In Scotland: Moderation was used to identify schools that were “significantly outwith” their historical attainment profile. It was deemed necessary because the SQA found when it compared teacher estimates to the past four years of attainment data there was “significant overestimation” – for example, at Higher, 2020 estimates would have resulted in an A to C pass rate of 88.8 per cent, 14 percentage points higher than 2019, and a significantly higher pass rate than had been seen for each of the past four years. Moderation is used to ensure the outcome of the grade is “fair, valid and reliable” and to ensure … Continue reading Exams Fiasco! English exam boards more than twice as likely to ignore teacher estimates and use algorithms as SQA

There’s a headline to leave you thinking: ‘That doesn’t narrow it down too much.’ Searching back for material to toss at Lord McConnell on exam fiascos, I came across this gem in the Scotsman as was, when it was a newspaper, in 2006 The YouGov poll found that more Scots now want Scotland to become independent than those who want to stay within the United Kingdom. A total of 44 per cent back independence, with 42 supporting the status quo and 15 per cent undecided. The survey of 1,200 Scots is a major boost for the SNP which is now … Continue reading ‘Less conceited than Jack McConell’

Popping up like a wee dinosaur trying to copy the Broonasaurus, Lord McConnell tries to act tough in the way his former pupils in Lornshill Academy, Alloa, remember so fondly. He should know all about this. In 2 000, 36 students considered legal action against the SQA and they had actually sat the exams. They argued that the SQA was in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights. Their lawyer wrote to the FM and he said that the convention was a legal matter and not one for the Scottish Executive. BBC Scotland reported at the time: The action … Continue reading Scottish Labour’s track record in failing students with an exams fiasco

In its Sunday worst, the Scotsman’s second team comes out to attack the Scottish Government with the popular notion amongs Conservatives that SNP competence is just an illusion. Garavelli, McColm, and Davidson trot out the same evidence-free arguments we’ve seen before. I can’t be bothered listing all the ways in which they are wrong and how Scotland has done better on the outbreak and on education, so if you’re not already painfully familiar with them, try these: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/08/04/adam-boulton-after-months-of-divergence-scotland-has-done-betteras-even-englands-total-death-rate-pro-rata-reaches-67-higher/ https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/06/02/scotlands-covid-record-is-not-flattered-ft-and-common-weal-if-you-did-some-research-youd-know-better/ https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/02/07/attainment-gap-widens-in-england-as-it-halves-in-scotland-but-sarah-smith-lies-again/ https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/04/01/reality-check-scotlands-schools-better-than-most/ https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/02/25/attainment-for-scotlands-school-leavers-far-greater-than-in-england/ Continue reading Day 2 of Scotsman’s Anti-SNP Campaign

From sam: It is, I suggest, profoundly stupid of Macwhirter and others to fail to provide context for their musing. on the SQA and Scottish education. https://infed.org/mobi/the-impact-of-austerity-on-schools-and-childrens-education-and-well-being/ “By 2011/12, 13 million people in the UK were living in poverty. For the first time more than half of these people lived in a working family. (Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2013). The proportion of children that are living in poverty in the UK has risen from 24% in 2008 to 27% in 2012/3. However, this proportion will increase. According to the Child Poverty Action Group the 3.5 million children living in poverty in … Continue reading Profoundly stupid?

I’ve complained about the First Minister’s presidential style for some time but that headline is pure daft. The foundations of Scotland’s democracy have crumbled? Really? I’m well-into to worrying about Robin. Remember the Dead Kennedys punk band and ‘Holiday in Cambodia?‘ Now you can go where the people are oneNow you can go where they get things doneWhat you need, my son…What you need, my son…Is a holiday in CambodiaWhere people are dressed in blackA holiday in CambodiaWhere you’ll kiss ass or crack Common Weal have been right into this kind of misguided hyperbole recently. Remember them on care home … Continue reading The weal that will not heal? Plot-losing, conspiracy-hugging paranoia from Robin McAlpine

There’s a deep irony in this man calling for another’s head but let’s not go there. Macwhirter is just the latest in a foul-smelling gang baying for Swinney to stand-down and to give the opposition parties a sad wee ‘victory’ in their daily struggle against deepening insignificance. Yesterday’s attack by the Scotsman’s ageing trolls led, by Wilson and McLellan, was one of the most naked pieces of propaganda I’ve seen for some time. It saddened me again, as a former reader back in the 20th Century and as retired academic who used to tell undergraduates of my pride in her … Continue reading Just another Anti-SNP pile-on to help the sad opposition score a wee point

I’ve been alerted by a reader of the Tusker today, to the appalling display of unbalanced, ill-informed rants, drawn by the smell of blood in the exam results story, in the Scotsman today. Ignoring the difficulty of the task faced by the SQA, the increased pass rates, the tiny scale of the protests and the adoption of a similar moderation strategy in England and Wales, the editor presents us with five rants by well-known Tory and Labour-supporters, one editorial and letters by Scotland in Union’s [SiU] covert letter-writing group. We’ve got former New Labour minister, Brian Wilson, Tory councillor John … Continue reading Attack on Democracy: The Scotsman today in full propaganda mode

From: Brenda Steele: The author of the EUREFERENDUM  blog is Richard North – a Flexiteer (i.e. wanted a Norway type deal).  I read the blog because he hates the EU and BoJo and his Brexiteers with an almost equal passion, and so has some interesting viewpoints.   He is also quite knowledgeable about technical stuff as it relates to the EU. In this piece –http://www.eureferendum.com/blogview.aspx?blogno=87692    Coronavirus: about time, this snippet caught my attention: Nagpaul says more use should be made of the NHS’s £400 million-a-month deal with private hospitals. The NHS should also look at using the seven Nightingale hospitals it created … Continue reading Scotland well ahead of the game with Covid-free hubs