The number of students being entered for both National 4 and National 5 qualifications - a practice known as dual presentation - is set to rise again this year - sparking an intervention from Scotland’s education secretary, Jenny Gilruth.
Dual presentation involves students being entered for two qualifications in the same subject so that if they fail N5, they have N4 as a backup or a safety net.
However, Ms Gilruth says a “significant” number of candidates who are dual presented are “performing poorly” at N5.
Ms Gilruth has written to education directors calling for the practice to end, barring “a very limited number of exceptional circumstances”.
In the letter - also signed by the chief executive of the Scottish Qualifications Authority, Fiona Robertson, and chief inspector of education, Janie McManus - Ms Gilruth says dual presentation is leading to “unnecessary additional workload as well as a discouraging learning and assessment experience” for students.
She adds that it is also “negatively impacting upon their confidence in that subject”.
Ms Gilruth says: “The learning and pathways within Curriculum for Excellence are designed to be centred around the individual young person. There should, therefore, be no occasions where large numbers of candidates in a centre are being presented for both N4 and N5 in S4.”
The general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association also says that dual presentation is bad for students and teachers.
Seamus Searson says it happens because schools want to maximise the attainment data they are judged on - not because it is in the best interest of students.
Mr Searson says: “It’s all about statistics and the pressure on schools to get the young people achieving higher levels of qualifications and the child gets lost in the middle.
“What happens is whole swathes of children are entered for both qualifications in the hope they will get a National 5 but most of them are probably not capable of it. Still, though, in many subjects, they are having to do two courses.
“It is stressful for them and it is stressful for staff at a time when there is already enough pressure on pupils and teachers.”
Dual presentation trend increasing
In her letter - dated 23 January - Ms Gilruth says there has been “a significant increase in the number of candidates who are dual presented for National 4 and National 5 in the same subject”.
She adds that “preliminary SQA entry data for 2024 shows this trend increasing further”.
However, she says that: “Significant numbers of candidates who are dual presented are performing poorly at National 5, which is not a positive experience for the young people concerned.”
According to Ms Gilruth, last year, 14 per cent of candidates were entered for both N4 and N5 maths but 40 per cent of those learners received no award at N5, and a further 27 per cent received a grade D.
SQA data shows that there were 30,530 dual entries at N4 and N5 last year, meaning that, overall, around one in every 10 entries at N5 was entered for an N4 in the same subject.
In 2019, dual entries numbered 13,595 and made up 4.5 per cent of total entries; in 2020 and 2021 the number of dual entries fell below 10,000.
Last year the SQA partly blamed dual entry for a drop in attainment at N5.
Over assessment
In the letter, Ms Gilruth concludes: “Entering young people into National 5, when reliable assessment information suggests they are not yet prepared, can result in unnecessary additional workload as well as a discouraging learning and assessment experience, and negatively impacting upon their confidence in that subject.
“Equally, dual presenting a young person who is on track to safely achieve at N5 level also results in unnecessary additional workload and over assessment.
“As your schools begin to confirm entries for the 2024 diet and look ahead to course choices for the next academic session, we ask you to communicate to your schools the importance of appropriate presentation decisions which focus on the interests of the individual young people.”
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