Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment - final report: Scottish Government response

Introduction

The Scottish Government supports the evolution of Scotland’s approach to assessment in the Senior Phase and views it as an integral part of our wider plans to improve curriculum, qualifications and outcomes for young people. As announced in December 2023, the Curriculum Improvement Cycle has established a planned and systematic approach to improvement ensuring the curriculum remains relevant and forward looking, while clarifying the role of knowledge and acting to support high quality teaching and learning. This was recommended by the OECD in 2021 and is an opportunity to build on the strengths of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), while taking steps to de-clutter and clarify where we know improvements are needed.

Curriculum should drive qualifications - not the other way around. That is why qualification content will be updated to reflect curriculum improvements, not least to ensure alignment and strong progression between the broad general education (BGE) and Senior Phase (S4 to S6). This will also provide for an opportunity to realise the links between the national skills framework, which is being further developed by Scottish Government following the recommendations of the Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape.

A series of independent reports, including the National Discussion on Education, have considered Scotland’s approach to qualifications and assessment^[2]. These reports informed the work of the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment (IRQA) led by Professor Louise Hayward and its final report: It’s Our Future.

The IRQA made a series of far-reaching recommendations. We are grateful to the many young people, teachers, parents and carers, employers, colleges, universities and others who have contributed to engagement on how qualifications and assessment should change. Many of these reviews were commissioned before, or during the pandemic. It is, therefore, equally important that we remain mindful of how the pandemic has changed Scotland’s schools.

We are similarly grateful to the many teachers who completed the survey on the recommendations of the IRQA. Taking the extra time to listen during the sustained period of engagement since the report’s publication has helped to shape the ambitious, yet pragmatic, approach outlined in this response.

As the International Council of Education Advisers has made clear, the time for reviews in Scotland is now over. It is our collective responsibility to move beyond ideas and into action. In doing so the Scottish Government seeks to achieve a balance between an ambition, held by many, to see significant change to the qualifications in the Senior Phase of our school education system, with action that is realistic and sustainable within the resources available to national government, national education bodies, local government and to schools themselves. This balanced approach and the actions set out in this response will ensure that all young people in Scotland experience an education that, in the words of the final report of the National Discussion on Education, “is ambitious, inclusive and supportive”.

Importantly, all of the actions set out in this response are achievable, whilst taking into account the capacity of the system, at a time when our schools are facing a range of complex challenges as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, such as issues around attendance and behaviour.

To underline our commitment to improving education in Scotland, the Scottish Government will set out a longer-term improvement plan for Scottish Education^[3] which will be published later this year. Through this plan we will work with teachers and school leaders in order to build on the current strengths in Scottish Education and deliver the action required to drive improvement.

As part of a refreshed National Improvement Framework, activity will include: the continuous improvement of the curriculum; the reform of qualifications; tackling issues of behaviour and attendance; next steps in respect of new education bodies; actions on digital; a coherent professional learning offer and access to evidence based resources to support teachers to deliver excellent teaching, learning and assessment within a supportive school context.

Approach to assessment

The Scottish Government agrees with the IRQA that the balance of assessment methods in the Senior Phase should change. We accept the view of Professor Stobart, the IRQA and a range of other educational commentators that we should reduce the emphasis on high stakes external examinations and that internal and continuous assessment should contribute to a greater percentage of a final grade.

We believe a rebalanced approach to assessment will help more young people successfully evidence their learning and for many, it will reduce the stress associated with examinations. Importantly, rebalancing assessment methods will also act to support learning and teaching methods which continuously monitor progress throughout the school year, thereby better supporting outcomes for our young people including those with additional support needs, whilst also increasing the resilience of the system.

In rebalancing the approach to assessment, it is imperative that Scotland’s teachers, as the subject specialists who know and understand the knowledge and skills to be assessed, have a lead role. The precise formula of assessment approaches will necessarily differ as per the requirements of individual subjects and courses.

Taking steps to balance assessment methods does not necessarily mean that examinations will be removed. Many studies from around the world evidence the value of examinations in applying a consistent and objective standard as part of an overall approach. The Scottish Government is clear that external examinations should remain part of our overall national approach, including at National 5. It is important to state that the current approach to Senior Phase qualifications in Scotland is not wholly reliant on external examinations; coursework and assignments already form an important part of the overall assessment approach.

We also acknowledge that many teachers, in responding to last year’s teacher survey inviting views on the IRQA recommendations, did not support wholesale removal of examinations at National 5.

There are, however, a range of qualifications available in the Senior Phase where a written external examination may not be the best way to assess knowledge, understanding and skills.

The current qualifications body is already seeking views on whether written external examinations should remain part of course assessment in more practical subjects, such as National 5 Practical Woodworking and Fashion and Textile Technology, with a view to any changes starting to be implemented from 2025/26. This follows changes to a small number of courses in light of teacher feedback ahead of the 2024/25 session.

The Scottish Government supports the IRQA’s view that the range of qualifications offered in the Senior Phase has, over time, become overly complex and is in need of rationalisation. It is commendable that many schools now offer a broad range of courses and learning opportunities to their pupils.

Nonetheless, a degree of rationalisation of the Senior Phase offer will allow us to ensure clearer, more relevant learner pathways, which are less confusing for young people and their parents and carers. Pupil choice is a key strength within Scotland’s schools and rationalisation will support young people to make informed choices by ensuring that they understand the pathways available to them.

In undertaking any rationalisation work, Qualifications Scotland will oversee a portfolio of high-quality qualifications for the Senior Phase which:

• Suits all pupils regardless of their age, stage, and ambition
• Is clear and easy for pupils to understand and navigate
• Delivers greater parity of esteem between different qualification types
• Delivers the skills and knowledge to grow our economy
• Will be maintained, reviewed and updated on a regular basis

An engaged and well supported teaching profession is crucial if these changes are to lead to improved learning and teaching experiences in classrooms. It will also be important that pupils enjoy their learning experience and value the qualifications they work towards. Therefore, it will be vital that Qualifications Scotland works in partnership with young people, teachers, our teacher professional associations and local government in developing changes to assessment practice.

That is why the secondment of a secondary Headteacher into Qualifications Scotland is absolutely pivotal to building trust in the new qualifications body and further demonstrating the change in approach to engagement with Scotland’s teachers. The secondee will be key in driving the design and implementation of more meaningful engagement with the teaching profession.

Qualifications Scotland will work in partnership with teachers, pupils and other key stakeholders, to:

• Take steps to remove external written examinations in practical subjects where appropriate, with changes starting to be implemented from 2025/26.
• Work towards extending the range of approved assessment methods which could be used for national qualifications to better support changes in the balance of assessment.
• Pilot digital onscreen assessment across various subjects, including Computing Science given this is a subject area ripe for consideration. This work will start in 2025.
• Set out a longer-term programme of work to rebalance assessment methods across all national courses, which will align with Curriculum Improvement Cycle activity where possible.
• Rationalise the qualifications offer in the Senior Phase, starting with the Creative, Hospitality and Sport and Technology, Engineering and Construction Sectors (which represents 800 qualifications and awards), the first phase of which is due to complete in December 2024 with other sectors and national courses to follow.
• Starting in 2024, explore models of how graded national courses such as National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher could be organised into ‘modules’, to allow pupils maximum flexibility to build credit as they go. Learning from the previous experience with unit assessments (which were ultimately removed) and research into different approaches to ‘modularisation’ in other jurisdictions, will be taken into consideration.
• Implement changes to assessment which are proportionate and take teacher workload into consideration. This partnership approach will be emphasised through the participative governance structures planned for Qualifications Scotland, the detail of which is set out in the recently introduced Education (Scotland) Bill.

As part of the Curriculum Improvement Cycle, the content of qualifications will also be updated as necessary to ensure smoother progression between the BGE and Senior Phase.

It is imperative that Scotland’s teaching profession leads the improvements needed to our curriculum content. To that end, subject specialist and teachers’ expertise will be drawn upon throughout the Curriculum Improvement Cycle process, including through engagement with a range of subject associations and other relevant organisations and networks as appropriate. This will build on the positive involvement of subject specialists during the early series of Curriculum Improvement Cycle pilot reviews that were conducted during 2023, with the involvement of practicing teachers. This approach to teacher engagement, involvement and leadership must also be a hallmark of our approach to qualifications reform. It is imperative that this new culture is embedded in, and evidenced by, Qualifications Scotland.

Project Learning/Inter-disciplinary Learning

Inter-Disciplinary Learning (IDL) is already one of the four ‘contexts’ for learning within CfE. IDL (working across disciplines) and project learning (usually, but not always, within individual subjects) are already, therefore, part of learning in Scotland’s schools and there are many examples of effective practice in the BGE and increasingly in the Senior Phase. We note the recent publication by HMIE of the National Thematic Inspection on Curriculum Design which states that IDL remains an underutilised element of curriculum design and that staff require a better understanding of the principles and benefits of this approach to learning. It recommends that “Building on work already started, national bodies and local authorities should provide further support for staff to develop a greater understanding of the principles and benefits of high-quality interdisciplinary learning.”

We are therefore of the view that more work is required if high quality inter-disciplinary learning is to essentially become a mandatory part of the Senior Phase curriculum in all secondary schools. It is important that there is a consistent offer that provides all young people with an experience and in time, a qualification, that is valued by employers and further and higher education.

We are aware that young people, employers and many schools have a strong interest in the development of skills associated with this form of learning. Education Scotland has been working with senior school leaders who are leading the way on IDL, to consider how to strengthen practice in this area. The current qualifications body also has experience in delivering interdisciplinary projects through the Scottish Baccalaureate and Scottish Studies courses.

Building on the existing IDL co-design group facilitated by Education Scotland, a refreshed working group, chaired by a senior secondary school teacher experienced in the delivery of IDL, will bring together relevant partners already active in this space. This group will lead a new phase of work with the objective of better determining the place of IDL in secondary schools while ensuring an equitable offer for all young people.

There are a number of organisations and schools already working in this area including Dollar Academy and Grove Academy (Dundee City Council), Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership (SCQFP), the Wood Foundation, Daydream Believers and Powering Futures and we will ensure they are all involved in shaping our collective next steps. It is imperative that any new model is tested in a range of schools before wider adoption. This exercise will also help expand our shared knowledge as to the ways IDL could be embedded into a school’s curriculum including in respect of timetabling while also considering the place of accreditation in this curricular area.

Personal Pathway

Education is not just about the qualifications a young person achieves. The enduring aim of Curriculum for Excellence is that all young people develop the ‘four capacities’ to become: successful learners; confident individuals; responsible citizens; and effective contributors. Young people in Scotland already have the opportunity to undertake a wealth of activity that builds their skills and confidence, and this breadth of achievement should rightly be recognised and celebrated.

We are committed to continuing to explore how best to recognise such achievement with a range of stakeholders, including young people. In doing so, and before considering whether or not wider achievement could ultimately be included as part of any leaving certificate, we will need to work through significant concerns raised by a wide range of stakeholders – principally, that doing so risks entrenching and exacerbating social inequity.

To help provide a platform from which this discussion will grow, we agree with the recommendations of the Career Review, the Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape and the IRQA that the development of a national digital profile would benefit young people by helping them capture wider achievements and plan learning by recording the totality of their skills, strengths, experiences and qualifications over time. An initial profile has been developed within the My World of Work platform currently managed by Skills Development Scotland (SDS). This will ensure consistent and cost-free access to all young people in Scotland.

This tool will be further developed in conjunction with young people, teachers, Education Scotland, SDS and the current qualifications body across the course of the coming year. The use of a digital profile tool will be optional.

The Scottish Government expects that the national digital profile will be fully aligned to meet the needs of schools and that young people and teachers will be involved in the process of development. To support continued development of the profile and help ensure its effective use in schools, an experienced secondary school leader will be seconded into Education Scotland to work with SDS and the current qualifications body. We recognise that there is broad interest in this area from young people, parents, employers, the further and higher education sectors and a range of organisations that provide learning opportunities for young people and all will be involved in the work to come.

Leaving Certificate

The Scottish Government understands the potential benefits of a leaving certificate as a means of recognising a broader range of a young person’s achievements, with the award being flexible to reflect all levels of ability. A leaving certificate has the potential to create a more inclusive approach to qualifications and could provide particular benefits for young people with additional support needs and disabilities.

The Scottish Government understands that more work needs to be done to determine the content of the leaving certificate and establish how it will operate. We will endeavour to undertake further testing with Scotland’s teaching profession directly – on the best and most appropriate route forward which may support a leaving certificate in the future.

Any approach to the development of a leaving certificate will require to be consistent across all schools in Scotland; thereby ensuring that all young people are provided with an equal opportunity to succeed. The Scottish Government believes the SCQF, often cited as a highly valuable element of Scottish education, will have a key role in supporting Qualifications Scotland, Education Scotland, schools and teachers to create of an inclusive leaving certificate that meets the needs of all pupils.

Parity of esteem

The IRQA proposes that long-standing challenges in respect of parity of esteem can be partly overcome by incorporating the SCQF into our naming convention for qualifications. The Scottish Government agrees that we should ensure consistent use of SCQF levels in naming qualifications and in terms of any national recording of results, whilst retaining our existing qualification nomenclature. This will ensure that the currency of existing qualifications is maintained and will include retention of ‘Higher’ and ‘Advanced Higher’.

While helping to build a better understanding of the full range of qualifications, consistency across qualifications will also serve to recognise the valuable contribution the SCQF makes to Scottish Education – a contribution recognised in recent reports authored by Professor Muir, James Withers and the IRQA.

We will therefore:

• Build on the existing IDL co-design group facilitated by Education Scotland. A refreshed working group, chaired by a senior secondary school leader experienced in the delivery of IDL, will bring together all relevant parties already active in this space. This group will lead a new phase of work with the objective of better determining the place of IDL in secondary schools while ensuring an equitable offer for all young people.
• Support the continued development of the national digital profile now housed within My World of Work. To help ensure its effective use in schools an experienced secondary school leader will be seconded into Education Scotland.
• Ask the current qualifications body and qualification providers in Scotland (e.g. universities), to ensure consistent use of SCQF levels in their titles to support a clear description of all qualifications (e.g. Higher English, SCQF Level 6).

Support for Teachers

The final report of the IRQA is clear that teachers will require support and professional learning if the changes being proposed are to be delivered. We agree that a sharp focus on implementation is key. We will work with Qualifications Scotland, Education Scotland and the teacher trade unions to help ensure secondary teachers are directly involved in the process of change and are empowered to lead the improvements we all want to see. Collectively, we must ensure that teachers are supported to work in a new environment characterised by more balanced assessment approaches.

The Scottish Government also agrees that teachers require more time if they are to accept a greater responsibility for formal assessment. The Scottish Government remains fully committed to the delivery of our commitment to reduce class contact time by 90 minutes per week. We are keen to inject some urgency into this work and will continue to work with the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) to focus on delivering this as quickly and effectively as possible, for the benefit of Scotland’s teachers and pupils alike.

Our commitment to providing high quality professional learning and reducing teacher class contact time will be key in ensuring changes to curriculum, qualifications and assessment are deliverable, and ultimately lead to the improved outcomes we all want to see for young people.

We will therefore:

• Take steps to ensure appropriate support for teachers to effectively deliver new forms of assessment or where necessary, test practice related to IDL.
• Prioritise work through the SNCT to deliver a reduction in contact time.
• Support schools to deliver high quality teaching and learning including through the establishment of the Centre for Teaching Excellence. The Centre will ensure research and evidence is distilled into practical and digestible support for all teachers, no matter their career stage, while helping the development of innovative classroom practice.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is developing rapidly and has the potential to open new possibilities for learning, teaching and assessment. We agree with the IRQA that it is important that the education sector understands the opportunities, implications and challenges of AI. New and emerging technologies are already impacting on society in a range of ways and with this in mind Richard Lochhead MSP, Minister for Small Business, Innovation, Tourism and Trade, announced in June 2023 that he was commissioning the Scottish AI Alliance “to lead an independent review to set out what Scotland needs to know now to maximise the benefits of AI while controlling the risks”.

The initial report by the AI Alliance: Advancing AI for Scotland, published in January this year, makes specific recommendations about AI skills including, that we “promote an integrated approach to development of skills relating to AI, from schools to universities to workplace and lifelong learning, within work to deliver initiatives such as the Digital Economy Skills Action Plan.” It is right that our approach to AI across all of education, not just qualifications and assessment, sits in the context of Scotland’s AI Strategy and the work of the Scottish AI Alliance.

The Scottish Government will work with Qualifications Scotland and Education Scotland within this context to ensure that AI can be used effectively and safely in learning, teaching and assessment. We support the work of the current qualifications body in considering the impact of AI on assessment and the work of Education Scotland and ADES in terms of supporting teachers. We also note the recent development of the GenAI Exploration Hub built by Daydream Believers in partnership with Education Scotland, which provides up-to-date information to educators and students on Generative AI advancements and their potential use within learning environments.

Additionally, and to capitalise on the opportunity which AI may present for reducing teacher workload, we have recently launched an AI for impact ‘CivTech Challenge’ which invites bids designed to advance a reduction in teacher workload, via the use of AI. We believe that AI presents a unique opportunity to reduce teacher workload; we will use the results from the CivTech challenge to advance a reduction in teacher workload.

We will also ensure our education bodies have access to experts from Scotland’s leading universities in AI advancements, as well as from outside the education sector, so that our thinking reflects best practice in what is a fast moving and complex area and benefits both teachers and pupils.

With regards to next steps in digital technology we are currently developing a new digital strategy for school education in Scotland, in partnership with COSLA and key education stakeholders. The strategy will outline the important role we believe digital tools and services play in the future of Scottish education and will highlight the key features of successful technology provision. It will consider both people and technology aspects of digital education in Scotland, to help support deployment and purposeful use of technology in our schools.

Engagement and next steps

The Scottish Government agrees with the IRQA that in enacting change to qualifications and assessment it is important that a range of interests are closely involved in the process. While young people their parents/carers and teachers will remain at the centre of the discussion on the future of qualifications in Scotland, it is crucial that a broader range of interests including universities, colleges (as both Senior Phase provider and next point of learning) and employers (as ‘users’ of qualifications) are equally involved in the discussions to come.

It is imperative that teachers lead a refreshed approach to assessment.

Teacher voice has been at the heart of this balanced response from the Scottish Government – as evidenced by last year’s survey on the recommendations of the IRQA. We will continue to ensure the views of teachers are listened to and reflected as changes to assessment practices are enacted. This will include ensuring that secondary teachers are given the opportunity to lead on the input required in terms of changes and improvements in respect of their own subject area.

Conclusion

Improvements to qualifications and assessment, our commitment to structural reform through new education bodies, and the process to update the curriculum through the Curriculum Improvement Cycle will collectively provide a clear opportunity by which curriculum, qualifications and assessment will be enhanced to support improved outcomes for all young people, including those with additional support needs.

The Scottish Government looks forward to working with delivery partners to progress the suite of actions set out in this paper as a crucial part of our programme of education reform. We are confident that with a pragmatic and phased approach to change, supported with strategic leadership that engages all interested parties in the process, it will be possible for Scottish Education to adopt many of the changes proposed by the Independent Review.

Teachers must be at the heart of an improved qualifications offer. They must be empowered to contribute nationally, and they must have time created to do so. That wider context, whilst not a key part of IRQA, must be understood. The Scottish Government is particularly mindful of the need for Qualifications Scotland to carry credibility with the teaching profession.

Fundamentally, however, changes to assessment practices in the Senior Phase are only one part of the jigsaw of improving Scottish Education. A holistic and longer-term approach, which takes account of the changes in our schools’ post pandemic, is required to drive the changes that will support better outcomes for our children and young people. That longer term improvement plan will be set out to Parliament in the coming months – and will make clearer the responsibilities of all partners, including local government, in supporting educational improvement.