Press Release
2nd November 2000
McNeil Welcomes Exams Action Plan
MSP for Greenock & Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has welcomed the Scottish Qualification Authority's Action Plan, published today by Labour Education Minister, Jack McConnell.
Action is already being taken on four key issues relating to the SQA and Mr McConnell today revealed that plans were underway to:
Regulations were also laid before Parliament today to ensure parents get full and accurate information about exam results in school handbooks.
Welcoming the Action Plan, Mr McNeil said:
"These are the key issues which have been raised by parents, pupils and teachers over recent months. I have endeavoured to keep concerned pupils and parents informed of developments and I am glad that we are now at a point when we can start making real changes to the Scottish examinations system.
"The Action Plan is available from the Scottish Executive website or free of charge from my local office."
"It is important that we listen to the concerns of those most affected by the exam problems. It is good news that parents, teachers and pupils will all be represented on the early warning group to ensure their experiences and concerns are taken on board. A Minister will chair the group so that Parliament can be alerted to delays and difficulties in the system.
"We can then acted upon problems promptly and ensure that this summer’s fiasco is never repeated."
ENDS
Notes
1. Following the publication of the Deloitte and Touche report into the exam problems, Mr McConnell asked the SQA to provide a compliance statement on how they intended to put the report's recommendations into practice.
2. The compliance statement was delivered to the Minister on Monday - within the two week deadline. It has been published by Parliamentary Question and Answer today.
3. School handbooks are normally issued in December. This year, the new regulations will allow the books to be issued as usual but without inaccurate exam results data. Accurate exam data will be issued separately at a later date.
4. The full report is available on the internet at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/education/cpac-00.asp or free of charge from Mr McNeil’s office.
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