Just last week, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) insisted once again that there was no need to “replicate full formal exams or prelims this year”.
Now, however, the manager of one of Scotland’s top-flight football teams has said that he will be missing the services of one player at a crucial point in the season - because he is sitting exams.
St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin explained that 16-year-old Dylan Reid will miss the next two weeks of action in order to sit exams at school.
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The midfielder became the youngest-ever player to play in the Scottish Premiership when he came on for his debut as a substitute against Rangers last month, and he has stayed in the squad since.
Young football star ‘back at school for exams’
Speaking before a trip to Dingwall to play Ross County tomorrow night, Goodwin said: “Dylan Reid has to go back to school. He is not allowed to travel.
“He is not able to train the next two weeks. He is actually back at school because he has exams coming up - that is a first for me.
“It is an important year for him and obviously his education is very important and it is something that we want to encourage [in all] the lads as well, so he has been given time away to complete those exams and he will join back in with the group in a couple of weeks’ time.”
Another milestone as current pupil of @Grange_Academy1 @PerformSchools and @saintmirrenfc player Dylan Reid makes his debut today as the youngest ever @spfl player.
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Replacing another @PerformSchools former pupil Ethan Erahon in today’s fixture against @RangersFC. https://t.co/xYDRV5Ye2c
- Scottish FA JD Performance Schools (@PerformSchools) March 6, 2021
In separate comments reported in the Daily Record, Goodwin said: “This is an important year for [Dylan Reid]. His education is very important. It’s something we want to encourage all the lads to do. I look at sport in America and education is huge.
“We don’t probably put a big enough emphasis on it in this country. There are too many players aged from 15 to 20 who get let go and they’re into the big bad world with nothing behind them.
“We want to encourage him to finish his exams. He’s a bright boy and it’s important for him to get the results.
“I’m sure he’d rather be in here training and playing and being part of the squad going to Dingwall, because there’s a good chance he’d have been getting minutes due to the injury problems we have - but it’s education first at the moment.”
One teacher, who has been critical of SQA statements insisting that there should be no exams this year, responded to the St Mirren manager’s comments by tweeting: ”Exams? Surely some mistake.”
