The SQA report said some history papers showed marked similarities

The call from the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA) followed an SQA report revealing concerns about Higher history exam papers.

It said papers from 20 schools showed similarities and pupils appeared to have been "trained rather than taught."

The SQA said the issue had been raised with history teachers during workshops.

The report on this year's exam by the SQA's principal assessor highlighted "serious concerns about the number of candidates who ignored the question set to provide an answer for the question they wanted to be asked".

There's a fine line that teachers have to tread David Eaglesham SSTA general secretary

It referred to a trend in some schools for "preparing" for an exam by learning one set answer.

The report said similarities in exam papers from particular schools suggested "a whole class approach" which resulted in a "template" for exam answers.

It stated: "As in 2004, some markers commented on the trend in some centres towards over-preparation in the sense that candidates in these centres appeared to be trained rather than taught.

"From one centre every candidate used exactly the same phrasing to introduce the answer to each question."

The report claimed the approach discouraged independent thinking and said it could prevent some candidates from reaching their full potential.

'Fine line'

The SSTA said the approach was "not in the spirit of the examination system" and called for further investigation.

David Eaglesham, the union's general secretary, said: "I think it's something that the SQA can look at in terms of the training teachers are given.

"There's always regular feedback from the examining teams so there is the opportunity for further teacher training to look at different ways of approaching exam preparation so no-one is disadvantaged."

However, he added that teachers faced difficulties in striking a balance during exam preparation.

"There's a fine line that teachers have to tread," he said.

"The trouble is that if you teach pupils to be too extensive in their thinking about approaching a paper, the danger is that they could go off on tangents which is almost worse.

'Original material'

"If the problem could be identified in a certain number of schools, there's ample opportunity for the SQA to flag up concerns that the preparation style may need to be adjusted."

The Scottish Association of History Teachers has described the approach as "borderline cheating", a comment dismissed by the SSTA.

"I think it would be a genuine attempt by schools to do the best by pupils," Mr Eaglesham said.

Mike Haggerty, SQA spokesman, said: "So-called learning by rote is a legitimate teaching method but it doesn't help candidates display their ability to build an argument or write original material.