A MAJOR shake-up of Scotland's exams system was unveiled today by Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop.
Standard Grades are set to be scrapped, along with Intermediate exams, and replaced by a new qualification.
Children will be given a broad, general education without any exams for the first three years of secondary school, making their choice of s
ubjects at the end of S3 instead of S2. But all pupils will be expected to pass new literacy and numeracy awards in S4.
Highers will be retained and pupils will be able to start studying for them earlier.
And exams could be held in the winter as well as the summer.
Ms Hyslop said the proposed changes, which will be put out to consultation in the summer, would give Scotland "next generation" qualifications and fit in with the new curriculum due to be introduced next year.
She told MSPs Standard Grade and Intermediate qualifications had served Scotland well. But she added: "Education has moved on. For instance, Standard Grade is no longer the 'exit' qualification it used to be. And whilst originally designed for those in S5 and S6, Intermediates are increasingly taken by younger pupils." She said the replacement qualification would combine the best features of both Standard Grade and Intermediate and offer flexibility and motivation for young people.
But pupil choices will be delayed. Ms Hyslop said: "We want to allow all young people the opportunity to experience and enjoy a broad general curriculum to the end of S3."
She said for the first time all teaching in all subjects would be expected to embed literacy and numeracy.
"To help strengthen this focus, I propose developing two new separate awards to accredit young people's literacy and numeracy skills – the Scottish Certificate for Literacy and the Scottish Certificate for Numeracy. These will be assessed in S4."
More able pupils would be encouraged not to take the lower qualifications, which meant they could start studying for Highers in S4.
She said: "The pressures of the so called 'two-term' dash to Higher have been a long-standing concern in Scottish education.
"To address this I want to explore the possibility of allowing young people the opportunity to study qualifications over an extended timeframe.
"I also want to explore the possibility of introducing a winter diet of examinations. I believe that a winter diet will provide opportunities for greater choice and flexibility as it could facilitate courses of study over 18 months."
The consultation on the proposals is expected to run from June to October. And the changes are proposed to be introduced from 2012-13 onwards.
Labour education spokeswoman Rhona Brankin welcomed today's announcement but added: "Some schools still find Standard Grades useful and we need reassurance that what is going to replace them will be better."
The full article contains 474 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
