessment in schools takes a number of different forms and serves a number of distinct purposes.

Assessment should be used by teachers to enable them to form valid and reliable judgements of pupils’ progress for the development of the curriculum.

Data from assessment has also become an integral feature of how schools and the education system as a whole are held to account for their performance.

It is likely that policymakers in Scotland will maintain their interest in the ways in which assessment information can be used to provide information about the effectiveness of schools and of the education system as a whole.

The Hayward Review may bring significant reforms to national qualifications and the structure of assessments in the Senior Phase of Curriculum for Excellence and proposed reforms to the Scottish Qualifications Authority and Education Scotland will also impact on this area.

The NASUWT continues to engage with the Scottish Government regarding all of this and to press for effective steps to address ongoing assessment-related workload burdens.

With regard to one of these workload drivers, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills has written to all Directors of Education making her expectations very clear around 'dual presentation' and the rare use of it. The letter can be viewed on the right/below.

Despite this, National Qualifications results analysis for 2024 by the SQA showed that the rates for dual presentation of candidates for the same National 4 and National 5 subjects remained more than double the figures for 2019. This confirms that inappropriate dual presentation is still occurring too often and NASUWT members are encouraged to challenge this and to seek support from the Scotland National Centre in doing so, wherever necessary.

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