Shake up of Scottish exam system

[GTTSR]

I don’t know how to feel about this. Will come in 2031…just as my child hits 4th year of high school. The whole Scottish education system needs overhauled… not sure tinkering with exams is quite going to cut it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz6yzp1dl1jo

It shouldn't really be up to the teacher though. I should be a rule across the board. Otherwise, how can the qualification carry any weight.

You're talking about way way way more examiners at school level than at university level, which is why there isn't that level of trust. It just can't be possible to have as many examiners as they need, at that high level.

It's impossible to recruit examiners as it is, which is why the marking scheme is as prescriptive as it is.

This is an issue in England too, btw, where I did my exams. GCSEs are entirely rote based learning.

But there is a huge difference between highers and A levels. Highers are not at all fit for purpose.

It's not up to the teacher; it is a rule.
I don't know any teachers who would allow that. Not saying it doesn't happen, but they could be reported.

Ok thanks

I'm thinking of my Higher and Advanced Higher classes or recent years and I don't recognise this at all. It's insulting to the young people I know.

At parents' evening last week I had a long chat with DS's advanced higher business teacher after a pretty poor performance in the prelim. She said he knew the content and his understanding was very good, but couldn't use the command words and structure his answers in the way the SQA wanted it structured which is the whole issue.

So what comparisons have you done with other countries? Did you even read that thread where foreigners with children in Scottish schools compared it with schools in their own countries? Not one single person said that the Scottish system was as good as their home system. One Scottish teacher told us off for listening to posters who'd experienced other education systems rather than just talking to Scottish people, and then flounced. So the same approach as you're taking - only listen to the people who tell you that everything's fine, because they don't know any different. I'm not criticising Scottish children, I'm criticising the education system that's failing them. And I'm particularly angry because the previous Scottish education system, which was very good, was dismantled to make way for this new, experimental one, and it's now all about ideology and political propaganda. The experiment has very obviously failed, but the Scottish government refuses to acknowledge that and to try to do something to start to sort out the mess. It's just digging in to bring standards down even farther.

Well you said demoralised and without a good work ethic, and I see without needing a comparator that that isn't true.
I have experience of A levels as well, and also Highers predating the SNP.

If work ethic is so strong, why do so many people decide not to do 3 Advanced Highers in S6? I'm sure that plenty of young people would be capable of doing so, but most of them choose to prioritise having a relaxing year. Which is a pity, as Advanced Highers are probably the best part of the secondary school system in Scotland, and actually provide a bit of a challenge, a bit of room for individual initiative. In my experience (talking about children with good academic potential) there is little if any challenge at primary school, there is little if any challenge in the early secondary years (after all, there are no exams to worry about), there's a degree of challenge working towards exams in the latter part of secondary, but it's a crappy learn the rules of the exam type challenge, rather than anything that is actually educational. And then a lot of children choose to have a relaxing year in S6. Children are capable of so much more.
Just as an example, I got to know a teenager from another country a while ago and discussed her school with her. She was 16 or maybe 17, still had a couple of years of school left, in a country where they start school later than in Scotland. She was learning English at school, but it was the school's second modern foreign language. The children were pretty much fluent in their first foreign language, and had history lessons in that foreign language. All the children in her year were sitting a Cambridge English exam at upper intermediate level (which is harder than what's done in a foreign language at Advanced Higher level in Scotland). She told me that her class had read a couple of full Shakespeare plays, Pride and Prejudice and lots of classic English poetry (she mentioned some poems by Byron as an example). Remember, this was their 2nd foreign language, but they had clearly done more in English literature than Scottish children do. Imagine what they're studying in their own language. This was in a grammar school type system, and I'm not suggesting that this would be suitable for everyone, but these are the children who are really capable and keen to learn. Those children are not catered for in Scotland. That girl was keen, buzzing, ambitious, confident, very hard-working - in fact she was doing more than was required of her by her school. And interestingly she said there were a lot of tests at school and those were oral, viva voce tests.

I’m not sure that 3 Advanced Highers should be seen as the gold standard. My DD will be in S6 and all being equal, will go in with 6 Highers, one being done in S4. We are actively encouraging her to have a slightly less pressured s6 with 2 Advanced Highers and a Higher. Our reasoning is that this is most likely the last opportunity she’ll have to study something that interests her ‘just because’.

The issue with a lazy S6 is that they get out of the habit of working hard and suffer when they get to uni. I can see the logic when English unis treat AH like a levels and ask for straight As (and high As if you want to go to Oxbridge).

My child did nat5 modern studies. If asked to name the prime minister they’d know it was Keir Starmer. They wouldn’t be able to name any other MP and they’d be able to name no Scottish politicians at all. In fact the only other politician they’d be able to name is ‘that lettuce woman’. This child got 87% in the exam as they were extremely well versed in the layouts expected of them in the exam and course work. No actual knowledge seems to have been passed to them whatsoever. This sums up all of problems I have with CfE.

Well that’s nonsense because there are no exams at N4. It’s continuous/internal assessment

If anyone is interested, here is one part of the N5 modern studies course. The school would pick either option. Seems pretty relevant stuff to me?
Many schools can't run Advanced Highers in every subject. I'd be amazed if anywhere can, tbh. Sometimes a student benefits from more Highers instead of AH in terms of uni requirements.
Unconditional offers are definitely an issue though