Description

I noticed that load_training_data() in scoring_jobs.py returns {} (empty dict) when loading fails, but the function signature says it returns list[dict] and the happy path returns a list from json.load(). The docstring also said "empty dict". I changed the fallback to return [] and updated the docstring to say "empty list" so everything is consistent with the declared return type.
closes #965

Type of change

• [x ] Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue).

Checklist

Formalities

• I have read and understood the rules about how to Contribute to this project.
• I chose an appropriate title for the pull request in the form: <feature name>. Closes #999
• My branch is based on develop.
• The pull request is for the branch develop.
• I have reviewed and verified any LLM-generated code included in this PR.

Docs and tests

• I documented my code changes with docstrings and/or comments.
• I have checked if my changes affect user-facing behavior that is described in the docs. If so, I also created a pull request in the docs repository.
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• I have added tests for the feature/bug I solved.
• All the tests gave 0 errors.