SCOTS pupils face being “left behind” by youngsters in other nations if SNP ministers duck radical reform of school exams, an education expert warned.
Professor Louise Hayward, who led a review into school qualifications, warned of the risk if other countries bring about changes more quickly.
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It comes after Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth last week rejected Prof Hayward’s recommendation to ditch exams at National 5 level and increase the amount of coursework.
Ms Gilruth instead said that exams would continue to play a part in most courses, but that there should be more emphasis should be placed on coursework and assessment in classrooms.
THE SCOTTISH SUN SAYS
BROKEN CLASS
HERE is a starter for ten for Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth.
What is the point in commissioning experts to recommend something if you then go and ignore them?
Because that is exactly what she’s done with the report by a panel led by Professor Louise Hayward into school exam system reform.
It is clear Ms Gilruth is worried about what’s known as the education “blob” in Scotland — quangos, unions, councils — resisting a proper shake-up.
So, she’s gone for a halfway house. The problem is, this is unlikely to please anyone — not Prof Hayward, not the blob, and not pupils.
Inevitably, this means ministers will keep on ordering more reviews and reports, even if they end up as little more than talking shops.
All the while, children must continue to endure a system that is failing far too many.
But, Prof Hayward said: “The world around is changing very fast and so somehow we have to get that balance right between moving at an appropriate rate but not being in a position where the young people of Scotland are left behind where other countries are perhaps moving more quickly in this kind of direction of travel.”
SNP ministers tasked Prof Hayward with leading a review into qualifications and assessment in Scotland in October 2021 after being urged to reform the system in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
The review, which was published in June last year, concluded that pupils should not sit exams before fifth year, with a wider range of assessment measures for Highers and Advanced Highers courses.
However, Ms Gilruth shunned the advice, which also suggested the introduction of a Scottish diploma of achievement.
She said there needed to be “less reliance on high stakes final exams”, but added that steps to rebalance assessment “does not mean that exams will be removed”.
Her decision sparked criticism from opposition parties at Holyrood who said the Scottish Government is taking a “piecemeal” approach towards educational reform.
Standards in Scottish schools were found to have declined between 2018 and 2022, according to a major international study published in December last year.
The Programme for International Student Assessment indicated that in that time, the reading performance of 15-year-olds here fell from an average of 504 points out of 1,000 to 493.
Meanwhile, performance in mathematics fell from 489 points to 471, and performance in science dropped from 490 to 483.
Scottish Tory shadow education secretary Liam Kerr hit out: “Scottish pupils have been let down for years by the SNP government’s failures, which have led to standards declining, the attainment gap widening and teacher numbers falling.
“You don’t need to back every aspect of Prof Hayward’s recommendations to know that urgent reform is long overdue.
“Yet, the Education Secretary has ignored not just that review, but a slew of other expert studies calling for reform, yet she has offered no long-term vision as an alternative. That is a dire betrayal of Scottish students and teachers.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Any change needs to be focussed and deliverable given the resources available to national and local government and to schools themselves.
“The response set out in Parliament by the Education Secretary last week on qualifications reform seeks to achieve a balance between ambition and pragmatic action.”
