Scotland’s independent think tank
Scotland’s independent think tank

Smarter Thinking: Assessment in the Senior Phase

CHANGING EXAMS WOULD GET KIDS BACK TO SCHOOL, BEHAVING BETTER

  • Commission on School Reform calls for Nat5 exams to be sat before Easter
  • Expert group says Highers are too short and Nat5s are too long
  • Disadvantaged pupils suffer most from “seemingly endless” S4 study leave

The Commission on School Reform, the independent group of education experts set up by the think tank Reform Scotland, today calls for an immediate change to Scotland’s examination system which they say would improve attendance and behaviour, as well as improving educational outcomes.

The Commission has released a new report – Smarter Thinking: Assessment in the Senior Phase – in which it says that our examinations system in S4 and S5 is having a negative impact on Scotland’s alarming school absence rate and increasing behaviour problems.

Carole Ford, the main author of the report and a former headteacher, has said that the nature of assessment has a direct impact on learning and behaviour, and has identified the nature of S4 assessment as a key cause of problems, and has suggested that the S4 timetable should be shortened by one term, with the S5 Higher timetable lengthened accordingly.

The Commission has proposed:

  • All S4 assessments should take place prior to the Easter holidays; and 
  • S4 pupils should commence Higher courses on their return after the Easter holidays

The full paper, with the recommendations, can be read here.

Commenting, Carole Ford, former Headteacher of Kilmarnock Academy and former President of School Leaders Scotland said:

“How and when pupils are assessed has a significant impact on how they behave, on how they learn and how well they will cope with future learning. I am certain that the unsatisfactory nature of the current examination arrangements is a driver of the high pupil absence rate, rising before Covid but now at an alarmingly high level, and the behavioural problems in many classrooms, too often culminating in actual violence.

“Many of the problems associated with the assessment system occur at S4. The shortage of time for Higher courses rests largely on the loss of teaching time during the lengthy examination period in S4, and parents will be well aware of the seemingly endless weeks of study leave.

“Schools may operate study classes during this period but experience shows that the more advantaged pupils are more likely to attend. Extended study leave therefore adds to the disadvantage experienced by more deprived pupils.

“Behaviour and attitude are strongly associated with habit, and many pupils struggle with the return to school after such a protracted period of absence, as Covid has clearly demonstrated. It is also the case that school attendance falls off during June.

“More fundamental change is probably required, but in the very short term we could make a difference to behaviour, absence and outcomes if we held all Nat5 assessments before Easter, and commenced Higher immediately thereafter, for the full final term of S4.”

Read the Report (PDF)

CSR Assessment paper Dec 24