In times as strange and as unpredictable as these, it is difficult to imagine what could surprise us next. Yet the latest development in politics has taken many people by surprise – Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish National Party have decided to listen for once. Sturgeon’s Scottish Government has one of the most abysmal track records on education, having had scandal after scandal in her almost ten years as First Minister. Not least having had had an exam results scandal every year for the past 3 years, causing unnecessary distress and uncertainty to young people at an extremely important time in their lives. After immense pressure from these young people and the Scottish Conservatives – the SNP have finally decided to swallow their pride and take some much-needed action by scrapping the Scottish Qualifications Authority.
The Muir Report is an independent report lead by Professor Ken Muir to take forward some of the key recommendations in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s review of Scotland’s curriculum and was published on the 9th of March after being rushed by the Scottish Government to subtly release it a day early in order to avoid scrutiny. The OECD report itself faced a number of delays due to the Scottish Government’s fear it would harm their re-election prospects, which is understandable considering the state of Scottish Education that it showed. The OECD report stated that: “There have been declining relative and absolute achievement in mathematics on international data” and that “over two-thirds of primary school pupils perform well or very well in numeracy when assessed against the expected level but the same can be said of only around 40% of students in S2”. While the Muir report had many recommendations, the most notable of these is the abolition of the Scottish Qualifications Authority and Education Scotland, which are to be replaced by three separate bodies – one for qualifications, one national agency for education in Scotland and one independent organisation for inspections (much like Ofsted, which the SNP previously opposed). These changes are expected to be put in place by 2024… however considering the Scottish National Party’s track record, we can expect delay.
These new education bodies are a welcome change but are coming at a time where confidence in Scottish education is at an all-time low, with pupils, parents and teachers demanding action. For some, this change has come far too late – with trust beyond repair. This is understandable, not just because of exam results scandals, low teacher numbers, and an incredibly large education gap between the richest and poorest students, but because the SQA continue to patronise students. On the very same day the Muir Report came out, the SQA published an ‘Exam Revision Guide’ that has been labelled by pupils and teachers as “patronising” and “shambolic” containing ‘advice’ such as “Use a sharp pencil” and “Spell words correctly”. We need to give our young people so much more credit than this.
Better late than never, the Scottish Nationalists have finally started to listen to pupils and teachers after years of hearing that the SQA was no longer fit for purpose. But for many, it is far too late, and while this action is welcome, the Scottish Nationalists will always put education last on their priority list.