Testing times ahead as National 5s are cancelled
National 5 exams have been cancelled for students in Scotland in 2021 and have been replaced with teacher assessments and coursework.
Education Secretary John S win ney( below) made the announcement in the Scottish Parliament last Wednesday (October 7), a decision that will affect thousands of fourth year students across East Kilbride and Strathaven.
He stated: “Due to the level of disruption already caused by Covid, and due to the likely disruption faced by some or all pupils and students this academic year, a full exam diet is simply too big a risk. It would not be fair.”
He added t hat Higher and Advanced Higher examinations in 2021 will go ahead as planned but will start from May 13 next year, later than normal, to allow for more teaching to be done to make up for some of the teaching time lost at the end of 2019/20.
As an alternative to the National Five exams, pupils will be given their grades based on teacher judgement and assessed work.
Mr Swinney added: “We all know just how disruptive Covid-19 is to the awarding of f national qualifications.
“We found ourselves in a position where schools had closed with very little time to prepare. Course work was either incomplete or inaccessible.
“And, of course, the exams could not go ahead.
“There was no ready-made solution–we saw that from the fact the rest of the UK faced similar difficulties–but, in in setting out our solution, the fact is we did not get it right for all young people. We apologised and we acted to fix the situation.
“This year we have more time to prepare, but some things are still the same.
“The virus remains with us.
““It is still as virulent. It is s still as infectious. ““So, we cannot plan f or business as usual. Th That is simply not po possible.
“Work towards exams wo would normally start ba back in May when th the schools were still cl closed so pupils have al already lost a significant am amount of precious te teaching time. And, we ca cannot predict – no-one ca can – how much more ti time might ih be lost to Covid-19 in the coming months.
“Finally, we simply don’ t know what spring and summer will look like in terms of the public health position.
“But, what we can do is three key things: we can learn from last year; we can consult our teachers and educationalists; and we can listen to the experts in the design of awarding systems.
“And in every decision we take, we can hold fast to our shared aim to build an approach that recognises the hard work of individual pupils fairly and consistently.
“It must be an approach that does not place undue burdens on the moron Scotland’ s teachers.
“And, it has to be an approach that has the confidence of the public, of employers and of the rest of the education system.
“That is what we have been doing over recent weeks and I can now set out to parliament the progress we have made and the conclusions we have reached.
“We have sought to learn from last year.”
The news comes after First
Minister Nicola Sturgeon addressed Parliament on Thursday revealing figures showing 1054 new cases of COVID over 24 hours across Scotland – at that time there was one new death and implemented new restrictions.
Since October 12, there have been 961 new cases reported, with no deaths.
Ms Sturgeon said: “Without action–and this is perhaps the starkest warning in today’s evidence paper – we are likely to return to the peak level of infections we had in the spring by the end of this month.”
In these areas, all licensed premises with the exception of hotels for residents, will be required to close indoors and outdoors, though takeaways will be permitted.”