The Hayward independent review of assessment and qualifications set up by the Scottish government has recommended an end to S4 exams for students who will continue with a subject beyond that year.

In an interim report out today, it also proposes a “Scottish Diploma of Achievement” to better represent students’ full range of achievements while at school. People now have five weeks, until Friday 7 April, to share their views (details here).

Scotland has been criticised in the past for having some of the most over-examined upper secondary students in the world, and now the review - set up amid growing disquiet about how well the current system serves students - has called for an end to senior secondary students sitting high-stake exams three years running, at the end of S4, S5 and S6.

A briefing paper on today’s interim report (which can be viewed here, with the full report here) notes that many students have three consecutive years of exams, and states baldly: “This is too much.” It adds that “no student should take examinations in the same subject on three occasions”.

External exams will remain part of any new system, but the paper calls for “a better balance between internal evidence and external examination” in national qualifications, and advises that students should “only be presented for external examinations when they exit a subject”. There might also be, the main report indicates, “a degree of choice in the form of assessment for a qualification”.

The briefing paper says: “For example, if a learner at the beginning of S4 states an intention to study for a Higher in that subject, they would gather evidence of achievements when in S4 and in S5 but would take an external examination only in S5.”

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The paper sees this approach as a significant move away from experiences “dominated by an extended period of examination rehearsal” and a focus on “examination technique where [students] are encouraged to learn in formulaic ways”, which, in some (mainly practical) subjects, “is perceived not to relate to the essential elements of the subject”.

Subject and curricular courses in the senior phase of secondary school would typically last for two years. There would be a system whereby credits are “accumulated throughout...providing learners with evidence of achievement should they not complete the course”. Most students would accumulate credits throughout the two-year programme and take an external exam at the end of the second year.

Hayward review: The Scottish Diploma of Achievement

The Scottish Diploma of Achievement is “primarily intended to allow evidence of learner achievements to be gathered in a broader range of areas than is currently the case”.

The assumption is that every student would work towards the diploma and have to show achievement in each of three key elements for the diploma to be awarded:

1. Study in subjects, programmes or curricular areas

For most school students this would entail “progress in individual subjects”, for some it would “reflect progress in curricular areas”.

2. Learning in context

“An interdisciplinary project-based approach where evidence is gathered on achievements between subjects and across knowledge, skills and competences in action” and that “recognises the importance of equipping learners with skills for the future”. This could allow an in-depth exploration of “a global challenge such as climate change, social justice or migration”.

3. A personal pathway

Students would “select aspects of their experiences that reflect their interests, the contributions they make to society and their career aspirations”, including volunteering, music, art, drama, Gaelic culture, sport, part-time employment and Foundation Apprenticeships. The report states: “Flexibility in allowing access to learning beyond the confines of traditional subjects will...provide greater opportunities for those learners who do not at present work towards the acquisition of national qualifications.” 

The report briefing paper notes that qualifications, at present, “mainly record achievements in individual subjects”, which “is not regarded as well aligned with the Curriculum for Excellence emphasis on the development of skills for learning, life and work”.

While skills are recognised on Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) certificates, “this information is not widely recognised by learners, employers or providers of post-school education”. And, while students have previously created a personal statement when applying to further or higher education, showing what they have done beyond passing exams, the review highlights that this is now being removed from the university admissions process.

The independent review of assessment and qualifications was announced by education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville in October 2021 and is being led by University of Glasgow assessment expert Professor Louise Hayward. The final report is expected to be with the government by the end of May.

Today’s interim report states: “We believe that change is essential to avoid learners in Scotland being left behind as other countries adopt new and creative approaches to assessment that are more reflective of the world in which we live. Our proposals will be designed to build on the original aims of [Curriculum for Excellence] and will propose a model of change allowing learners greater freedom to demonstrate a full range of achievements whilst paying attention to teacher workload.”

It adds: “We are acutely aware of the stress on young people of high-stakes examinations in schools and the fact that the ‘two-term dash’ to most examinations remains an unacceptable reality.”

Professor Hayward said: “We want the recommendations that come from our work to improve outcomes for all learners.

“By taking a broader and more inclusive approach, I believe our proposed model will help create a fairer, more prosperous future society in Scotland.”

On the proposed Scottish Diploma of Achievement, Professor Hayward said: “The design of the diploma, which will be refined after further consultation, represents an opportunity to ensure all learners’ achievements are recognised.

“We need a qualification system that will support all learners as they transition into whatever they choose to do in the next stage of their lives, in college, employment, university or the voluntary sector. 

“This approach would lead to a better balance between external assessment, including examinations, and other ways of gathering evidence across the senior phase.”

She added: “A better and more clearly defined integration of academic and vocational qualifications will be at the heart of the proposed diploma.

“There would be a broadening of the evidence collected during the senior phase to include skills and other competencies.”

Professor Hayward will now seek views on the ideas laid out in the interim report. Details on how to get involved can be found here.

Oban High executive headteacher Peter Bain, a member of the Independent Review Group that helped shape today’s interim report, said: “Scotland has a rich history of providing an outstanding breadth of curriculum, one that is generally recognised through the acquisition of many individual subject awards.

“However, Curriculum for Excellence has allowed us to reshape our understanding of what our learners really need, and what they can achieve in their journey through learning, life and work.

“A Scottish Diploma of Achievement would more fully encapsulate all of which we value: academic and vocational attainment; interdisciplinary learning; and in acknowledging the wealth of wider achievements across our educational settings and wider communities.”

The Hayward review came about after national exams were cancelled during the Covid pandemic and teachers and schools were given more responsibility for grading students, sparking questions about whether Scotland’s high-stakes exam system was disadvantaging students

It also came in the wake of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) review of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in June 2021, which highlighted the “misalignment between CfE’s aspirations and the qualification system” in the senior phase of secondary.

A report published shortly after in August 2021 - written by Professor Gordon Stobart on behalf of the OECD - looked specifically at the qualifications. It suggested scrapping exams in S4 and moving to a “school graduation certificate or diploma” for leavers.

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Over a year and a half has passed since Tes Scotland carried this headline: “OECD report: could it spell the end for S4 exams?”

The headline came in the wake of the report by Professor Gordon Stobart, which compared the way senior secondary students are assessed in Scotland with nine other education systems, including England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, but also further-flung countries such as New Zealand and Australia.

Professor Stobart said that “Britain is the last country in Europe in which pupils take national examinations at 16” and that the “yearly demands of the examination system attract criticism from both students and educationalists”.

He concluded that the Scottish system could be simplified by “substituting other forms of certification at S4 that capture more of the students’ capabilities than the current national qualifications”, adding that one example of such an alternative would be “to remove National 5 examinations at 16 (S4) and to move to a school graduation certificate or diploma”.

However, he acknowledged this could be “a non-runner”, given that Scotland is so “historically steeped in examinations” and that “many teachers, employers and parents in Scotland appear to be wedded to examinations”

And this is what Professor Louise Hayward and the independent review group making a similar recommendation today must grapple with next, because while Professor Stobart suggested that “the system failures during the Covid-19 pandemic could provide a new impetus for change”, it is not clear that Scotland is ready to make a decisive break from its exams-based traditions.

Last year a survey of over 900 people - which involved students, teachers, parents and employers - showed “an overwhelming sense” that the assessment system in Scotland needed to be reformed.

However, the researchers also found no “straightforward call” for more or fewer exams, or greater teacher assessment.

For teachers a key concern, if they are to take on more responsibility for assessing their pupils - as they did during the pandemic - will be the workload implications. Could less onus on exams mean more pressure on teachers to run tests, for example, and more reliance on creaking ICT systems in schools? When it comes to the Scottish Diploma of Achievement, the idea is that evidence associated with the three elements - subject studies, learning in context and the personal pathway - “would be gathered in a digital profile which the learner would have ownership of”. However, the review group recognises that “there are technical challenges to be overcome before this could happen in practice”.

The qualifications review lead, Professor Hayward, has always said the next stage of the review - following the publication of the interim report - will be about sense-checking the recommendations. She says they must be both principled and practical.

In an interview with Tes Scotland earlier this year, she acknowledged that it is not possible to simply keep adding new things to what schools and teachers already do, and that the process of change must also be about asking: “What is it we are going to stop doing?” Today’s interim report also acknowledges this: “We know that adding more to the workload of teachers and others is not sustainable and feel that decisions must be taken to identify what teachers stop doing to allow space for new practices to evolve.”

Another option, of course, would be for the government to create more space for teachers to take a bigger role in assessing students by delivering on its promise to reduce class-contact time by 90 minutes a week.

It is also important to acknowledge - while today’s report chimes with what education directors and headteachers have been calling for - we have been here before.

When Scotland’s new curriculum was being devised, one of the ambitions was the new regime would allow pupils to take the so-called “gold standard” qualification - the Higher - over two years, allowing students to study subjects in more depth and bypass qualifications they did not need.

To a large extent, this did not happen.

So today’s interim report marks the beginning of yet another attempt to put less emphasis on accumulating knowledge and a more sophisticated focus on the processes of acquiring and applying it, a basic principle that has long been relatively uncontroversial in Scottish education.

But by now we know the hard bit isn’t figuring out where we want to go - it’s ensuring we actually get there.

The interim report states: “No longer doing what we have always done is never easy in any context. For example, very few people believe that the current approach of the two-term dash to Higher is good practice. Yet, moving away from that will require more than system change. Crucially, it will require a change in mindset.”

Reassuringly, then, the review group appears to acknowledge the need to inject a sense of urgency into what are widely shared aspirations for change.