Nat 4 Maths to leave school

[bluebkke]

My child is in S5 doing Highers and previously did iGCSEs in England. He has been told by school that he needs to do Nat 4 Maths in order to leave school, even though he already has an A in iGCSE Maths which is equivalent to Nat 5, right? Just so confused why he is being asked to do this . . . any ideas?

That sounds crazy. I'm assuming the school don't understand what an iGCSE is!

Can you provide them with the syllabus your DC covered, maybe even a copy of the exam paper if it's online, and ask what hasn't been covered that a N4 in maths will cover?

More bat shittery by the snp I'd imagine. To think we used to have an education system to be proud of!

I'd imagine it's because they want their leavers stats to look good. Do the can say 100% of leavers had Nat 4 maths. The stats won't take into consideration the GCSE.

Since found out that yes, it is for school statistics . . .

Well that sounds highly pointless - worth contacting the council?

As it is an internally assessed award, surely they can just compare the syllabus and note his grade and award him the nat4 without any requirement for him to do anything. Tail wagging the dog yet again.

How can they refuse to let him leave? If he's over 16 then he basically has no requirement to attend at all.

Someone beat me to it. It's about stats. I would take a stand on this as a parent and refuse to have him presented for it. Nat 4 maths would be a complete waste of his time when he should only be focusing on his highers. IGCSE is equivalent to GCSE - it's hardy some obscure qualification, far more widely recognised than National 4 or 5.

It's also a quicker win for them to get an already able student a pointless qualification instead of increasing their pass rates by working with pupils who are struggling. Cynic here.