Hyslop rethinks 'leaving certificate' tests

Published on Tuesday 2 December 2008 21:34

COMPULSORY literacy and numeracy tests could be taken a year earlier than previously proposed, the Scottish Government has revealed.

Teachers warned that the original proposal to test S4 – fourth-year secondary – children would leave no time to help any who failed and would become a label of illiteracy.

Fiona Hyslop, the education secretary, said she had asked the body overseeing the new qualifications to look at bringing the tests forward.

She said: "This is not necessarily a leaving certificate.

"We are asking can this be internally assessed by teachers themselves and taken out of S4 and moved it into S3?"

She stressed it was crucial to tackle the problem in primary school and that literacy and numeracy should be embedded across schooling.

"We want to see a bigger focus on literacy and numeracy and look at how that's done in primary," she said. "That should prevent any difficulties later on."

She said primary children would not be tested or externally assessed, but added: "Problems have to be assessed early on."

Critics said the move did not go far enough and called for the tests to be scrapped.

Jim Docherty, deputy-general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, said: "This move indicates the cabinet secretary realises these tests are fundamentally flawed.

"It was geared up towards employers and to prove to the public perceptions about levels of literacy and numeracy were ill-founded, rather than in the interests of educating children."

Ms Hyslop was speaking on publication of some of the 1,800 responses to consultation on plans for school qualifications. Respondents included parents, teachers, colleges, universities and business leaders.

In general, there was support for retention of Highers and Advanced Highers and, in principle, the scrapping of the Standard Grade, to be replaced with a new General Grade.

However, there were concerns about the narrowing of subject choice before Highers .

David Cameron, president of the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, said it believed Ms Hyslop was taking the right approach.

He said: "We need to take the time to get things right, and this underlines the recent decision to extend the implementation programme. However, we also agree that it is important to make early decisions on literacy and numeracy and on assessment."