Funding is the biggest immediate priority for reform of Scottish assessment and qualifications to work, a huge consultation process has found.
The two other biggest short-term priorities are greater clarity on what education reform will look like and “parity of esteem between academic and vocational qualifications” - but opinion is split on whether reducing the number of exams in the senior phase would help to realise the latter aim.
The results of an online survey, in response to the publication last June of Professor Louise Hayward’s report It’s Our Future - Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment, have now been released. The survey attracted responses from more than 11,000 people: 2,152 from individuals and 835 from groups representing the views of around 9,300 people.
Education secretary Jenny Gilruth is due to make a statement about the Hayward review in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon.
This week’s review of the consultation responses highlights the three most common areas identified as short-term priorities:
- Securing enough funding to increase teaching and support staff; addressing teacher workload; helping pupils with additional support needs (ASN); and improving curricular and technological resources.
- Qualifications and assessment: respondents want parity of esteem between “academic and vocational qualifications”, but opinion was divided between keeping the status quo of exams in the senior phase of secondary school and those who wanted to reduce the number of exams.
- Clearer guidance on what education reform will look like and how it will be implemented is needed, as the Hayward recommendations were considered “too vague”. Respondents wanted more information on: the timetable for implementation; “key actions for teachers and schools”; the content of the proposed Scottish Diploma of Achievement (SDA); curriculum design; and internal assessment methods.
Teacher CPD critically important
In the medium term, respondents saw “more learning and development opportunities” for teachers and support staff as crucial, specifically around digital skills, ASN and pupil mental health and wellbeing. They also wanted more support for teachers to “understand, implement and deliver the proposed changes”. The report found that the need for “workforce and professional learning” was viewed as the most important of the 26 recommendations in the Hayward report.
Improving digital skills - of both teachers and pupils - and infrastructure was also frequently cited as a medium-term priority, as was the curriculum. Respondents fed back that “the curriculum should be simplified and delivered more consistently across the country”, and they saw the SDA as “an opportunity to develop a new curriculum which should be reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure it meets the needs of pupils”.
Earlier this month Tes Scotland revealed that a draft model for a curriculum review cycle had been put forward, which could result in the curriculum being reviewed every 10 years.
Concerns over removing exams
The consultation analysis - published yesterday - found widely held concerns about the idea of removing National 5 exams.
The analysis explains: “Respondents are concerned that pupils will struggle with the transition to Highers if examinations are removed at SCQF Level 5 [National 5 or equivalent].
“They also had questions about how internal assessments can be marked fairly and consistently across the country and whether internally assessed qualifications will be seen as credible by employers and further and higher education institutions. Respondents also noted the workload implications for teachers if they are to be responsible for internal assessment.”
Attainment gap ‘could widen’
There were also significant concerns about:
- A lack of information on proposals for more project learning, and the “practical logistics of delivering it”. Opponents feared that not all students would take equal responsibility for the project and that pupils from “lower socio-economic backgrounds who have fewer resources and less support” would be at a disadvantage.
- The “personal pathway”, which might “widen the poverty-related attainment gap, given that pupils from wealthier backgrounds have greater access to extracurricular activities”. Some said that pupils living in rural areas, looked-after children, young carers and disabled pupils would also be disadvantaged. “Some respondents also argued that pupils should be free to pursue interests and hobbies without the expectation that it will become a measure of attainment,” the analysis notes.
- The practical challenges of implementing the SDA and the impact on teacher workload, resources and funding, as well as its “academic rigour and perceived value in comparison to other qualifications”.
- Digital profiles and assessment, given the “unequal access” to devices, the internet and IT infrastructure across some schools, which could potentially widen socio-economic inequalities.
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