Pupils and staff across Scotland have hopefully been enjoying some well-earned relaxation over the past several weeks.
However, as soon as we crept into August, the thoughts of many were turning to the impending Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) exam results day, and what this will hold for individuals and schools.
I freely admit I did not miss this last year. As a result of the “alternative certification model” (ACM), the outcome of learners’ efforts was known to us, in general terms, before schools broke up for summer. Schools shared results directly with their young people and were able to offer support and advice before the session had ended. The ACM had pros and cons but it seemed a more humane way of sharing assessment outcomes - not as high stakes as we’re accustomed to and with fewer surprises.
Who knows what future models will look like and what will be learned from the situation we were forced into during the pandemic? For now, it is back to certificates through letterboxes, or the digital equivalent, and spreadsheets of data landing in headteachers’ inboxes to be pored over in painstaking detail.
Many colleagues will share my sense of hope and trepidation. As much as we might wish it wasn’t the case, a positive set of results for a school, or otherwise, can set the tone for the start of the next academic year.
At this stage, nothing be done to influence the 2022 results, notwithstanding some appeals. However, schools and local authorities will rightly analyse the data to look for what learning can be taken forward to lead to further improvement.
Senior-phase attainment is an important piece of the jigsaw for the success of a secondary school, but it is just a piece, and we do not yet give parity of esteem to other, arguably more crucial, elements, such as how inclusive a school is or how rich the learning experience is for our young people.
I always remind my staff and young people that the data is just the data. Behind it are individuals with their own stories, their own successes and struggles. This is what matters most - that individual learning journey, which encompasses far more than one month of examinations.
So, what are the prevailing hopes and fears at this time? Most feedback I have received from colleagues across Scotland has been generally positive about the SQA exams. In the main, they seemed fair, balanced and gave young people a fair crack of the whip.
There is, though, anxiety about the performance of S5 and S6 candidates who sat formal examinations for the first time, many of whom experienced periods of disruption as a result of pupil and staff absence last session. There is also always uncertainty about what SQA does to “uphold the integrity” of results over time - and I won’t say too much about maths exams for fear of getting lost down a rabbit hole.
On the positive side, I feel there is a more sophisticated understanding about what success looks like for an individual, cohort or school. Although not reflected in the annual school “league table” nonsense, young people, parents and parts of wider society are gaining a better appreciation of the increasingly diverse way young people can demonstrate their knowledge, skills and abilities.
Consider, for example, Lauren, one of my S5 pupils. She will not gain 5 A passes at Higher, although she absolutely had the potential to do so. She will hopefully pass four Highers and gain her SCQF Level 6 award in sports leadership, one of the equivalents to Highers in our system. As Lauren said to me last August, why would she sit Higher history just to get another A when she is clear that she wants to specialise in sports coaching or possibly teaching? She taught me a lesson that day - thanks, Lauren.
As with any year, there will be a spread of joy and disappointment, and schools will do their best to remind young people that this is a moment in time and support is available to them in their next steps, whatever that looks like. We cannot change what has gone before but we can influence what happens next.
I agree with the intention of the #NoWrongPath slogan. However, having attended school in Paisley in the Eighties and Nineties, I knew some children who took a very, very wrong path. The key message is that learning is lifelong - and learning is more than qualifications.
There is strong buy-in in Scotland to the notion that our curriculum is the totality of a learners’ experience, as some put it, and maybe one day soon, the way we judge success at school - and of schools - will align more closely with this, rather than the narrow lens applied to SQA results day in August.
In the meantime, very best wishes to all learners receiving results - and for your next steps on the journey.
Billy Burke is headteacher at Renfrew High School and a former president of School Leaders Scotland
