Pupils sitting the new Highers may be disadvantaged as teachers get to grips

SCHOOLS have had to adapt to significant changes in the qualifications system over the past year, not least the dual running of old and new Highers. Despite the concerns over the new qualifications, more than half of entries have been in the revised Highers rather than the old ones.

Some teachers may have stayed with the existing Highers to try to give pupils the best chance they could in a system they are familiar with, but others have taken the view that the change is happening so they might as well move with it now.

The new Higher has a slightly better pass rate than the old Higher. Some subjects, notably English where the pass rate and the proportion of A grades are higher than the new exams, have contributed strongly to this trend.

However, the main concern for the Scottish Qualifications Authority will be that in several subjects, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography and history, pupils faced something more demanding in the new Higher.

In these subjects, the overall pass rate was lower and there were fewer A awards than in the old exam – up to eight per cent fewer in some cases.

It is possible the differences are the result of groups of pupils with quite different characteristics taking the two different exams, but there seem to be large enough numbers taking both to be representative of the general spread of pupil performance.

One could argue that it is educationally desirable to give pupils a greater challenge at Higher by testing more thoroughly their ability to apply knowledge.

However, in a year where the new and the old exams land together pupils who took the new Higher may have been disadvantaged.