Qualifications Consultation

Day 115/366 - CfE Seminar
Originally uploaded by Gordon McKinlay

I was at the Highland Resort on Thursday this week for the curriculum for excellence EA contacts meeting. A long way to travel but that's not the point. We considered a wide range of issues but the one which our secondary schools have been champing at the bit for is the announcement of consultation on qualifications. The newspapers have covered this quite a lot but I thought it would be worth summarising for my own benefit as much as anyone else.

1. New qualifications in literacy and numeracy will be developed at SCQF levels 3, 4 and 5. Pupils will take these in S4 or later and will include a mixture of internal and external assessment.

2. Standard Grade and Intermediate 1 and 2 qualifications will be replaced by a new set of qualifications at SCQF levels 4 and 5. Standard Grade foundation level (SCQF level 3) will be replaced by Access 3.

3. Highers are seen as the "gold standard" of Scottish education. All national qualifications, including Higher and Advanced Higher will, however be reviewed to ensure consistency with curriculum for excellence.

4. More flexibility will be embedded in the system. This is likely to include a winter diet of examinations and the most able pupils bypassing lower levels.

There was a very clear indication that pupils would not take qualifications until S4 at the earliest except for exceptional circumstances. It was also noted that new qualifications would be likely to be implemented in 2012/2013, ie for those pupils currently in P6.

The consultation paper is likely to be published in early June with the consultation period running to the end of September.

There is a lot that I could say but it is not for this forum. We all welcome the publication of the consultation and look forward to reading and thinking about the issues which arise from it.