The Scottish government has repeatedly said young people are its priority but it has failed to consult them on key decisions during the coronavirus pandemic, MSPs heard today.

Some of the most important decisions taken during the coronavirus pandemic have affected young people, but children’s rights campaigners say their voices have been conspicuously absent with issues such as the mass moves to remote learning and the cancellation of the exams.

Today, however, Coll McCail, Jonathan Dorrat and Abigail McGill - young people who act as advisers to the children and young people’s commissioner, Bruce Adamson - shared their experiences and views with the MSPs who sit on the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee.

Here are the key issues they raised:

1.  Young people had been portrayed as ‘villains’ during the pandemic

They said the return to schools in August saw them blamed for rising cases, as did the return to university, but young people had no say in these decisions. 

Mr Adamson also said he had been very concerned about “some of the rhetoric of blame around young people”, but work with Police Scotland had shown that children and young people were not breaking rules anything like it was often perceived.

This week, we heard from @CYPCS young advisers and @Bruce_Adamson about the impact of the pandemic on young people. The full session can be watched here: https://t.co/mub9lNIa0Y pic.twitter.com/v50liZbZMJ

- Education and Skills Committee (@SP_EduSkills) March 13, 2021

2. Exams are not fit for purpose

They said they hoped two years of teacher estimates would lead to a more progressive assessment system - but they stressed that young people had to be involved in those decisions and it should not be a case of “a group of adults sitting around deciding if exams should be a thing”. 

Abigail said: “Continuous assessment is something that really needs to be looked at because I for one was overjoyed when I found out that we weren’t doing exams. I was so calm and it makes the year a smoother ride.” 

She added: “With all the stress and anxiety that has come to young people throughout this time I think the one thing that has been lessened is that there is not going to be a huge exam in May.”

3. Social distancing is impossible in school when all pupils are in

Young people were blamed in the media when cases started to rise for not keeping two metres apart in school, but “anyone who has been in a school of 2,000 pupils knows how impossible that is to do,” said Coll.

Abigail echoed this: “It’s so difficult to do social distancing in secondaries of upwards of 1,000 pupils.”

4. The return to school buildings has the “potential to be hellish”

Coll said there was “a fear among young people” that they are going to be met with “a term of assessment so that teachers can generate enough evidence to give to the SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority)”.

He added: “I think that is scary for young people who are going from this kind of relaxed lockdown in which your routine is how you set it, to this kind of potential month of test, after test, after test. If you are doing five Highers or six Nat 5s it has the potential to be hellish.”

It was a good thing schools are opening up, said Abigail, but she also highlighted that young people would need time to get back into the school routine.

She said: “I know a lot of people their siblings have laptops or computers during the day and they work throughout the night, so it’s going to be a huge adjustment for them to then get back and do school work throughout the day. And I think there needs to be allowances for that and understanding that not everyone has had the same experience with online learning, and therefore not everyone will be able to adjust quite as quickly to this onslaught of assessments we are going to have when we go back.”

5. They want clarity on how they will be assessed this year

It is important to know “what you are studying for, what you are working for”, said Abigail, but instead pupils had just been told to “shut up and get on with it”, and now they were struggling to motivate themselves. She said assessment would differ from school to school and questioned how fair that would be.

The young advisers called for the SQA to start communicating directly with young people - they said they were more likely to be asked to comment on the SQA’s website than to receive information from the body about the exam replacement system. They also want teachers and schools to be “briefed properly and in full” about changes, because it is teachers who students go to with their questions yet they were often “as uninformed as us”, said Coll.

6. Lockdown has impacted more on some young people

This includes those living in poverty, those with additional support needs and those with disabilities. Generally, young people had been overlooked by decision makers, but those with additional support needs had been really overlooked, said Abigail.

The support for pupils with ASN had not been there, said Mr Adamson. He called for a focus on quality online learning that was adaptable, not a one-size-fits-all approach, especially as some disabled pupils are more likely not to return to school because of their health.

The SQA later responded to issues raised in the committee.

An SQA spokesperson said: “Young people should talk to their school or college first if they have any questions about this year’s assessments.

“We have published detailed assessment guidance for every subject at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher, which have been communicated to schools and colleges. This guidance highlights the flexible approaches in which assessment can be carried out. To maximise learning and teaching time, we have extended the deadlines for submitting evidence and also advised that assessment should take place later in the academic year.

“Throughout the creation of this year’s model, and about how a new appeals process might operate in 2021, the views and impact on young people have been at the heart of our decision making. To allow more views to be heard and considered, we will issue a public consultation on 2021 appeals this week.

“We also established a learner panel to hear directly from young people and, in response to that feedback, will soon be providing every learner with a booklet detailing this year’s model. Our website has information specifically created for learners.

“The alternative certification model has been developed by the National Qualifications Group, which includes wide representation from the education system, including the Scottish Youth Parliament.”