Scottish education: Challenges and priorities

Larry Flanagan, general secretary

This year’s exam results highlight strong overall performance by pupils across Scotland with a record number of pupils being successful in achieving the grades required for acceptance to university.

This demonstrates that pupils and Scotland’s schools continue to perform well despite the introduction of new qualifications and the heavy unit assessment burden that continues to be placed on pupils and teachers by current Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) policies.

While pupils and teachers deserve praise for the strong set of exam results that have been achieved across Scotland this year, it should be recognised that the past few years have been a challenging time for Scottish education, with a major programme of curricular change and the introduction of new qualifications during a time of significant budgetary pressure.