Minority pupils are disproportionately marked down by Scottish teachers in the absence of blind-marked exams, an education expert has said.
The discrepancies between estimated and achieved marks for Asian students, especially those with Chinese and Indian ethnicity, are significantly worse than for white Scottish pupils, according to official exam data.
Lindsay Paterson, professor emeritus of education policy at the University of Edinburgh, said this could create an unfair bias if assessment was shifted from blind-marked exams to assessments graded by teachers.
Such a policy was proposed in the Hayward review, which examined the future of the Scottish qualification system and recommended reforms to pupil assessments.
