Baccalaureate brought into Scots schools

Published on Thursday 27 November 2008 09:17

NEW qualifications aimed at encouraging youngsters to study science and languages were launched by the Scottish Government today.

The baccalaureate awards are intended to stretch the brightest pupils and help them make the transition to further and higher education. They will be able to obtain the new qualification by studying two Advanced Highers and one Higher in a specified range of subjects.

The first baccalaureates will be awarded in August 2010.

Science and language baccalaureates are being introduced first to address concerns that not enough teenagers choose these subjects.

But Education secretary Fiona Hyslop said the government had been overwhelmed by the interest in the new qualifications and baccalaureates in social subjects such as geography, history and art could follow.

She said: "The baccalaureate awards aim to encourage more of our young people to study more science and language courses in the later stages of secondary school."

However, the Educational Institute of Scotland, the country's biggest teaching union, has warned the baccalaureates could "clutter" the curriculum.