TEACHERS will be blocked from viewing exam papers until the day after pupils have sat them in a bid to thwart growing misuse on social media.

The controversial move has led to claims Scotland’s qualifications body lacks trust in the teaching profession and cares more about its own image than the interests of pupils.

In previous years school staff have been allowed to access papers almost immediately after an exam had finished in order to assess questions and provide feedback to pupils.

However, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has decided to hold back the release of papers until the following day arguing the move will improve security and prevent “inappropriate postings” on social media.

Some of the concerns centre on the recent practice of teachers posting their own answers to questions online, which officials believe may damage the confidence of pupils who have not performed as well as expected.

The issue has been heightened because of a number of damaging social media storms in the wake of Higher and National 5 exams in recent years, including protest petitions about the perceived difficulty of exams attracting thousands of signatures.

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), argued an immediate release of papers was vital to identify issues surrounding exams and to help pupils who may be anxious about how they have performed.

He said: “It is very important for pupils, following the often stressful experience of an exam, to have the opportunity to discuss the paper with their teachers and to receive feedback while the experience is fresh in their mind.

“This then allows pupils to put that exam behind them and free them up to mentally prepare for their next exam. It is not in the interest of pupils to prolong this process unnecessarily, as this can lead to increased worry and stress.

“The SQA should rethink this policy, show greater trust in the teaching profession and support teachers in continuing to put the interests of pupils first.”

A spokesman for the SQA said the organisation continually reviewed its processes, particularly in the areas of question paper confidentiality and security.

He added: “At the end of each exam, invigilators are required to collect all exam papers, which are then returned to the chief invigilators. Those papers will now be released to heads of centres the next day.

“We took this decision to prevent any breach of question paper security and confidentiality, but to also remove the risk of inappropriate postings on social media which can cause distress for candidates.”

The latest row comes at a difficult time for the SQA which has been criticised over the introduction of new exams, including National 4, National 5 and new Highers.

An inquiry by the Scottish Parliament’s education committee highlighted concerns over last year’s Higher geography exam, which was described as “poor, shocking, terrible, worst ever and nothing like the specimen paper” by members of the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers.

The SQA also admitted mistakes in the National 5 computing science exam, including coding errors, which led to John Swinney, the Education Secretary, telling the Scottish Parliament its performance was “not good enough”.

And in 2015, the pass mark for Higher maths was dropped to just 34 per cent with the SQA admitting the exam had been too hard.

Holyrood’s education committee concluded that the SQA had produced qualifications that had led to an “onerous workload, a breakdown in trust and threats of industrial action by teachers”.

Last year, the EIS accused the SQA of branding them “cheats” after an email was sent to schools highlighting the rules on how much help teachers could give pupils with coursework.

The latest row blew up as 127,000 candidates began sitting more than half a million exams in 470 schools and colleges across the country.