This week saw the announcement of the Scottish exam results for 2021 and first-off I would like to congratulate every pupil for the hard-work they have done in another extraordinary year for their education. The Covid pandemic has touched every aspect of our lives, but I feel very strongly for our young people who have had upheaval in their schooling at what is already a very stressful time in a young person’s life. So, I would like to say a massive well done to every pupil for trying their best in these strange times.
The results tell us that the percentage of pupils achieving A grades has hit a record high this year- but at the same time the pass rate for Scottish school qualifications dropped slightly. Part of the discussion with this year’s exam results has focussed on the best way to grade school qualifications. Results this year were largely decided by teachers following a series of assessments, rather than the more traditional sitting of a single final exam on one specific day for external grading. This opens the debate about the effectiveness of exams as a measure for a pupil’s capabilities. Perhaps it is time this was examined in more detail, as a fairer assessment of a pupil’s capabilities may be to take into consideration more than how they perform on one specific day under pressure, and instead build a picture of their ability that takes into account their performance over the entirety of their studies.
However, this aside, and more importantly, the attainment gap between the poorest and wealthiest pupils has widened. The Scottish Government have repeatedly promised to tackle and even eradicate the attainment gap, but yet again in Scotland we can see that attempts to do so have failed. The fact that an attainment gap still exists in Scotland raises serious questions about the state of our education system, and whether or not independent school pupils have an unfair advantage over state school pupils.
This is why I have submitted a series of questions to the Scottish Government to try and get a clearer picture of what is happening in our education system. I have asked the Scottish Government to provide the breakdown in 2021 exam grade results from both state schools and independent schools, what percentage of pupils sitting exams in Scotland in 2021 received the highest grades in a) state schools and b) independent schools, and finally what percentage of school leavers go on to university from a) state schools and b) independent schools.
I believe the answers from the Scottish Government will be illuminating, and can perhaps provide a starting point to a wider discussion about the inequalities in our education system. I also believe there needs to be a real change in funding, in staffing and in the provision of support in state schools so that we move from a position where if your parents can afford to pay for your education at a private school, you have an inbuilt advantage given the much lower class sizes, teacher pupil ratio and additional support that is simply not there in so many of our state schools. Equality in Scotland must mean equality in education for every child regardless of their parents’ wealth or income.
