Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 09 December 2020
It will come out of public expenditure because all these activities are paid for through public expenditure. However, we will not be paying SQA marker fees in the usual fashion, because there will not be exam papers to mark. The resources that are allocated for that factor will be instrumental in making provision for the one-off payment, which is to recognise the fact that teachers and lecturers will be undertaking an activity that would ordinarily be carried out by SQA markers.
The other point from Mr Greene’s comments that I have to counter relates to what was put to me on the radio this morning—that, somehow, assessment is not the business of teachers. I have never heard a more ridiculous remark in my life. Teachers are assessing the performance of pupils on a daily basis, and anyone who suggests that teachers are not involved in assessment knows absolutely nothing about the conduct of education in our society.
Mr Greene made reference to the part of the motion that relates to the employment of full-time teachers. The Government has already put in place £80 million of additional resources, which has resulted in the recruitment of over 1,400 additional teachers and 246 support staff. That additional resource is bringing much-needed resilience to schools and the education system right now.