Eight Scottish councils could trial new diploma for school leavers amid frustration at slow pace of SNP reform

Glasgow City Council and neighbouring local authorities could press ahead with the creation of a new diploma of achievement for school leavers amid frustration at the slow pace of national qualifications reform.

Douglas Hutchison, executive director of education in Glasgow, said he was discussing a pilot or trial with the West Partnership, a collaboration of the local authorities for East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, and West Dunbartonshire.

A new Scottish Diploma of Achievement was proposed last year as part of a key report by Glasgow University professor Louise Hayward on reforming Scotland’s exam and qualifications system.

It would be a type of graduation certificate for school leavers, providing a record of a learner's progression and achievements, addressing concerns that there is too much focus on exams and little recognition of other successes.

Last month, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth finally delivered her response to the Hayward report, saying she was supportive of the diploma idea as “a shared longer-term goal for Scottish education”, but that “more work is needed to determine its exact content and how it would operate”.

The SNP minister also rejected the report’s call to scrap exams for National 5 courses.

MSPs on Holyrood’s education committee heard on Wednesday that school leaders were frustrated by the pace of reform, with financial considerations seemingly the “main driver”.

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth chats to students at Madras College in St Andrews as they receive their exam results (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA) | PA

However, Mr Hutchison suggested the that councils could press ahead with some of the proposals, such as the diploma, as they await a wider “vision” from the Government.

He said: “The door is still open for anybody who wants to to pilot or trial aspects of the recommendations.

“We are having conversations in Glasgow and the West Partnership about the Diploma of Achievement, or something similar, at a local level. The West Partnership is 38 per cent of the population of Scotland.

“So the door is open for anyone to trial. The Scottish Government were clear there isn’t a pile of money to be able to deliver a programme, but the door is open for anybody who is willing to look at aspects of the report and almost get a proof of concept, and begin to build a coalition or a consensus around aspects of the report.

“So we are certainly investigating or discussing aspects of the recommendations locally, and the Scottish Government response was facilitative in that sense.”

Mr Hutchison later added: “A lot of the questions have been about the Cabinet secretary’s response, or the Scottish Government’s response. Implicit in that question is a view that responsibility lies entirely with the Cabinet secretary or the Scottish Government.

“There is a lot in this report that speaks to the entire education system... as teachers we’ve got some responsibility in driving the system and the direction that it finds itself in now.”

Prof Hayward was also giving evidence to the committee. She said: “Let’s actually begin the process of moving this on, and doing it with people, making sure all of the communities... continue to be part of that discussion. This is Scotland’s future.”

Committee member Willie Rennie asked if the panel viewed Ms Gilruth as a “roadblock” and that they intended to “find a way of getting around her”.

Mr Hutchison said: “It’s about convincing people as a system, and building those coalitions, and building that consensus, that there has to be a better way.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “It is a matter for local authorities how they deliver their statutory obligations around education provision in schools, but any change needs to be focussed and deliverable given the resources available to national and local government and to schools themselves.

“The response set out in Parliament by the Education Secretary recently on qualifications reform seeks to achieve a balance between ambition and pragmatic action.

"This pragmatic approach to evolving qualifications and assessment will deliver a fair and credible system to enhance learning and teaching and support better outcomes for young people.”