Exam system questioned as pass rates hit new high

Education Correspondent

Thursday 4 August 2011

TENS of thousands of pupils across Scotland will today celebrate record exam results, reigniting the debate over the value of school exams.

marked improvement: Scots school pupils achieved an overall pass rate of 75.2% in their Highers this year. Picture: Colin Mearns

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Andrew Denholm Education Correspondent

As candidates across the country receive their results through the post, Scotland’s exam body announced that Advanced Higher, Higher and Intermediate pass rates had all risen to their highest levels.

Figures from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) show the overall pass rate for Highers reached 75.2% after a 0.5 percentage point rise -- the highest figure since 2000, when the exam system was changed.

Advanced Higher pass rates rose 1.8 percentage points to 79.3% while Standard Grade pass rates remain at the same 98.5% record levels as last year.While many within education welcomed another good year for pupils and teachers, academics raised questions about the continuing worth of the exam system.Professor James Conroy, from Glasgow University’s school of education, said there was no evidence of dumbing down, but stressed the format of modern exams meant candidates with limited understanding of a topic could still pick up marks.He also said teachers were much more adept at getting pupils to pass exams -- sometimes to the detriment of other areas of study.“There is no evidence of dumbing down over the years, but what is different is the way in which the questions are structured,” he said.“Whereas once upon a time students had to navigate through a question themselves, exams now tend to break down a question into its constituent parts with marks applying to the sections rather than questions as a whole.“The real difference is that students used to be required to make sense of the whole question, but now it is possible to get quite a lot of marks by knowing different elements of the question without necessarily making sense of it in its totality.“I have some reservations about that because in real life people have to bring all kinds of information together in order to make sense of them as whole and I think that having students navigate through a question unguided is a good thing.“It is also quite clear to me that large numbers of students and teachers work immensely hard (and perhaps more so than a generation ago), and teachers are much more adept as preparing students for exams, although I also have reservations about that because it can impact on the breadth of what is taught.”Education Secretary Michael Russell said: “I would like to congratulate Scottish pupils for their outstanding achievements in this year’s exams. The increased attainment levels shows that all the hours of hard work and study students put in can really pay off.”He also highlighted the increased take-up of the new Scottish Baccalaureate qualifications in sciences and languages, which were introduced last year, but had a relatively low number of candidates.This year, the number of pupils choosing baccalaureates rose steadily from 134 to 178, while pass rates climbed nearly four percentage points to 80.5%.“The results show a significant increase on last year’s entries for both science and languages,” Mr Russell said. “Our higher achievers are recognising the value of the qualification and the skills it provides.”Dr Janet Brown, SQA’s chief executive and Scotland’s chief examining officer, also welcomed the results.“For most candidates, the results will provide tangible proof that their hard work and efforts have been worthwhile,” she said.“This year, we continue to witness modest, but important increases in the attainment levels of our young people.“For me, this reflects in no small measure the results of the changes teachers have been making to learning and teaching approaches.”Meanwhile, the Conservatives warned that much more needed to be done to support the “large number of pupils” who did not pursue SQA courses.Liz Smith, the party’s education spokeswoman, said: “The increasing number of presentations for SQA examinations should not hide the fact that there are still a large number of pupils who are being let down by the school system and by the fact that there is still a very wide gap between the best performing schools and the weakest performing schools.“We need to be very conscious of the strong message sent out by many employers that much more has to be done to provide a more meaningful education to those who want to pursue technical or vocational training in the work place, rather than be pushed towards college or university.”

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Exam system questioned as pass rates hit new high

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