Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S4W-09596

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 24 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to calls to explore the possibility of using the Early Years Change Fund, European Structural Funds or other funding to extend the provision of early years childcare for two-year-olds.

Question reference: S4W-09597

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 24 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to calls to pilot an extension of free early years education and childcare to two-year-olds in deprived areas.

Question reference: S4W-09306

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 14 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on formulating papers for the new National 4 and National 5 exams and when sample papers will be available.

The Scottish Qualifications Agency (SQA) published the final course, unit and assessment specifications for the new National 2-5 and Higher qualifications on 30 April 2012. From October 2012 to April 2013, SQA will be publishing a package of assessment support covering the Units for each Course at National 2,3, 4 and 5. Finalised National 5 specimen question papers and course work will be available by April 2013.

Education Scotland is also working closely in partnership with Directors of Education and others to provide a comprehensive package of course materials for every National 4 and National 5 course to help teachers move forward with confidence. These will be available on-line by end of April 2013.

Question reference: S4W-09138

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many hours per year are set aside for teachers to discuss with peers annotated portfolios of pupils’ work.

Question reference: S4W-09140

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how much time is allocated per year for interaction between the primary and secondary school sector to discuss (a) curriculum planning, (b) approaches to teaching and (c) assessment.

It is for education authorities to provide advice to their schools on the nature and time spent on transitional arrangements between their primary and secondary schools.

Funding of £6.7 million in 2010-12 and a further three years funding of £3.762 million from 2012-15 has been made available to local authorities to support additional local activity associated with introducing and operating a quality assurance and moderation system. This will allow time for teachers to build their expertise and amongst other practitioners in sharing, understanding and applying standards.

Question reference: S4W-09141

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what support is provided for teaching staff to assist with (a) making judgements about and (b) maintaining pupils' portfolios.

In addition to guidance published in December 2010 (Building the Curriculum 5), Education Scotland has had a number of seminars for authorities and schools to provide advice and guidance on profiling and the development of profile. In addition they worked with schools to develop exemplars of profiling and pupil profiles at P7 and S3 and these have been made available on their website:

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningteachingandassessment/assessment/achievement/profiling/index.asp.

Education Scotland are also currently working with a group of 13 schools to provide further exemplification on profiling and the S3 profile which will be published in December 2012. A Curriculum for Excellence briefing on profiling and the S3 profile for all practitioners is currently being prepared by Education Scotland with a view to publication early this school session.

Question reference: S4W-09139

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of pupils move to secondary school with a P7 profile, broken down by local authority.

The Scottish Government does not gather this information. All primary 7 pupils will develop a profile with support from their teacher which will build an accurate and comprehensive account of their progress and achievement. The profile is developed as an on-going process of dialogue and reflection between the teacher and the learner. The first P7 profiles were developed during the schools year 2011-12 and the first S3 profiles will be developed by third year pupils with support from their teachers during the school year 2012-13.

Question reference: S4W-09143

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the expected experiences and outcomes at each key points of pupils' educational progress are and what is required to achieve these.

Question reference: S4W-09136

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it gives to local authorities regarding how much time should be allocated to primary and secondary teachers visiting each other’s schools in order to facilitate pupils moving to secondary.

Question reference: S4W-09134

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what information is given to (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers that sets out the expected knowledge and skills of pupils and how best to illustrate pupils' progress, including examples of teacher assessment, as they move to secondary schools

The Scottish Government issued comprehensive advice in April 2009 to all teachers setting out, through a national framework of experiences and outcomes, the expected knowledge and skills that should be developed across primary and secondary sectors.

Advice on assessing pupils’ progress is given on the Education Scotland website :

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/thecurriculum/howisprogressassessed/index.asp.

The National Assessment Resource also contains exemplification from a range of schools on how they are developing arrangements to share pupil progress at the point of primary/secondary transition.