To have exams or not to have exams?
That is just one of many questions for the group of education experts tasked with charting a new course for Scottish qualifications. But more important, perhaps, are the questions that get a little closer to the heart of education.
What is it, exactly, that we need to know about learners? What skills should we measure? Should exams be the grand finale of a student’s education, or just another step along the path?
Importance of voices north of the central belt
Louise Hayward, Professor of Educational Assessment and Innovation at the University of Glasgow, is leading Scotland’s Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment (IRQA), a three-phase consultation process.
In an exclusive interview with The P&J, Prof Hayward spoke about what’s at stake and why it’s important for voices north of the central belt to join the conversation.
The time for a one-size-fits-all approach has passed, she said. It’s time for a system that takes account of the disparities within communities and showcases every student’s achievements.
Scotland might sound like one place: It’s not
Prof Hayward said that there is a simple question at the core of her group’s task.
“How do we recognise the achievements of every learner in the country?
“Scotland sounds as if it’s one place. But actually, there area very different contexts in different parts of the country.
“It’s going to be important to pay attention to the different circumstances that exist in different parts of the country.”
Prof Hayward said that, early in the consultation process, she visited Shetland and learned about the ongoing transition away from oil-dependency.
“I was listening to the people in Shetland talk about the context within Shetland: The influence that oil has had within Shetland and a sense that they are transitioning into something different.
“How does the education system support that transition?”
There are also questions about rural communities, and extending all of the opportunities available to students who live nearer to colleges, universities and employers.
Every learner is different, she added, but exams haven’t always acknowledged that. Instead, there’s been a focus on exams scores and specific qualifications.
Measuring the intangibles, and controversy of school league tables
The curriculum for excellence features four main categories in order to create successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens.
But Prof Hayward said there’s a difference between the curriculum’s goals and its output.
“There’s an argument right now in Scotland that we only collect information on successful learners.”
Should information be gathered across all four capacities?”
This has led to a fixation on one particular method of measurement: school league tables.
Prof Hayward said that league tables, and the controversy surrounding them, highlight gaps in the qualifications system.
“Many schools are frustrated because they offer many more approaches to recognising achievements than appear in the league tables.
“So one of the things we will look at very closely is how to offer that broader picture, so we can recognise all of the achievements that learners have both in schools and colleges.”
When The P&J published the first edition of local league tables for schools in the north and north-east, it reignited a conversation about whether exams and national qualifications are any real measure of a student’s achievements.
Attainment gap, or something more complicated?
Local school results painted a clear picture of a gap in representation as much as attainment.
In Aberdeen, two schools who couldn’t have been further apart in terms of qualifications could barely have been closer on the map. Less than five miles separate Cults and Northfield Academies.
But when it comes to the rate of students earning the coveted five or more Highers?
Cults: 78% (fourth in the nation). Northfield: 7% (lowest in the north and north-east).
Yet a look at each school’s positive destination rates, the percentage of leavers who move on to university, training or employment tells a very different picture.
Do you think it would be a good idea to change the balance between exams and other ways of recognising learning?”
Just four points separate the two schools: Cults sent 97% of pupils to positive destinations, and Northfield wasn’t far behind with 94%.
The story is much the same in Inverness, where Glen Urquhart High School registered 61% of leavers earning five or more Highers and Inverness High reported 12%.
But positive destinations? Glen Urquhart led by only 15%, a far cry from the 50-point gap in Highers.
Don’t forget about the community
Prof Hayward said that any examination of numbers on a league table should be put into context.
“Commonly, the differences in league tables can be explained in terms of the socioeconomic circumstances within which different schools sit.”
A cursory glance at the numbers in Inverness bears out Prof Hayward’s point.
In addition to academic performance, the Scottish Government reports what percentage of school leavers live in the most and least economically-deprived areas.
At Glen Urquhart, with 61% five or more Highers and a positive destination rate that bordered on 100%, there were no school leavers registered in the two most deprived categories.
Inverness High, on the other hand, registered 61% of its school leavers in the most deprived category.
And yet despite all of the faults in the system, parents, employers and higher education admissions still look for test scores as a measurement.
So how to find a solution?
Prof Hayward said that getting input from all regions and all sectors that touch education is going to be vital for the review to be a success.
“Qualifications are really interesting, because it’s a part of education where everyone has to be a part of the conversation.
“You need learners themselves and their parents.
“You need the colleges, the employers, the universities and the voluntary sector all to be a part of the process.”
Would you like to see learners have more flexible choices of subjects and qualifications?”
And those employers and stakeholders have been saying that they want to go beyond academics. They also want to know if learners can work on a team, think outside the box and problem-solve.
A managed and manageable path to the future
Prof Hayward said that the best outcome for learners is a qualification system that prepares them for the next phase in life.
“If people are telling us that these skills are going to become increasingly more important, then it’s very important that the qualifications from schools reflect what really matters to young people to support them as they move on.”
The world changes quickly, but that’s especially true in the workplace. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, remote work and home offices were ideas that smacked of luxury.
Now, they’re almost the norm, and not even five years have passed.
Prof Hayward said her group has to keep in mind that children being born now will still be working at the turn of the century.
“What kind of assessment and qualification system are learners in Scotland going to need so that they can respond to what’s going to be an ever-increasingly complex and unpredictable world.”
Time to have your say
Prof Hayward’s IRQA is independent from the Scottish Government, and it will remain open to the public until January 13. Schools, local authorities, students, teachers and parents are all invited to respond.
The three-phase consultation is currently in the second stage. After developing a set of goals for the new qualifications system in phase one, Prof Hayward’s group now wants to know how parents, students and teachers want to see them implemented.
Phase three should begin in March, and the IRQA will begin to put together a practical proposal on the future of qualifications, with an eye to presenting it to Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville in May 2023.
And while May 2023 might seem like it’s right around the corner, Prof Hayward said the rebuild will take time.
“It will never be a big bang.
“It’s more about finding the direction of travel that we’re going, so let’s talk about how to get there in a way that’s managed and manageable.”