Can teachers now just get on with our jobs without all the political posturing?
Speaking as a teacher, I can say with some certainty that I can’t recall a colleague who didn’t want the best for their pupils or students. And I suppose to do this job, a high level of optimism is a prerequisite.
With regard to exam grades, an outcome which happily fulfils the aspirations of young people and the hopes of their teachers for them has now been achieved. However, I can also say with depressing certainty that if the supplied estimates of exam grades had been accepted without question at the outset, the opposition parties in the parliament and large numbers of the public would have been outraged. Result rigging would have been accused and the integrity of teachers called into question.
Now we have a pass rate of 88.9 per cent (+10.7 per cent) for National Fives; a Higher pass rate of 89.2 per cent (+14.4 per cent) and a pass rate for
Advanced Higher of 93.1 per cent (+ 13.7 per cent ).
So in this renaissance for Scottish education, can we in the profession now expect to be able to get on with our jobs without the perennial complaints about the implacable deterioration of educational standards? Will the media and opposition politicians stop banging on about Pisa, a flawed and unrepresentative measure involving one year group and 1.5 per cent of the school population, disliked by those who actually teach, but much loved by opposition politicians and armchair critics? Will we be congratulated for our sterling performance under very adverse conditions which has made great strides in reducing the attainment gap?
Mark “doubtful” in all the above columns. However, the critics of the SQA and government have had their say and their way. They’ve had their outrage, but they can’t have it both ways. Damn cunning these SNP people.
GILL TURNER Derby Street, Edinburgh
John Swinney must have known for many weeks that the exam results would be wildly skewed, but rather than consult and find a solution he chose to keep it quiet, limit the uproar to a few days, upset kids, parents and teachers, did a U-turn and bathed in a wave of relieved adulation from soon-to-be voters and their duped parents, knowing the worst is yet to come, when employers don’t value 2020 certificates and the buck is passed to already almost bust universities to find a way to select from 4,000 more students.
Can kicked, buck passed, job done.
How cynical can you get? ALLAN SUTHERLAND Willow Row, Stonehaven