Scotland’s education system is now deep into an important exam season, a time rife with difficulty and history-making reforms. Over 132,000 students are getting ready to sit their National 5s, Highers and Advanced Highers in a few weeks’ time. This is especially true as concerns mount over K-12 education quality and the persistent achievement gap between rich and poor students. Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth has already admitted that last year’s results were “not good enough,” underscoring the imperative to do better.
As the rest of the world now knows, in recent years Scotland has faced this great educational disturbance. According to the latest achievement report, the academic performance gap between the richest and the poorest students remains at a record high. This gap has remained static over the past ten years. This calls into question equity mindedness in the education platform and the success of current policies and practices meant to close these gaps.
During the examination period, students will take more than two million papers across a broad range of topics. The most frequently requested licenses for 2024 were English, mathematics, physical education, history, and chemistry. International examples capsized in 2020 with historical data demonstrating a stark increase in the 2020 Highers pass rate, jumping from 75% to 89%. The following year, the highest percentage of students in history received As. This is underscored by recent evidence indicating an overall drop in educational achievement since the Covid pandemic. In short, last year’s test scores fell below the pre-pandemic norm, putting a dent in the positive trend.
To help turn the tide on this trend, the Scottish government is enacting a series of reforms. Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth has pledged to expand the teacher workforce. Academics Hours Nationally, she’ll spend more to shorten teachers’ classroom hours and accelerate reforms to curriculums, including for maths and English. There is again a focus on correcting bad behaviour in classrooms to allow for productive learning spaces.
The Curriculum Reform Cycle currently taking place. Professor Louise Hayward of the University of Glasgow has been heading up a production-focused review of qualifications and assessments, a project commissioned by the Scottish government three years ago. Her review proposed scrapping the S4 exams for pupils who will go on studying a particular subject above that level. This proposal aims to streamline assessments and improve student engagement in learning.
Pedagogy experts in test-based instruction hope that the exam grading will return to business as usual this year. The disruptions effects from the pandemic are finally starting to recede. The Scottish government is trying to remain optimistic. As of now, they’re hoping that these results set to be released on Tuesday, August 5, will show big gains from last year’s results.
