FOI22/23 145 Communications & EQIAs relating to Industrial Action

Date published: 16/03/2023

Can you please provide any internal or external communications, guidance produced for schools or local authorities, Equalities Impact Assessments or other relevant documentation that has been produced to deal with the impact on learning and inequality in teaching that currently exists between children in the state education system and those in private education, in respect of the current industrial action by teachers and the forthcoming exam diet.

I am particularly interested in any actions being proposed to mitigate the inequality and demonstrate how all children will be treated fairly in the exam diet scheduled to start in April 2023.

Further can you provide any other information, EQIAs etc that have been prepared to deal with the further inequality that exists for those pupils in areas that have additional strike days due to the targeted industrial action in 5 areas.

Attached is the correspondence sent to schools and local authorities with regard to the industrial action.

The names of SQA staff below Head of Service level and also non-SQA staff have been redacted under section 38(1)(b) as it is considered personal information.

Equality and Children’s Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments have been produced as part of the high-level decision-making processes in respect of arrangements for assessing NQs in 2023, specifically focusing on Appeals service and Exceptional Circumstances service.  These impact assessments were published on the SQA website on 01 February 2023 and can be found here

The responsibility for learning and teaching lies with the schools and local authorities.

There is a national e-learning offer available from Education Scotland, which offers evening sessions for subjects to help learners. We understand that they will also offer Easter holiday support. More information will be available from Education Scotland using the following link:

How to contact us | Contact us | Education Scotland

We also understand that Local authorities and schools have local e-learning offers and alternative arrangements for pupils impacted by targeted industrial action to help mitigate the impact of industrial action. To get more information on this, you should contact the relevant local authorities.

Table of Communications (110 KB)

Comms 01 (154 KB)

Comms 02 (156 KB)

Comms 03 (156 KB)

Comms 04 (154 KB)

Comms 05 (157 KB)

Comms 06 (156 KB)

Comms 07 (126 KB)

Comms 08 (131 KB)

Int 01 (145 KB)

Int 02 (134 KB)

Media 01 (168 KB)

Media 02 (544 KB)

Media 03 (132 KB)

Media 04 (302 KB)

Media 05 (207 KB)