Written exams will no longer be a feature of some practical subjects when the next school year starts in Scotland, it has emerged today.

While it had previously been indicated that this course of action was likely, the programme for government announced by first minister John Swinney today has now given a date.

In a short section on how the Scottish government will “boost standards” in schools, one aim is “improving and diversifying our approach to assessment, including removing written exams from some practical subjects in 2025-26”. No other details are given.

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In an interview on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland radio programme, on exam results day in August, education secretary Jenny Gilruth said she had asked the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to “move at pace” to reduce examinations “in a certain number of qualifications”.

In an interview with The Times published the Sunday after results day, she said the SQA was looking at the “more practical subjects” that “might not lend themselves…to a final examination”.

Controversy over exams for practical subjects

After unit assessments were removed from new national qualifications in 2016, written exams were brought in by the SQA for nine practical subjects where none previously existed.

The change meant that students taking subjects such as National 5 practical woodwork, metalwork and electronics now had to sit a written exam. The move was hugely controversial, with teachers saying students able to “make the most beautiful projects” would be “penalised for not being able to read an exam paper”.

When Tes Scotland interviewed Glasgow education director Douglas Hutchison in 2022, he said it was a “scandal” when exams were introduced for practical woodwork and metalwork.

Other aims in the same section of today’s 2024-25 programme for government broadly repeat policy statements that were already known about. They include:

• “Supporting education authorities and schools to reduce absence and improve attendance, and monitoring data regularly and taking further targeted action where needed.”
• “Implementing the new Relationships and Behaviour in Schools Joint Action Plan 2024-27, reporting annually on progress.”
• “Accelerating progress in closing the poverty-related attainment gap, through the Scottish Attainment Challenge, and by intensifying action to deal with the ongoing impacts of the pandemic on children’s progress.”
• “Implementing the ‘curriculum improvement cycle’, with work underway on maths and numeracy, led by the national mathematics specialist adviser.”

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