John Swinney

Cabinet Secretary for Education John Swinney on the challenges posed to education by the COVID pandemic

The education secretary on the professional and personal struggles of lockdown

How difficult has it been balancing the whole risk of COVID and the clear need to give children continuity in terms of their education?

There is no question that the last year has been a turbulent period for Scotland’s education sector. It has been extremely challenging for pupils and parents as every aspect of our national life has been affected by the COVID crisis. There has been a constant need to work to sustain education provision within the context of the public health pandemic. Teaching and non-teaching staff in our schools and early learning and childcare settings are performing extraordinarily under challenging circumstances. They have worked incredibly hard to do the best for our children and young people by putting in place systems that have supported pupils in a range of creative and stimulating ways. The current remote learning offer is a significant achievement by all within the education system.

Are you confident that children will make up for lost time and this won’t have a long-lasting effect on their education?

Education is, and will remain, a priority throughout the pandemic. I am determined that schools and children have all the support they need to mitigate the impact of COVID and to ensure the educational needs of every young person is fulfilled. We will engage actively with the education system as more evidence emerges of the educational needs of young people. In doing so, we will make sure that everyone has their say as we chart our way forward as we safely emerge from the crisis. Our Education Recovery Group includes many voices: parents, teachers, councils, trade unions and Scottish Youth Parliament representatives. School staff have been brilliant and I know that they will continue to work tirelessly for their pupils.

The whole exams debacle last year just seemed so chaotic. Do you regret the prevarication that went on that left young people really worried about their future?

We faced an incredibly difficult situation in trying to certificate the achievements of young people last year. We took early action to cancel the exams and put in place an alternative system. We did not get everything correct and I acted swiftly to resolve the issues. I have made clear that lessons had to be learned from last year’s qualifications process, which is why swift action was taken to commission Professor Priestley to carry out an independent review. As a consequence, decisions on the awarding of 2021 National Qualifications have been informed by Professor Priestley’s recommendations, with widespread stakeholder consultation and co-creation of the alternative certification model through the National Qualifications 2021 Group. This year’s results will be based on teacher judgement of evidence of pupil attainment, with no algorithms applied. The Scottish Government and SQA are committed to ensuring that the assessment process continues to fairly recognise the hard work of learners and protect their life chances by facilitating certification and their onwards learner journey or transition into employment.