Swinney urged to ditch Highers and help pupils in poorer areas
THE SNP’s education chief is being urged to “do the right thing” and ditch Higher exams next year.
Scottish Labour said absence figures suggest that holding the exams will penalise pupils from less advantaged backgrounds.
Figures at the end of November showed attendance ranged from 85.3 per cent in the most deprived areas to 93.5 per cent in the least deprived.
Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: “This isn’t an easy call but in the interests of the pupils of Scotland it is time for John Swinney to swallow his pride and cancel the Higher and Advanced Higher exams.
“The data is clear: Pupils in the most deprived areas are more likely to be missing vital class time and the provisions that the Scottish Government has put in place for remote learning cannot fully replace faceto-face learning.
“In these circumstances, the possibility of exams on a level playing field has gone.”
Swinney set himself until February to make a decision but has said he is keen to make a quick call.
It comes after he faced a backlash for presiding over the Scottish Qualifications Authority fiasco. The emergency exam-marking system the SQA put in place meant pupils from poorer areas were more likely to be downgraded.
It ended with apologies from Swinney and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Results were scrapped in favour of the earlier teachers’ estimates, pushing grades back up.
Gray said: “Pupils and teachers need a decision now, and Mr Swinney needs to focus completely on ensuring awards are made consistently and fairly. We cannot have another chaotic last-minute decision on schools.
“Therefore we are calling on John Swinney to cancel the exams now and replace them with a fairer, alternative method of assessment, that will not penalise students based on their socio-economic background as the Scottish Government initially did this summer in the SQA fiasco.”
Swinney said he was listening to concerns at the last Scottish Government coronavirus briefing. He is “particularly anxious” that self-isolation disruption may be greater in more deprived parts of Scotland.
Swinney said pupils should have an “equal chance” to perform well in the exam diet.
National 5 exams next year have been cancelled but Highers and Advanced Highers are provisionally due to go ahead.