Rector: A decision on exams in March is too late
THE rector of a top school has criticised the delay in deciding whether formal exams will take place this year.
Scottish pupils may have to wait until March to find out whether they will sit Higher and National 5 exams this year, the Education Secretary has admitted.
Shirley-Anne Somerville said that the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) would look at the public health situation and, together with ministers, decide how 2022’s assessments would be structured by the end of March.
But yesterday, Daniel Wyatt, rector of Kelvinside Academy in Glasgow, said the move showed ‘complete disregard’ for the mental health of pupils and staff.
This is the third year exams have been disrupted by Covid. In 2020, teachers assigned grades to pupils based on coursework, while last year schools had the freedom to structure their own exam-based assessments.
Mr Wyatt said: ‘I – as I’m sure many working in education in Scotland will be – am dismayed a decision on whether or not to go ahead with exams could be left until March. It’s far too late.
‘It is not acceptable and shows complete disregard for the mental health of pupils and staff following two years of disruption and disappointment, all against a backdrop of coping with the impact of the pandemic.
‘The current S5 and S6 pupils have prepared for exams and then not sat them for two years – they cannot be expected to endure the same again.’
Mr Wyatt said that last summer there was ‘an incredible response from teachers’ to complete the alternative certification model. He added: ‘It is not fair or reasonable to ask them to do it again. I appreciate it can never be 100 per cent, particularly in this climate, but the educational community deserves more certainty.
‘Exams must go ahead unless there is a significant health concern far greater than we are currently experiencing with the Omicron variant.’
In the summer, the Scottish Government said it hoped exams would go ahead as normal this year ‘if safe to do so’, but it would consider alternatives if the pandemic was not under control.
Speaking this week Mrs Somerville said: ‘The latest we think [a decision] can be made is the end of March, but it doesn’t have to wait until then.
‘There’s obviously very close assessment of different measures – whether it’s absence rates, disruption to learning, how things are in general around schools – a basket of measures, being looked at by the SQA.’
She said the SQA, in consultation with ministers, will discuss the exams with the National Qualifications group, which includes parents, young people and unions, ‘to make sure they are all on board [with] the decisions’.
She said: ‘We will keep this under very close review.’
Scottish Conservative education spokesman Oliver Mundell said: ‘The SNP must guarantee that every pupil will be able to sit exams this year as planned.
‘Parents and pupils are already making their voices heard that another year of exam chaos is unthinkable after the disaster over the last two years. They cannot be left in the dark.’
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said it is ‘the clear intention’ exams will go ahead.
He added: ‘They will only be cancelled if public health advice says it isn’t safe for them to take place – for example, if there are restrictions on gatherings.
‘Learners, parents and teachers will be told of any changes to plans as soon as possible.’
‘Disregard for mental health’