Parent group calls for Highers to be split over two years
Connect, a group for Scotland’s parents, has issued a manifesto of education requests for the next government
Parents have called for Highers to become two-year courses and for improved access to qualifications for home schooled pupils.
A new parents’ charter, launched in the run-up to next week’s Holyrood election, sets out a series of calls to action for politicians.
It contains more than 70 demands on education and is produced by Connect, which represents tens of thousands of parents across Scotland.
Gavin Yates, executive director at Connect, said: “For too long the views of parents and carers have not been given the weight they deserve in improving opportunities for our children.
“Scotland’s mums, dads, and carers are the champions of, and advocates for, their children.
“They are the primary providers and first educators of their children and they are taxpayers too. “Their voices must be heard. We urge everyone to sign up to support the charter.”
Connect is calling for improved access to qualifications for home-educated youngsters, together with a national strategy for what it terms “highly able learners”.
In addition, it is calling for improvements in diagnosing and helping children with additional support needs, stressing the need for specialist staff, equipment and IT
Connect said that “mainstream primary and secondary schools must do more in this area as, right now, the system is letting our young people down”.
It added: “Many are not getting the education they need as there is an overwhelming lack of resource and funding and schools are beyond stretched.”
Connect added that its parents charter was the result of “thousands of interactions with parents and carers in Scotland”.
Adding that the charter “aims to amplify parents’ voices”, Mr Yates said it was part of Connect’s “campaign for a better future for all of Scotland’s children”.
He added: “Connect will continue in its mission to hear and put forward the range and diversity of parents’ experiences and views – we encourage all education partners in schools, local authorities, education organisations and Scottish Government to do the same.
“As one parent commented in a survey, ‘We are all in this together and parents’ experience should be valued and sought out.’”
Tens of thousands of pupils across Scotland are currently sitting National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher exams.
It marks a landmark moment for Qualifications Scotland, the new exams body that replaced the Scottish Qualifications Authority.
Results will this year be published on August 4.
Scotland’s education system has been under increasing pressure over the past parliamentary term with a rise in violence in schools, strike threats over teacher workloads and concerns about tech use.
Manifestos from each political party have made an array of pledges to ban phones in school, increase support for pupils with additional needs and increase staffing numbers.
However, which there is an ongoing consultation with parents, pupils and educators about the shape of Scotland’s exam system, extending the length of Higher courses is not an electoral pledge.
Four years ago the Hayward review, by Professor Louise Hayward, looked at qualifications and assessment.
Her review recommended an end to S4 exams for students who were due to continue with a subject beyond that year.
The report warned against the "two-term dash" with exams for some in the same subjects in S4, S5 and S6 saying it leads to teaching to the test rather than offering a broad understanding of the subjects.
However, the Hayward review has yet to be implemented.
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