The Hayward Report, properly entitled It’s Our Future - Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment, made 26 recommendations. Some were clear and simple, for example, changing the Scottish qualifications and assessment system in the senior phase while aligning change to the vision and principles outlined in the report.
Other recommendations, particularly around adopting the Scottish Diploma of Achievement (SDA) as a new approach to qualifications and assessment, are more complex and require following the recommendation that change is carefully planned and resourced.
This need for planned change is a key concern by many across education, including education secretary Jenny Gilruth, who raised the issue with the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee in January.
Given the current budgetary concerns among both government and local authorities, a scarcity of resources overshadows every recommendation and largely explains Gilruth’s delay in moving forward with any aspect of educational reform.
In order to provide guidance to the education secretary, School Leaders Scotland members were asked to prioritise the multitude of recommendations. They believe that 13 of the 26 recommendations need to be progressed without delay.
There is a strong view that the longer we wait for change, the more our children continue to be disadvantaged by a qualifications and assessment system that is not fit for purpose.
Consistent is the view that we need to reduce the number of traditional exams and seek parity of esteem between subjects traditionally viewed as academic and vocational.
The desire to create a qualifications system that better prepares our children for life and work after school is encapsulated in the recommendations around the SDA.
These would introduce the SDA in phases, to ensure that schools understand the vision, principles and practical implications of each of the three elements (“personal pathway”, “project learning” and “programmes of learning”).
Timetabling headaches
Many school leaders see the programmes of learning and the personal pathway to be elements of learning already embedded in school timetables. However, it seems the education secretary has shared the concerns of some heads over how to make the project learning part of the SDA work in practice, noting herself “How would I timetable that?”
The key principle of project learning is that learners should have opportunities to demonstrate how they can use knowledge from across subjects - both technical and professional - to tackle challenges.
These kinds of experiences are closer to those learners will have beyond school or college, for example being able to work as part of a team, to investigate, to solve problems and to look for creative solutions. All are clearly beneficial to any curriculum designed to support life after school.
This is not a new idea. What is new, however, is emphasising more emphatically this form of holistic learning into the senior phase, unsettling those used to a timetable almost wholly targeted at those trying to attain six to eight Nationals followed by five Highers. And if trying to attain five Highers in one sitting remains the principal concern of schools and school timetables, how unsurprising is Ms Gilruth’s question about timetabling?
Any timetabler will tell a headteacher: “I can timetable anything you wish, I just can’t timetable everything you wish.” So first and foremost we need to prioritise our wishlist and change the question.
In the context of the senior phase, Professor Mark Priestley argues that when planning for learning, the first question should not be “What subjects should we teach?” but rather “What is important, what matters?”
Wales sets pace with projects
If project learning (or interdisciplinary learning) really is of more value to our children - in supporting their development for life after school and answering the call of employers that they want more “work ready” school leavers - then we need to rebalance the time allocated to discrete subjects and add in time for the projects.
This may be a debatable concept for many traditionalists in Scotland, but the debate is settled in Wales, which has just introduced a “Personal Project qualification” ensuring that 60 hours a year will be set aside for each young person to achieve at multiple levels this valuable qualification.
How then should we proceed? Before setting the timetablers to task, we must first work with headteachers, subject teachers, Education Scotland and the SQA (or whatever it is to be renamed) to, similar to Wales, agree course content and assessment models, harmonising what is taught within the discrete subjects and across the project elements.
This needs carefully mapped out first to avoid unnecessary overlap, but equally to ensure consistency of language, content and understanding.
Essential learning for all staff
Underpinning such a huge change in delivery will also require a parallel development programme across all schools’ CLPL (career-long professional learning) programmes and within each initial teacher education centre to ensure that all staff are fully aware of the curricular and pedagogical changes necessary to successfully deliver the project learning.
And of course, all this initial understanding, mapping, implementation, planning, policy-paper preparation and assessment models will require many implementation groups across multiple schools and agencies over months and years. Who will pay for it?
As always what matters most - our children’s education and increased life chances - should be paramount, but in reality, if there’s no money, nothing will change. It’s even more important now, then, that we all support the call for change.
Peter Bain is executive headteacher of Oban and Tiree schools (covering both the secondary and primary sector) and president of School Leaders Scotland
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