CHEATING by pupils in Scottish school exams is on the rise fuelled by the use of mobile phones, new figures show.

A report by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) revealed there were 183 cases of cheating last year compared to 169 in 2016.

Of these 48 cases involved smartphones and compared to 26 the previous year.

There were 22 cases where pupils were caught referring to paper notes during their exams.

Liz Smith, education spokeswoman for the Scottish Conservative Party, said the figures highlighted the need for continuing vigilance over the use of mobile phones in schools.

She said: “There are still far too many pupils cheating or who, for one reason or another, choose to disregard the very clear instructions issued by schools.

“It must be drilled into pupils that cheating of any sort is completely unacceptable and that they will not benefit from it.

“Trying to use a mobile phone or any other means to gain unfair advantage is a blatant act of dishonesty and the penalties must fully reflect that.”

Iain Gray, education spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party, added: “The positive thing is that these numbers for cheating remain low, although any rise is a concern and the SQA need to remain vigilant.”

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland teaching union, said the number of overall cases was relatively low.

He added: “Pupils naturally feel under pressure to attain success in their exams, but clearly this should not be achieved through unfair means such as unauthorised use of technology, textbooks or notes.

“There is evidence from a range of sources that our young people face growing pressure to perform well in high stakes assessments and that this impacts negatively on their emotional wellbeing.

“Changes to qualifications, together with frequent alterations to course content and requirements, can create a degree of uncertainty and increased pressure on pupils and teachers alike, but it is essential to the validity of the qualifications that high standards are maintained.”

The figures also confirmed that growing numbers of teachers are providing improper levels of coaching to their pupils in a bid to ensure they pass vital qualifications.

As The Herald reported in November, the number of reported cases of teachers “over-directing” pupils in coursework.

The figures show there have been 51 cases of proven malpractice by schools in 2017 compared to just 18 in 2016.

According to the SQA, teacher malpractice includes providing model answers, giving pupils too much time or marking essays rather than giving more general feedback.

The situation has arisen following the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence which has placed less of an emphasis on the final exam in qualifications such as National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher.

It means that coursework supervised by teachers now counts towards more of the final mark in a qualification which has encouraged some teachers to give pupils too much help.

Dr Janet Brown, Scotland’s Chief Examining Officer said: “Malpractice is totally unacceptable and we will continue to work with centres, teachers, markers and invigilators to ensure our approaches are applied.”