SSTA paper JNC June 10th 25 Prelim Practice exam Diet and WTA

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Agenda Item ..........
Renfrewshire Joint Negotiating Committee for Teachers
To: Renfrewshire Joint Negotiating Committee for Teachers
On: 10 June 2025
Report by
Joint Secretary (Teachers’ Side)
Preliminary/Practice Exam Diet
1. Background
1.1 Dates for preliminary/practice exams (prelims) form part of secondary school Working
Time Agreement discussions and, once agreed, are published in the school calendar.
The work that goes into preparing learners for prelims is considerable.  Subsequent
marking is also a significant task for teachers but is an accepted part of the job.
1.2 However, it is a concern that there is an emerging practice of “second prelims” being
delivered across schools which do not appear in the agreed school calendar.  These
are often very close to the actual SQA exams which causes unnecessary additional
stress for learners and teachers.
1.3 The main reason provided for delivering a second round of prelims is to allow for more
accurate estimates of learner grades.  This is a burdensome and unnecessary task as
learners participate in assessments across S3 and S4 which can aid the estimate
process.
2. Recommendation
 Management to note the above report.
 The teachers’ side calls for an end to unnecessary second rounds of prelims which
are not agreed in advance as part of the Working Time Agreement and do not
feature in the agreed school calendar.