In the entire history of Tes Scotland - which launched as a distinct edition of what was then known as The Times Educational Supplement in 1965 - there have been no more eventful years for Scottish education than the past two. Here is our look back at 14 key dates in 2021, another year in which Covid tore up plans and put huge pressure on the country’s teachers - but raised hopes that the pandemic might have a silver lining of far-reaching education reform.

19 January: Lockdown extended, with schools staying closed

It was 19 December 2020 when Nicola Sturgeon announced that pupils would not be going back to school as planned after the Christmas break. The delay is, at first, to be just a week, but the first pupils to return to the classroom - P1-3s - ultimately do not do so until late February.

22 February: The return to school begins

Young primary pupils go back to school after almost seven weeks of remote learning - but older students have to wait until after the Easter holidays before they are back full time.

6 May: Scottish Parliament elections held

It is a historic fourth consecutive win for the SNP, but they remain one seat short of a majority. Key education pledges are to increase teacher and classroom assistants by 3,500 over the course of the Parliament; to invest £1 billion in closing the attainment gap, and to cut teachers’ class-contact time by 90 minutes per week.

10 May: Exam papers shared on social media

The “alternative certification model” that replaced the exams is already proving controversial as teachers squeeze all the assessment they need into the period after the Easter holidays, when students are back in school. But then - because students are being assessed at different times in different parts of Scotland - assessment papers (for what turn out to be exams in all but name) provided by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) begin to be appear online. Tes Scotland is first with the story after being alerted to the problem by teachers.

18 May: John Swinney replaced as education secretary

John Swinney is given the new role of cabinet secretary for Covid recovery and, a day later, Shirley-Anne Somerville is announced as the new education secretary. Somerville has to hit the ground running amid growing concerns that another qualifications fiasco is on the cards, and with the much-anticipated Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) review of Curriculum for Excellence due out soon.

21 June: OECD report published and government announces reform of key education bodies

The OECD praises Curriculum for Excellence’s “bold, aspirational, value-driven and future-oriented approach”, but highlights the “misalignment between CfE’s aspirations and the qualification system”. Qualifications - with the possible exception of Advanced Higher - are described as “a barrier to CfE’s implementation in secondary education”.

Later the same day, the Scottish government announces that the SQA will be replaced, while Education Scotland will face fundamental change - which could lead to the splitting of its twin inspection and curriculum development functions. An advisory group on reform will be led by Professor Ken Muir, former chief executive of the General Teaching Council for Scotland. A separate OECD report at the end of August, by Professor Gordon Stobart, signals the potential end of S4 exams.

10 August: Results day

A results day like no other - not least because students know their grades before the summer holidays get under way, as teachers were responsible for grading. The national picture is that pass rates have dropped across the board in comparison with 2020 but are still higher than in 2019, the last time external exams went ahead. There is also a record number of A grades.

18 August: Government announces external exams to go ahead in 2022 ‘if safe to do so’

As schools return following the summer break, the Scottish government says that, after having been cancelled for two years running, external exams will go ahead this coming year “if safe to do so”. But contingencies could include further modifications to courses and assessments, or teachers once again being given responsibility for grading. This time, though, the government says results will be based on normal in-school assessment.

16 September: Controversial announcement that inspections will resume (later rowed back on)

On 13 March 2020, Education Scotland took the decision to suspend its routine inspection programme as a result of the pandemic. Now, however, it says it plans to resume inspections. It will take a phased approach, with new inspections (as opposed to follow-ups) starting in January 2022.

However, just a few short months later - in December - the body says the visits will not go ahead as planned and instead, from mid-February, a selection of “recovery” visits will take place, which will not report on specific quality indicators or result in grades.

27 October: Government says it plans to reform qualifications - but exams will stay

Education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville says “the time is right” to reform qualifications and assessment - but that “externally assessed examination will remain part of the new system”. The government will consult on what any reform should look like and appoints University of Glasgow assessment expert Professor Louise Hayward to lead an advisory group.

17 November: Union tells MSPs that violent behaviour in school is rising

The Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee is examining the impact of lockdowns and Covid on children and hears from the EIS teaching union that children in early primary school are showing more violent behaviour. The union also says more children now have additional support needs. In December, new figures show that a third of pupils now have an identified additional need.

23 November: Changes to the Scottish Attainment Challenge announced The Scottish Attainment Challenge is to continue, but on 23 November it becomes clear that this money will be shared differently. Some councils stand to gain but others - the nine so-called “Challenge authorities” - will see their annual funding fall, in some cases by huge amounts.

14 December: Target set for class-contact reduction, and new figures on primary attainment during pandemic

National data shows that literacy and numeracy attainment are falling, and that the small gains made in closing the attainment gap have been lost. Shirley-Anne Somerville says the figures reflect “in stark terms” the significant impact of the pandemic. Later that day in the Scottish Parliament, she reveals a target date for decreasing teachers’ class-contact time by 90 minutes a week: August 2022.

17 December: Teacher pay offer rejected

A year-long saga hit yet another impasse last Friday, when teaching unions rejected an offer that the EIS said would represent - after a period of soaring inflation - “a painful real-terms pay cut”. It is just over three years since 30,000 teachers marched through Glasgow and, ultimately, secured a substantial pay rise. At the time of writing, unions will once again be thinking that action beyond the negotiating table may be necessary in 2022.

Emma Seith is a reporter at Tes Scotland