SCOTTISH teachers are becoming increasingly concerned after it emerged the preparation of vital new school exams has been hit by delays.
The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) said the compilation of question papers for this summer had been held back - with Advanced Higher a particular concern.
Last summer, the SQA came under fire after admitting the new Higher maths paper was too hard after many pupils left exam halls in tears.
Dr Gill Stewart, the SQA's director of qualifications, told a meeting of the board that the curriculum programme had been given an "amber" status "due to the conflicting and multiple demands on SQA staff".
The minutes states: "She reported that this pressure had resulted in slippage across all levels of 2016 question paper development, particularly at Advanced Higher, and that this had been duly reported to the Scottish Government."
The minutes said the board had been "assured" that the matter was being carefully managed "in order to mitigate any potential impact".
However, Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, said the issue was likely to add to the pressure on schools in the run-up to the exam diet this summer.
He said: "The severe workload and bureaucratic demands that SQA requirements place on secondary teachers and pupils are a huge issue in schools.
"Teachers will be extremely concerned to hear of these additional difficulties with qualifications development within the SQA itself and these issues must be sorted out quickly to ensure even more pressure is not heaped on schools as a result."
Seamus Searson, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association, said many school staff no longer wanted to work with the SQA on developing qualifications because of the difficulties introducing the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) and its exams.
He said: "The message from teachers is that it is becoming impossible to cope with all the demands from pupils, parents, headteachers and local authorities.
"Schools are refusing to let staff take part in SQA work due to the disruption to classes, shortage of subject teachers and a lack of supply teachers.
"In addition to the concerns raised by the SQA I believe we will also have a shortage of exam assessors and exam markers this year, but unfortunately the Scottish Government, councils and the SQA do not seem to accept the system is at crisis point."
A spokesman for the SQA said: "CfE represents one of the largest and most complex changes to the Scottish education system in a generation. Introducing and integrating new qualifications into an existing system requires constant monitoring and evaluation.
“We have successfully met, and continue to meet our milestones in the delivery of CfE either on time or early. We have evaluated the programme status of CfE at amber, meaning that it is on-track and requiring constant monitoring and do not anticipate any external milestones to be missed. All question papers are currently in the final stages of print production and will be delivered on time as expected."
Last year it emerged that the pass mark for the controversial new Higher mathematics exam was dropped to just 34 per cent after it was deemed too difficult for pupils.
The SQA lowered the pass mark for a C to 33.8 per cent compared to 43 per cent for the old maths Higher, which was run on the same day. Pupils were given an A in the under-fire exam for achieving just 60 per cent compared to 69 per cent for those who sat the former Higher.
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