Shrinking exam choice for Scottish pupils ‘ a scandal’

● Most students offered just six subjects with worst choice in the poorest areas

First Minister Ni cola Sturgeon has faced demands for a Holyrood inquiry into the “scandal” that pupils are facing a shrinking choice of sub - jects in secondary schools.

The call was made yesterday by Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson as she highlighted fig- ures suggesting that the majority of schools were only offering six subjects to S4 pupils.

At First Minister’s Questions, Ms Davidson claimed the restricted number of options available to teenagers meant many were having to chose their Higher subjects aged just 14. Only two schools in Scotland’ s most deprived areas were able to offer Advanced Higher pupils a choice of 12 or more subjects.

Ms Sturgeon retorted by saying there had been a 40 per cent increase in the number of pupils from the poorest communities coming out of school with Advanced Highers since 2011.

Ms Davidson quoted work carried out by Professor Jim Scott, which found subject choice fell dramatically when schools in poor areas were compared with those in the wealthiest areas. The Tor y leader said the

“majority” of schools now offered S 4(14- and 15- yearold) pupils just six subjects, which meant“severely limited” options for those wanting to study sciences and languages.

“It is the poor est parts of Scotland that suffer the most,” Ms Davidson said.

“If you go to a school in one of the wealthiest parts of Scotland, you have got a 70 per cent chance of being able to choose between 12 or more Advanced Highers.”

Ms Davidson asked the First Minister how many schools in the poorest areas offered 12 or more Advanced Highers. After Ms Sturgeon failed to come up with the answer, Ms Davidson said the figure was two.

“There are just two schools in the poorest parts of Scotland where you can choose between 12 or more Advanced Highers and in the rest you get nowhere near that. That’s the reality in SNP Scotland ,” Ms Davidson said.

The Tory leader quoted Prof Scott, saying the academic had concluded the S1 to S3 curriculum was in “serious disarray”.

Research by Prof Scott, from Dundee University’s School of Education and Social Work, has looked at the impact of key Curriculum for Excellence ( CFE) reform.

He found 57 percent of schools provide only six courses in S4 leading to a National qualification.

His study also found only 32 percent of schools allowed the children to sit seven sub - jects and barely 11 per cent the traditional eight.

Ms Davidson said pupils were “crashing down suddenly” to taking just six subjects in S4, meaning “they are effectively picking their Highers at the age of 14”.

The Conservative leader said children in the poorest areas were being hit hardest.

Ms Davidson said: “How bad to things have to get before the SNP government will own up to its mistakes because we’ve got teacher numbers down, we’ve got literacy standards slipping, we’ve got numeracy stagnating and subject choices are falling for our pupils. There is a scandal going on in secondary schools right now.”

To groans from her op ponents, Ms Sturgeon replied there had been a scandal in Scottish politics this week and it had involved the resignation of one of Ms Davidson’s frontbenchers. She was referring to Peter Chapman, who quit as agriculture spokesman after a lobbying row.

Ms Sturgeon said :“I cannot believe that Ruth Davidson doesn’t think that’s what’s important is the Highers and other qualifications that our young people are leaving with.

“There are more young people, including in our most deprived communities, now leaving school with quali fications, including Hig hers. There are more young people with Advanced Highers, a 40 per cent increase in our most deprived communities.”

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS teaching union, agreed that children were being offered too narrow a range of subjects.

Mr Flanagan said: “If some of the choices are narrowing and kids have to stick with the subjects they have chosen in S 4 when they move into S5, that is not a good consequence.”

In February 2015, shortly after becoming First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon gave a speech in which she said “too many children still have their life chances influenced more by where they live, than by how talented they are, or how hard they work. None of us should accept a situation where so many people are unable to realise their full potential. It lets too many young people down. It harms our economy and it weakens our society. And it diminishes all of us.”

Three years later and Sturgeon found herself on the back foot in an angry exchange with Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson during First Minister’s Questions.

Davidson condemned the “scandal” that just two schools in the poorest parts of Scotland offer students a choice of 12 or more subjects at Advanced Higher level, compared to 70 per cent of schools in better- off areas.

She also claimed S4 pupils at the “majority” of schools were only allowed to take up to six subjects, meaning they effectively have to choose the subjects they will take at Higher level at the age of about 14, which, for most people, is surely too young to make such a life- changing decision.

Sturgeon responded to the attack in two ways. She told Davidson there had been a 40 per cent increase in pupils in deprived areas leaving school with Advanced Highers, repeating the figure “in case you didn’t hear the last time”.

But, perhaps in a sign that she was rattled, she tried to deflect the criticism by saying this week’s real “scandal” involved the Tory MSP Peter Chapman, who resigned as rural affairs spokesman after it emerged he had used his position at Holyrood to lobby on behalf of a firm he owns shares in. That may be a scandal, but it was a poor way for Sturgeon to respond to a question about education, particularly as it’s an issue close to her heart.

While the rise in pupils from deprived areas with Advanced Highers is clearly progress, limiting the combination of subjects available to pupils can reduce the chance they will be able to get a place to study subjects like medicine and architecture.

In her 2015 speech, Sturgeon said it was only because of her “firstclass” education that “this workingclass girl from Ayrshire is able to stand here today as First Minister of Scotland”. She must now ensure the brightest students from the poorest parts of Scotland also get the chance to fulfil their potential.