Scottish government considering ditching end of year exams permanently

[2magpies1pigeon]

What do people think?

www.eveningexpress.co.uk/news/scotland/replace-out-of-date-high-school-exams-advisers-tell-ministers/

"It said: “High school examinations are essentially an out-of-date 19th and 20th-century technology operating in a 21st-century environment of teaching and learning.""

Swinney responds: “It reinforces the issue of equity as the defining agenda of our time, says we have an excellent standing internationally and that Scottish education can be a ‘global standard bearer in a post-pandemic world’.

How is an entrance exam not exam pressure? I agree that there are people whose needs aren't meant in the current system, I'm not sure ditching it for all isn't killing more than it cures.

This could be all made up and very much artistic license but I remember watching the film Testament of Youth and Alicia vikander’s character sat on entrance exam for Oxford or Cambridge university. She was given a place even though the question asked to answer in Latin, which she had never studied, she answered in German. This was at the start of ww1.

I suppose one positive for exams is that it gives a standard across the country which universities don’t. My friend recruits graduates for an accountancy firm and she said they look at highers as it’s difficult to compare a 2.1 from Abertay university to a 2.1 from Glasgow.

Oxbridge has always done more entrance assessing in person than other unis though, and those would've been tiny percentages of applications.

Sorry tiny volumes of applications to assess compared to today's numbers.

Yes @anon444877 I agree.
My point, maybe lost in my ramblings, was that there was flexibility in the ‘correct’ answer to the entrance exam.

We have no idea what they are thinking about replacing exams and giw6rifourous or not it will be but I will say that it is muddled and in transition at the moment, from family experience it works well for academic children (especially in a school with a good choice of AH), it is not good for children with a "spikey" profile or those who are better at practical subjects.
The hurdle of 5 A-C for a lot of college courses and some apprenticeships including Maths and English is a big issue, National 5 Maths is very hard!
I have looked up the much vaunted Finnish system, they have no compulsory exams but do have a Matriculation exam you sit at the end of school if you want to go to uni, it sounds quite challenging as the exams are essay based and 6 hours long! (not unlike AH).
I personally am interested in the Irish system, especially the year off exams they do in the middle where they do a lot of non academic extra curricular stuff and work experience. I'm sure it has issues too and I'm not keen on compulsory Irish but to me it seems like the best of the traditional Scottish system with some innovation thrown in, probably quite expensive though.
My skin in the game is one Straight A student m, one struggle and one in between so Ive thought about this quite a lot.
I also feel the change in young people's culture with access to 24 hour Internet content has probably had an effect on their learning styles and results and any school system is going to struggle with this to an extent.

I think I'm in full on ramble mode here too @Jodri, what a year! I can only hope they get some genuinely independent experts to hold a review over a decent timeframe rather than doing anything wholesale and knee jerk and controlled by the SNP's education experts.

Too many poorly thought out and badly implemented ideas sloshing about in education already.

Most of us can see from our dc that different kids and different people suit different approaches and perhaps more suitable choices and not replacing things should be the goal.

Yes there are some good initiatives but it's very muddled and children are often badly advised (by teachers and by parents!)

The FE College to Uni pathway can be very good but it's a nightmare to access college if you live outside a city or big town. If DS1 wasn't doing college online this year I'd have to drive him 20 miles there and back everyday, no buses suitable! He'll pass his driving test eventually but not everyone can afford that, so that's a simply practical barrier that cuts down choices and opportunities. There are virtually no exam certificate evening classes available now either, they disappeared when curriculum for excellence came in, another barrier.

Yes @anon444877 that would be refreshing wouldn’t it! Here’s hoping

I'm doing a bit of a brain dump here, don't feel obliged to read or reply.

Those are good points - it's not just exams that stops people achieving qualifications.

I think theres a strong case to be made for teaching driving at school, at least for some pupils.

@anon444877

How is an entrance exam not exam pressure? I agree that there are people whose needs aren't meant in the current system, I'm not sure ditching it for all isn't killing more than it cures.

Yes I agree however going to University is optional. School and exams is not.

Yes driving lessons are so expensive, and for many non city locations here a real barrier.

I’m not convinced that continuous assessment models are less stressful. It just means that there is continuous pressure constantly, instead of for a limited period. For example this school year many 5th and 6th year pupils at Scottish schools were told at the outset that exams might be cancelled/ disrupted again, so they should aim for an e.g ‘A grade point average’ (along the lines of the US school system) meaning ensuring that they achieved their desired final grade in every single piece of work and class test. It’s hard going and many kids hate that there’s no let up.