ARGYLL and Bute Council’s policy lead for education has welcomed the cancellation of the 2021 Higher exams – but slammed the time it took the Scottish Government to make the decision.
Education secretary and deputy first minister John Swinney announced on Tuesday, December 8 that for the second year in a row, Higher and Advanced Higher exams would not take place in Scotland next year due to Covid-19.
But Cowal councillor Yvonne McNeilly said the decision should have been taken four months ago.
As in 2019-20, pupils’ grades for the current academic year will be determined by teacher estimates.
The 2020-21 National 5 exam diet was cancelled in October and grades at that level will be determined the same way.
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Councillor McNeilly said: “I am very pleased. This decision should have been made at the start of the school year in August. It would have given absolute clarity for everyone concerned, not least of all our pupils.
“Staff would have been clear from the beginning and planning could have begun in earnest.
“Thankfully at last a decision has been taken. Leaving it to February for clarity on this would have been borderline criminal.
“As I always say, if education is Nicola Sturgeon’s number one priority, heaven help everything else.”
Announcing the decision, Mr Swinney told MSPs that pupils had already “lost significant learning time” at the end of the last academic year, with schools having been closed from March until the end of term.
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He also said: “In October, I said Highers and Advanced Highers would go ahead if it was safe and fair to do so.
“Since then, many pupils have suffered disruption because of Covid, as they were obliged to self-isolate or even saw their school closed.
“The level of disruption has, however, not been the same across the board – pupils in deprived areas have been hit hardest.
“While we hope that public health will improve in the coming months with the roll-out of the vaccine, we cannot guarantee that there will be no further disruption to pupils’ learning.
“Holding exams would run the risk of translating the unequal impact of Covid into unfair results for our poorest pupils, leading to their futures being blighted through no fault of their own. That is simply not fair.”
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