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1. Inherently fairer? Yes, because it demonstrates an ongoing development and a learning curve. The student who progresses from let& #39;s call it level 2 up to level 5 has demonstrated something more than their peer who progresses from level 4 to level 5 in the same time period. https://twitter.com/examscot/status/1297488860855898112">https://twitter.com/examscot/...
2. That is surely a quality that & #39;end users& #39; such as employers or universities would want to know, and it& #39;s not acknowledged in a single letter examination performance certificate. In addition, the use of coursework removes the glass ceiling on the very best.
3. Students are limited to 100% in their exam performance, because we have put arbitrary limits to performance in place - & #39;give this answer 2 marks& #39;. What if the best students are capable of answers that are worth 4 marks, or capable of answers that have no limits?
4. Coursework has the capacity to reflect the students& #39; capabilities without those random boundaries whose only use is the facility to measure students& #39; performance against each other.
5. Is coursework fairer in practical terms? Well, there can be problems. We would need to pay close attention to provenance, something we don& #39;t do because it& #39;s time consuming. But to reject it because it& #39;s hard work is a missed opportunity.
6. As well as a piece of writing, students should submit documentation that shows the provenance of their ideas and development. Creative writing courses often do this - the reflective & #39;journal& #39; of writing is as much an assessment as the writing itself.
7. This provenance can be the subject of a discussion between teacher and student, and can& #39;t be & #39;plagiarised& #39; in the same way a piece of writing that is plonked on your desk with no hinterland can be. Materials I produced years ago for Education Scotland addressed this.
8. At the time, I hoped teachers would see that it provided a bulwark against the influence of tutors or the possibility of plagiarism that could even become part of the submission to the SQA. Unfortunately, that didn& #39;t happen, but could be an option for the future.
9. And of course, any coursework needs to be the subject of rigorous moderation. We are used to that: I grew up as a teacher having external moderators in all the time from SQA and SCOTVEC. The trouble is, it& #39;s expensive and time consuming.
