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Teacher complains to minister over examination changes

A senior geography teacher has written directly to Scotland’s deputy first minister, John Swinney, to complain about changes to the Higher exam and the late arrival of key documents.

Teaching unions have cited similar concerns in other subject areas since the government agreed to scrap classroom internal assessments because of the extra administrative workload they brought.

Iain Aitken, principal teacher of geography at Belmont Academy in Ayr, mentioned several misgivings about the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), including a delay to the expected delivery of the relevant sample papers.

Staff would start teaching Higher geography in June but the papers may not have all arrived until September, Mr Aitken said. “How can I deliver a quality experience for learners when essential information is not published until one quarter of the way through the course?”

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