Swinney moves to ease league table fears

John Swinney has moved to quell fears that the new national assessments being introduced in Scotland’s schools could be used to bring about a return to education league tables.

The Education Secretary clarified the Scottish Government would only be able to access national data from the online tests, which will measure the performance of pupils in P1, P4, P7 and S3.

This is the first year students will have to complete the online assessments, and the Scottish Government stressed they had been designed to be “as short as possible and age and stage appropriate”, with audio instructions for youngsters in P1.

Ministers have argued the tests are a vital part of efforts to close the education attainment gap, claiming the data will pinpoint where more work needs to be done.

But critics of standardised assessments fear they could lead to the return of school league tables.