SCHOOLS are undermining some pupils by putting too much of a focus on celebrating the academic achievements of their peers, according to a leading union official.
Susan Quinn, education convener of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), said the problem had led to pupils shunning new National 4 qualifications because they didn't have an exam and were therefore not seen as worth recognising by some schools.
This summer there was a six per cent decline in pupils sitting National 4 subjects with entries dropping from 130,876 to 122,961.
When National 4s were introduced in 2014 as part of the scrapping of Standard Grade it was argued that they would be seen as the equal of other qualifications, but more recently there have been warnings some pupils view themselves as "second class citizens" because there is no exam.
However, Ms Quinn said what was more important than reintroducing an exam was a "cultural shift" to inform schools, employers and parents about the value of National 4.
She said: "It was reported to us that young people studying National 4 felt demoralised because they didn't have an exam, but when you dig a little deeper you realise they felt demoralised because so much focus was being put at school assemblies on groups of pupils having exams.
"Schools were putting too much focus on those groups of young people who were going to have study leave to have their exams and the groups doing National 4 felt different as a result of that."
Ms Quinn called for a new approach where the "be all and end all" of qualifications was not see as National 5s and Highers.
She added: "We have too big a focus... to judge a school on the number of Highers and the numbers going to university and we need a system where we are valuing every learning opportunity. Schools need to reflect on how they promote and encourage all students."
Her views were backed by parent groups who also called for a wider range of pupil achievements to be celebrated.
Eileen Prior, executive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council said: "Secondary schools will often focus on the path to qualifications, because very often that is the crude measure by which they are evaluated.
"We know in some schools, in the first year of Nationals, no thought was given to pupils who would not be taking exams and going on study leave, and staff were scrambling around trying to put together a timetable for them which angered and upset many parents.
"The theme follows through to the celebration of success where parents again feel their young people’s achievements don’t seem to matter if they are not on the academic scale."
Joanna Murphy, chair of the National Parent of Forum of Scotland added: "If schools do see academic qualifications as a better option it's not entirely their fault.
"The culture they exist in pushes a lot of it and, in practice, this means a focus on academic points because they are a key measure of attainment nationally.
"It is also important to stress that attainment is important. If we swapped the focus around to a situation where attainment wasn't celebrated would that lead to a worse situation overall? Effort across the board should be celebrated, not just academic results."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel