The 2021 National 5 exams are to be cancelled - with teachers’ judgement being relied on to award grades, education secretary John Swinney said this afternoon.

But the plan remains for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) Higher and Advanced Higher exams to run in some form.

Teaching unions, some headteachers and the Scottish Greens have for months been calling for all 2021 exams to be cancelled, given the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the disruption that schools and FE colleges have already faced this year.

And schools and colleges are still awaiting crucial information on 2020-21 courses, as some of the subject-specific guidance from the SQA, initially due out in the week beginning 31 August, will now appear “after the October break”, which falls on different dates around the country. However, some subject guidance was published today.

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In a statement to the Scottish Parliament this afternoon, Mr Swinney said: “Due to the level of disruption already caused by Covid, and due to the likely disruption faced by some or all pupils and students this academic year, a full exam diet is simply too big a risk. It would not be fair.”

Mr Swinney made his comments to coincide with the publication of the Priestley review of August’s SQA results debacle, and factored this into his plan for 2021 SQA qualifications.

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National 5 exams will not go ahead in 2021 and the “alternative approach will be based on teacher judgement, supported by assessment resources, and quality assurance [which] will include, where possible, specifying between two and four pieces of work per subject that will form the basis of arriving at a final award”.

Mr Swinney said: “The SQA will today publish broad guidance on evidence gathering and estimation, with a very clear focus on quality rather than quantity of that evidence. That will be followed after the October break by subject-specific guidance on the key pieces of work that young people will need to complete.

“And, to support the process, the SQA will work with Education Scotland, local authorities, regional improvement collaboratives and others to support a local and national approach to moderation and quality assurance, including the provision of assessment resources.

“Obviously, we must seek to maintain standards. Therefore, the SQA will work with schools and colleges during the year on the quality assurance of their pupils’ work.”

He added: “This will include SQA looking at a sample of work within each school and college and feeding back to the teachers and lecturers to ensure standards are maintained. The SQA will build this system of quality assurance in collaboration with the education system, drawing on its existing expertise. Put simply, an A in Aberdeen has to be the same as an A in Annan or anywhere else.

“But, I want to be very clear to Parliament, given the controversies of the last awards process, what will not happen. First and foremost, awards will not be given - or taken away - on the basis of a statistical model nor on the basis of a school’s past performance. There will be no algorithm.

“Awards will be based on the progress of our young people and their work. This work and the judgement of the teacher, supported by appropriate quality assurance to maintain standards, will be the evidence on which grades are based.”

Mr Swinney, who is also deputy first minister, said that not having National 5 exams “significantly reduces the risk of the exams as a whole [and] means that we can build an exam diet for Highers and Advanced Highers that is as safe as it possibly can be”.

Higher and Advanced Higher exams will now begin on Thursday 13 May, later than normal, as a way of “giving pupils back approximately two weeks of the learning time they lost this year”. The exams will finish on Friday 4 June and results day will still be on 10 August. The SQA said today that the full exam timetable will be published “at the end of October”.

But Mr Swinney acknowledged that even Higher and Advanced Higher exams may not be able to go ahead, and that “a clear contingency plan will continue to be developed for these exams”, including “key check-points up to the February break to assess public health advice and, in light of that, our plans”. 

He said: “If necessary, we will award Higher and Advanced Higher courses based on teacher professional judgement, supported by SQA quality assurance, taking account of classroom assessment evidence, including prelims where appropriate.”

Summing up the plan for SQA qualifications announced today, Mr Swinney said: “It has evidence at its heart, it puts a robust system of quality assurance in place and it works with teachers to award on the basis of their professional judgement.”

EIS union general secretary Larry Flanagan said: “Teachers and pupils are already working towards next year’s award, so today’s announcement provides welcome - if overdue - clarity for schools. It is wholly sensible and appropriate to plan on the assumption of some level of disruption, given the current rising level of infection and the prospect of a difficult winter period ahead.”

He added: “The most important consideration is the need to ensure that all students receive appropriate recognition for their achievements, and the EIS is confident that a system based on teacher professional judgement provides a sound basis for the awarding of qualifications. It is possible that the collective response to the current challenging circumstances may actually help to pave the way for a better system of senior phase assessment in the future.”

Mr Flanagan also said it was important that “there is no suggestion that teachers’ professional judgements of student achievement will be overturned by the SQA, or its algorithms, and equally that procedures are put in place to control teacher workload”.

Eileen Prior, executive director of parents’ and carers’ organisation Connect, said the announcement about National 5 “is another significant change for everyone to work through but gives young people and families some measure of clarity”, although it “is not an easy option” for everyone involved in delivering those qualifications.