There is no doubt that Scottish education is at a major crossroads. With the Muir, Hayward and Withers reports, the National Discussion on education and more, we are facing a plethora of decisions. Like learners entering the Senior Phase, we need to consider which path is going to lead to a better future.
At every crossroads there is usually a more well-trodden way, one we all find comfortable and reassuring. It would be easy and tempting to follow that, but we need to choose wisely and boldly because the future is changing rapidly: technology, climate, a transformed labour market, to name but a few. These have huge implications for our education system and its core function to prepare young people for the transition into society and the labour market with the knowledge, skills and attributes they need.
The 2021 report on Scottish education by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) gives us a direction of travel. It praised Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) but said that the Senior Phase did not reflect the strengths of the Broad General Education (BGE) and the vision of CfE. It argued that the Senior Phase, with its focus on high-stakes exams, was out of kilter with what comes before and after.
In other words, BGE pedagogy has been slowly but surely twisted to fit the narrow confines of certification, thus promoting rote learning and memorisation. To guard against this, our new proposed qualifications agency ought to reflect the operational side of assessment as its core remit, and not the strategic side.
Influential European and international voices also support a similar direction of travel. Our reputation as an education system is already high internationally thanks to CfE - one need not look further than the influence CfE has had in shaping the new Welsh curriculum and other systems internationally. There is positivity, too, from the International Council of Education Advisers to the Scottish government.
Ultimately, we must come back to asking this: what is the purpose of education? Without doubt, it is to help learn about the world, build relationships, raise learners’ thinking and intellectual curiosity, promote culture and enrich lives - but education must also have a utilitarian and economic purpose. We all need an income to enjoy our lives and enrich them.
Developing the Young Workforce has been an imaginative and hugely significant initiative by the Scottish government. In many schools, it has been the catalyst that brought CfE and the Senior Phase to life beyond traditional academic disciplines - offering something more relevant for many learners, providing greater personalisation and choice, and aligning with their career aspirations.
My mission as a headteacher - and indeed as a depute - in schools at totally different ends of the deprivation spectrum, was to meet individual needs and ensure personalisation and choice in their curriculum - in a way, trying to change the system to suit the young people.
In doing so, however, many schools face systemic barriers, such as a narrow focus on perceived “academic” achievement. Hayward and Withers offer solutions to this - all schools have much to gain from both reviews.
Engaging young people with a relevant, interesting and enjoyable learning pathway will lead to better outcomes, fulfilment, purpose and positive destinations. Concerns have been raised by some in the media, often with little or no experience in today’s schools, that we will not achieve the standards of the past. I would argue that the metrics we currently use are wrong.
There is too much emphasis on five-plus Highers or Level 6 results by the end of S5. This mitigates against those who may achieve five Highers or equivalents, but take longer. However, around 45 per cent of pupils starting off in S4 do not gain at least one Higher, and around 36 per cent of pupils do not gain any Highers or Level 6 qualification.
What of this “forgotten third”? These young people need to feel valued. We need to find measures that value what they have achieved - against the odds, in many cases - and what their ultimate positive destination is, to cite an existing metric that really is valuable.
We should promote parity of vocational and academic qualifications; it is essential to have equivalency with Highers and qualifications at that level - otherwise, there appears to be little point in the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework. What is required for a Level 6 qualification in physics should reflect the expectations of learning at that level, just as it would in, for example, photography or hairdressing.
Our international standing might be based on the nomenclature of “Highers” - which dates back to 1888 - and Highers have still quite recently been described by the government as the “gold standard” of Scottish education. But we are in a different world now, and our view of qualifications should reflect that.
The Hayward report on Scottish assessment and qualifications is critical. The current system is too assessment and exam-heavy, and also failed the stress test of Covid. The ACM - “alternative certification model” - used during Covid proved that teachers know their pupils well, and that with appropriate training and support - and time protected for moderation - they can be trusted, as teachers are in many other systems across the world, to assess pupils accurately and fairly.
The skills needed in the 21st century are not those of 10 years ago, never mind 1888. As a country, we need young people to be able to work effectively in teams, communicate in many ways, problem solve, think and act independently, be creative and be digitally aware, as well as having the traditional soft skills of being polite, punctual and hardworking. There is no doubt we still need traditional disciplinary subjects, but our young people also need interdisciplinary knowledge and skills.
The project-learning proposal from the Hayward report can help achieve this. It builds on successful work already undertaken in many schools across Scotland. Too often headteachers have had to innovate and take risks in spite of the system. We now have a clear opportunity to align the system in a coherent manner, to support innovation and change.
No other country in the world examines its young people for three years in succession like we do. The OECD, Hayward and Stobart reports clearly outline the consequences of this over-assessment. We are even now seeing in England an argument for getting rid of GCSEs - the equivalent of National 5 - from Lord Baker, the politician who introduced them. As a teacher of German and French, I am aware that vocational qualifications in Germany and France have more standing internationally than our system does in this area. We have a rare chance now to adopt the Hayward recommendations and change that.
High-stakes exams do not only put pressure on young people, but they also do not reflect assessment approaches increasingly found in further or higher education, such as open-book tests, group work and project work. Indeed, it can be argued that current approaches do not equip our pupils with the skills to succeed in university - this has been raised with me on several occasions.
We need to trust the teachers to assess their learners’ work more - but in order to do so consistently, a national moderation system is required. We should use the proposed extra 90 minutes non-class contact time for the purposes envisioned in the OECD report - not just for preparation and correction, but for moderation and other collegiate tasks to support assessment and reduce workload and bureaucracy.
Scottish education has been tinkered with and amended frequently over the past 50 years. Bits have been welded or bolted on to other bits - which have themselves then been changed - to the extent that the system no longer fits together coherently. The various reports being considered give us a solid opportunity to build a system for the future, to supplement the strengths of our system while addressing its clear weaknesses.
Our future cannot be built upon mere memorisation to pass exams - exams that cannot capture the full range of skills, achievements and attributes required for transition into further education, higher education or the labour market.
Hayward is a solid framework on which to build. However, watering it down or cherrypicking one or two recommendations would be a missed opportunity. Everyone involved in Scottish education needs focus, boldness and courage - particularly those at the very top.
Graham Hutton is general secretary of School Leaders Scotland. He writes in a personal capacity, but “reflects the positive view of the SLS Council discussions towards the adoption of the proposals in the Hayward review”
