THE Scottish Government is being called on to address exam "chaos" in schools amid reports of plans to drop National 5 exams for S4 and S5 pupils.
Under a proposal put together by the Scottish curriculum and assessment board - which advises ministers - the "preferred option" would be to replace the exams with a process of continuous assessment, The Sunday Times reported.
The board was also said to have warned courses could be streamlined, with restrictions in the choice of subjects available and that some pupils may sit subjects over two years, rather than one.
It comes at a time when concerns are already high over the impact of the pandemic lockdown on education and the looming threat of future school closures if the virus spikes again.
It was reported that the proposals were put forward on June 26, three days after education secretary, John Swinney, announced a U-turn from proceeding with blended learning to allowing schools to open full-time from August, with exams taking place next year.
Scottish Labour education spokesperson Iain Gray said: "The current chaos in Scotland's schools due to the Scottish Government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis risks exacerbating the already serious attainment gap, and we can't afford more chaos and confusion around National 5 exams.
"Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are disproportionately more likely to leave after sitting their National 5s. The decisions taken by ministers now could seriously affect not just the credibility of National 5 qualifications, but also the employment prospects of those sitting them.
"Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney need to sort this out and give pupils, parents and teachers the clarity they need. Pupils who leave school after taking National 5s must not be made to pay the price of the SNP government's education crisis."
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Planning for the 2021 examination diet is underway and our expectation is that it will take place. Consideration will be given to slightly delaying the exam diet to provide more learning and teaching opportunities for senior phase candidates, in addition to any other flexibilities and contingencies which may need to be in place to accommodate prevailing public health advice.
“Discussions about exams will continue to take place as part of the work of the Education Recovery Group...Decisions will be based on the best assessment of current public health advice and what impact this may have on the operation of schools next year. These circumstances have changed since the paper referred to was written, and the Education Recovery Group will take this into consideration.”
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