The exam system doesn't work - so why can't be have something better? |
There is an election campaign going on just now, although you could just about be forgiven for having missing it.
It may just be a result of the contrast with the past ten years or so, but the 2026 Holyrood campaign feels very muted. None of the parties seem hugely energetic, their manifestos aren’t particularly inspiring, and above all, voters appear to be almost entirely apathetic, perhaps feeling like it doesn’t matter what they do, or what they want. Maybe they’re right.
But we’re also in another important period, and this one definitely does matter, because as anyone with children in their mid-teens will know, the school exams have begun.
If you’re feeling especially credulous, you might regard this exam period as a “landmark moment”, or even a “historic milestone”, given that this year’s students will be the first to be tested under the banner of Qualifications Scotland. Some people would have you believe that this is a completely new organisation, rather than a lightly (but expensively) rebranded SQA, and that the 2026 exam diet is therefore part of a momentous, student-centred change in Scottish education – the fact that most of them work for the exam board or the Scottish Government is, I’m sure, just a coincidence.
But have things really changed?
Well, if you have a look at this year’s exam programme, it’s hard to answer yes to that question – and I don’t just mean in terms of the........