Tomorrow should have been the last exam results day presided over by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). But, delays to the timelines envisaged by Professor Ken Muir - who set out the steps for replacing the body in his March 2022 report - means the SQA brand will adorn at least one more batch of results’ certificates after this year.
The question is, of course, whether it will be more than the branding that changes when Qualifications Scotland comes into being in autumn 2025.
There is considerable scepticism on that front. The problem with the SQA is often described as a cultural one - the criticism is that it doesn’t listen to teachers, or trust them. And how do you change the culture of an organisation if the staff remain the same, including those at the top?
Teachers and students will be ‘central to decisions’
Still, education secretary Jenny Gilruth is insisting that, under Qualifications Scotland, teachers and students will be “central to decisions taken on qualifications and assessment”.
She is seeking to do this via the new education bill, which was published in June. Qualifications Scotland will have to establish teacher and learner committees to advise it “on the exercise of its functions”, as well as spelling out how it will act on teachers’ concerns about qualifications or assessments, through a “teacher and practitioner charter”. A “learner charter” is also envisaged.
The idea, therefore, is that in the future teachers’ and learners’ voices will be more prominent - but tangible changes to qualifications will only come about if the government sets Qualifications Scotland on that course.
Gilruth has promised to publish the government’s long-awaited response to Professor Louise Hayward’s independent review of qualifications and assessment “as soon as is practically possible in the new school year”.
What was proposed in that review is in danger of being lost in the mists of time, given that it was published over a year ago. But it essentially found that senior-phase students were “over-examined” and that “a great deal of learner time was spent on rote learning and examination rehearsal”.
It also recommended scrapping external assessment for qualifications below Higher level; a wider range of assessment methods, “including increased opportunities for classroom assessment”; and qualifications to be “organised into modules to allow learners maximum flexibility”.
Hayward envisaged a Scottish Diploma of Achievement (SDA) that would capture the qualifications students achieve but also personal achievements that can go unrecognised. The SDA would give students more autonomy over their learning and the opportunity to pull together knowledge from different subject areas into a big project.
Wait goes on for response to Hayward
Gilruth’s informal comments in advance of the government’s official response have been lukewarm at best.
Hayward herself has insisted that there is nothing radical about what she is proposing - she says all the ideas in the report have been established successfully in other countries - but Gilruth has described the changes as “a radical shift” and made it clear they could be difficult to realise, citing timetabling as one potential stumbling block.
The response from the profession, meanwhile, has been mixed. Scotland’s largest teaching union, the EIS, has endorsed the proposals, as have education directors and secondary heads’ organisation School Leaders Scotland.
Yet, a consultation carried out by the government, published in February, found that 57 per cent (719 respondents in total) disagreed with proposals to reduce the number of external exams in the senior phase, increase the breadth of assessment methods and remove external assessment up to SCQF level 5 (National 5 or equivalent).
Impact of removing National 5 exams
This finding lacks nuance as it cobbles together three very different proposals. Nevertheless, teachers clearly have concerns about lack of preparation for Higher if exams are removed at National 5, as well as the impact this would have on N5‘s credibility. They also question whether internal assessment can ever be robust enough, given the pressure on teachers to drive up attainment, coupled with their own desire for their students to do well.
Another key concern for school staff is the workload implications if the system is to rely more on internal and teacher assessment.
It seems clear that if significant qualifications reform is to be implemented, the government will need to also deliver its 2021 manifesto pledge to reduce the time teachers spend in front of classes. But this would require an increase in teachers.
The government and councils have been at loggerheads for months now over freezing teacher numbers - never mind increasing them. There are also difficulties with teacher recruitment in secondary subjects such as computing, maths and technical that would need to be overcome. In 2023-24, for example, the target was to recruit 250 maths teachers via the PGDE postgraduate route, but just 83 places were filled.
This leads to a conclusion that will be disheartening for some and welcomed by others: Scottish education’s exam-heavy approach seems, by and large, here to stay.
That means exam results day will remain a fixture on the education calendar for the foreseeable future, although by 2026 it’s just possible that the branding on certificates might have changed.
But was that really the government’s level of boldness when it said it would reform qualifications back in October 2021?
Emma Seith is senior reporter at Tes Scotland. She tweets @Emma_Seith
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