Item 11 - Senior Phase Update
West Dunbartonshire Council · 18 March 2026
Back to Educational Services Committee — 18 March 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
Some pages contain no extractable text. They may be blank, graphics or scanned pages. OCR has not been applied.
Page 1
WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by the Chief Education Officer Educational Services Committee: 18 March 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Subject: Senior Phase Update 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide an update for members on the change in the national body providing qualifications, and to provide our new policy supporting centres in investigating claims of malpractice in qualifications. 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that Committee: a) Note the national change from Scottish Qualifications Agency to Qualifications Scotland; and b) Note the introduction of our malpractice policy which helps our secondary schools ensure that guidance is accurately followed, and guard against the submission of work that is not of a candidates making. 3. Background 3.1 In 2024, Scottish Government announced a National Education Reform agenda, that would see the introduction of an independent His Majesties Inspectorate of Education, and replacements of the two national bodies Education Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Agency (SQA). 3.2 In February 2026, the Scottish Qualifications Agency became Qualifications Scotland. Initially, little will change with Qualifications Scotland, as it continues to deliver assessment programmes and qualifications created by its predecessor. Over the next six years, Qualifications Scotland will undertake a reform of the qualifications on offer in our presenting centres. As a council, we will take our part in this reform agenda as a key stakeholder and ensure our young people, parents, staff and establishments are able to contribute to the process. 3.3 Qualifications Scotland expect presenting centres and local authorities to review their policies, practices and procedures on a regular basis to ensure they are well placed to run and manage qualifications. ITEM 11
Page 2
3.4 As part of our ongoing review, we identified an area requiring development to ensure our centres are well placed to deal with any concerns that arise. 3.5 Qualifications Scotland advise presentation centres that in any instance of candidate or centre malpractice being alleged, the centre should conduct it’s own investigation following a local malpractice policy. 3.6 Allegations of malpractice are rare. In the last 10 years, the number of allegations of malpractice account for 0.002% of our presentations. 3.7 In managing risk however, we are aware that the rise in the use of Artificial Intelligence could see an increase in the number of alegations of malpractice, and we need to make sure our presenting centres are able to deal with such alegations effectively. 4. Main Issues 4.1 Where an allegation of malpractice is made, whether about an individual candidate or indeed a presenting centre, there needs to be a policy in place to clarify how the allegation is investigated, and clarity given to the candidate, their parents and carers and the centre involved. Our Malpractice policy is provided in Appendix A. 4.2 With the rise in the use of Artificial Intelligence, we anticipate that allegations of malpractice will increase, so this policy will provide guidance to centres in how to investigate any allegation, and how to then communicate the outcome of that investigation to candidates, their parents and carers, and if need be, Qualifications Scotland. 4.3 This policy has also been shared with Qualifications Scotland and our neighbours in the West Partnership to help them with the development of their own arrangements. 4.4 The policy has been shared with Secondary Head Teachers and our in-school Qualifications Scotland Coordinators, to be implemented should any allegation of malpractice be raised this session, or at any point in the future. 5. People Implications 5.1 There are no direct people implications resulting from this report. 6. Financial Implications 6.1 There are no associated costs with this report. Time to undertake investigations into any alleged malpractice would be covered by central officers and promoted staff in our secondary schools.
Page 3
7. Risk Analysis 7.1 Not having a malpractice policy would leave us failing to meet Qualifications Scotland policies and in conducting fair, transparent and impartial investigations into alleged malpractice. 8. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) 8.1 An Equalities Impact Assessment screening has been undertaken for the malpractice policy. 9. Consultation 9.1 Legal Services and the Section 95 Officer have been consulted on the content of this report. 10. Strategic Assessment 10.1 Having a Malpractice Policy contributes to Outcome 4 ‘our council is inclusive and adaptable’ in our Strategic Plan. Gillian Hamilton Chief Education Officer Date: 20 February 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Person to Contact: Andrew Brown Senior Education Officer Email: andrew.brown@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Appendices: Appendix A – WDC Malpractice Policy. Background Papers: None. Wards Affected: All wards
Page 4
No embedded text on this page.