A different class

The SNP's education overhaul is the biggest in a generation, but will it also bring chaos and confusion, ask Eddie Barnes and Murdo MacLeod

FOR Iseabal Hendry, the next three years are all mapped out. The 14-year-old pupil at Plockton High in Wester Ross will be working her way through a familiar pattern of exams that will give her the qualifications she needs for a bright future.

The Standard Grades, Intermediates and Highers that she and thousands of other Scottish schoolchildren will sit are part of an exam system that dates back to the 1980s, when it was regarded as one of the best in the world.

By the time she is 17, Iseabal will hopefully have the grades to take her to university, her first taste of adult life, and then prospect of a career. But Iseabal will be among the last generation to experience Scottish education the old-fashioned way.

Last week, Fiona Hyslop, the Education Secretary, stood up in the Holyrood parliament and announced a revolution in Scottish schooling, with the changes starting as early as next year.

Hyslop's "Curriculum for Excellence" may lead to Standard Grades and possibly Intermediates being swept away and a different system of course-work testing taking their place. While Highers would remain the "gold standard" of Scottish education, new French-style baccalaureates in science and languages could become a mainstay of the new curriculum.

Intended to breathe new life into Scottish education and modernise the nation's approach to learning while dealing with long-recognised deficiencies, the changes are regarded by Iseabal's father, George, with a mixture of enthusiasm and concern. Hendry, a Lochcarron-based writer, said: "This is a refreshing move in the right direction. Children need more flexibility. I already see the change compared to my days in school, where everything was very rigid, and I think that it's for the better. It's a logical response to the internet, and teaching children how to search for information."

Yet he is wary about how the wholesale changes will affect the children in the years below his daughter. "In a way you don't want any more changes because you fear that will bring disruption. And you do wonder how it will be brought in. Overall, though I do think that they should be moving this way."

His concerns are echoed among other parents, educationalists and teaching unions, who fear the new system may be rushed in to satisfy political objectives – in particular the need to be seen to be achieving quick results – to the detriment of the education system.

The questions Hyslop must answer are now piling up. Are the changes prescribed by the Government really necessary? If there is to be a revolution, is this the right approach? And can the changes be brought in quickly without causing chaos for teenagers facing one of the most stressful periods of their lives?

It is the practical implications at classroom level that worry Judith Gillespie, development manager of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council. "The problem with this is that it is not clear at the moment what it will actually amount to," she says. "I'm always slightly alarmed when adults who have all their own qualifications already want to throw the education system into the air and see what happens when it comes down. What is undoubtedly true is that the exam system needs to be standardised and simplified."

Uppermost in many minds is the last wave of reform - known as Higher Still - which was meant to address many of the current problems and took years of wrangling to complete.

In the teaching profession, however, the consensus now is that change is required. The Scottish education system that produced so many leading scientists, engineers, politicians and thinkers over the past 200 years is now embroiled in arguments over discredited teaching methods. Schools are accused of failing both the gifted and unacademic. Although the number of pupils leaving school with qualifications is higher than ever, standards of literacy and numeracy are falling amid claims that exams have been "dumbed down". The number of children taking science subjects and languages is declining. Although girls are maintaining standards, many boys are under-achieving.

Against this background, the former Labour-Lib Dem administration started looking in 2002 at a change in the curriculum and exam system, work that has now been picked up by the SNP Government. Hyslop described the plans as "the biggest change in education in Scotland for a generation", claiming that the plans were being set out to ensure today's children became "successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors". But what does that actually mean at the chalk face?

In effect, Hyslop intends to grasp the nettle and abolish Standard Grade and Intermediate qualifications, although an official announcement is unlikely until later in the year. New qualifications will replace them, but are likely to be based on course-work units spread throughout the school terms, rather than one big block of exams at the end.

Another new development will be exams in literacy and numeracy for all pupils in the December of the S4 year – a response to criticism that many children are leaving school without these basic skills they need for adulthood and the world of work.

Highers will remain as the qualifications backbone of the system but they will be studied over 18 months, from the start of S4 to the December of S5. This could bring to an end the current much-maligned "two-term dash" between taking Standard Grades and Highers.

In addition, the SNP Government is planning to press ahead with its commitment to introduce baccalaureate exams in sciences and languages, studied in S5 and S6, and spanning Highers, Advanced Highers and additional projects. One of the question marks over Hyslop's proposals is how she reconciles this proposal with her insistence that the Higher will remain the gold standard.

Hyslop also wants the first three secondary years used for a broad general education, before pupils start selecting their choice of examination subjects in S4.

Sources say the Education Secretary believes the qualifications landscape in S4-S6 is overcrowded and there is a need for a better balance between giving pupils the skills to pass exams and the skills they require for the process of learning.

One senior source said: "It's about moving away from pupils being tested on what they have learned, to an examination of whether pupils are learning. It's a different type of assessment." Communication skills would be regarded as more important than knowing dates from the Crimean War, for example.

The difference is intended to be felt well before examinations loom. The first three years of secondary school are where the biggest problems have been discovered. Some 20% of pupils are under-performing and there are claims that boys in particular simply drift away from formal education.

The techniques used widely in primary school may figure more prominently. The plan for under-15s is to continue current subjects, such as science, maths, languages and history, but also to introduce "inter-disciplinary" subjects, such as "creativity and innovation", "enterprise", "culture", "environmental studies" and "citizenship and community".

The new emphasis on literacy, numeracy and communication is welcomed by Stuart Mackinnon, spokesman for the Federation for Small Business in Scotland. "There should be more emphasis on equipping school leavers with skills that translate into the business environment, such as the ability to communicate and to provide customer service," he says.

Scottish Government officials are optimistic they will get a favourable response from teachers – partly because of the large turnover within the profession. Around 20,000 new teachers are coming on stream, replacing a large number nearing retirement age. Many have been trained in the new approach and will, officials say, be more ready to take on the challenge.

However, teaching union leaders said that after years of parliamentary dithering there were now concerns about the timetable of introducing the new system. David Eaglesham, the general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, said:

"We are now going to decide whether we think the timetable is realistic. It takes about two years to get a new textbook ready, for example. It's good to see more life skills in the outcomes – I wasn't taught keyboard skills at school, yet we use them in every job."

Educationalists also support a change, although – again – the pace alarms some. The reforms of the 1980s, which saw O-Grades replaced with Standard Grades, took almost a decade to phase in.

For Hyslop, the political dangers of overhauling a once-admired system are clear, despite cross-party agreement about the need for change. "We're being criticised for moving too quickly," said one insider. "But this is what the previous administration should have been doing long ago."

If it all works, the benefits could be far-reaching. Professor Bart McGettrick, the former Dean of Glasgow University's Faculty of Education, welcomed a system that "lays more emphasis on values and on what a person needs in order to be an educated person".

He said: "What you will notice in students who go through this kind of education is that they will probably have better relationships with their fellow children, and they will probably get on with their parents. I think you will find it in their degree of confidence and in a more engaged student who will be more interested in why they are doing what they do."

Making the grade

TIME FOR A CHANGE?

Scotland's current exam system, which is under review by Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop, right, has three main components:

STANDARD GRADES

These replaced the old O-Grade qualification in the early 1990s. It is Scotland's educational qualification for students aged around 14 to 16. Students typically study seven to nine subjects at Standard Grade, which is broadly equivalent to the GCSE qualification taken in other parts of the UK.

INTERMEDIATE 1 AND 2

Between Standard Grades and Highers there are two further levels, Intermediate 1 and 2. Which students are put forward for these, and at what stage of their school career, differs widely between schools, leading to some confusion. They are widely seen as a move towards the eventual phasing out of Standard Grades.

HIGHERS AND ADVANCED HIGHERS

Pupils who stay on generally take Highers in S5 – usually four. In S6, for those who wish to remain at school for the final year, more Highers and Advanced Highers can be taken. The Advanced Higher, formerly the Certificate of Sixth Year Studies, is regarded as the equivalent of an English A-level.