Analysis: Statistics should not be as important as pupils' best interests

Published on Sunday 29 November 2009 22:44

AT FIRST glance, transferring might seem like a sensible and flexible option for pupils who are struggling with the demands of Highers. However, Standard Grade Credit sits at level 5 on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), as does Intermediate 2 – in other words, they are equivalent.

There may be valid reasons for this duplication. It is argued that there is a large gap between Standard Grade and Higher, and that Intermediate 2 provides a better foundation for Higher than does Standard Grade.

A second argument concerns university entrance. It is said in some schools that Intermediate 2 is more highly valued by university admissions departments than is Standard Grade. An A grade at Intermediate 2 does accrue more UCAS tariff points than band 1 Standard Grade. However, this advantage is marginal to say the least, and a quick poll of Scottish universities suggests admissions selectors make no distinction between the two.

So why are young people being required to duplicate qualifications in this way? A possible reason lies in a poor understanding of the SCQF within schools.

However, I believe that a greater factor is pressure on schools to demonstrate raised attainment. Schools are judged according to overall attainment at Higher. Statistics are gathered each year and schools placed on unofficial league tables. Slipping down these tables is a high-risk business. Putting young people into exams that they might fail exacerbates this risk – hence the pressure on pupils to drop subjects at Higher when they are struggling.

Such pupils have to be put somewhere, and in the lack of available courses, Intermediate 2 is the only option. All of this raises some important questions. We should be asking why decisions that affect the educational futures of young people are being driven by factors that are non- (even anti-) educational.

We should question the rather dubious practice of requiring pupils to waste a year sitting duplicate qualifications.

Finally, and most importantly, we owe it to our young people to ensure that the imminent reform of national qualifications offers both progression and suitable fallback positions to pupils.

&#149 Dr Mark Priestley is a senior lecturer in education at Stirling University