Response to Hayward Review lacks commitment

Children and Young People’s Commissioner Nicola Killean has criticised the Scottish Government’s lack of commitment to comprehensive education reform within its  response to the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment, chaired by Professor Hayward.

Pointing to the absence of set timelines or resources allocated to the steps it is willing to take forward, the Commissioner called for the Government to urgently progress children’s and young people’s clear priorities.     

Commissioner Nicola Killean said: “The Scottish Government’s long anticipated response to the Hayward Review was an opportunity to advance the change that young people desperately need. Yet instead of committing to the effort of comprehensive reform, today’s announcement was little more than tentative steps. 

“Within the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is a clear obligation on the State to provide all children with an education that develops them to their fullest potential; mind, body, personality, and talents. This should be the fundamental purpose of our education system. Too many children’s and young people’s needs are not being met in our current system.”

While the Scottish Government has started a process of structural reform in education focused on national agencies, the Commissioner is concerned that this will have limited impact.   

Commissioner Nicola Killean said:

“Professor Hayward’s proposals recognise the importance and breadth of experiences within and outwith schools that shape young people from all backgrounds. If fully implemented, the proposals would reduce the harmful pressure that is placed on young people from the current assessment and qualifications system, which is felt throughout secondary school, and move Scotland closer to realising children’s rights.” 

Education experts share the Commissioner’s concerns at the speed of progress within the education reform agenda.

Professor Louise Hayward welcomed the statement today describing it as the beginning of change, but pointed to the urgency needed for reform. Professor Hayward said: “Young people’s voices were central to the work of the Review and the majority of young people were calling for change. Many described experiences in the senior school phase that were dominated by preparation for exams, past papers, prelims, memorising chunks of text or prepared answers. Some young people were insufficiently challenged, many were stressed and demoralised. Others felt excluded, believing their achievements were neither valued nor recognised. We live in a very challenging financial context and learners and parents, teachers and lecturers, schools and colleges will need time and support for change to be successful. However, during the Review, AI in the form of Chat-GPT emerged, demonstrating how quickly the world is changing and this week OpenAI has emerged, AI capable of reasoning. There can be no more urgent priority than ensuring that Scotland’s young people are qualified for the future.”

Angela Morgan was the Chair of the Independent Review of the implementation of Scotland’s Additional Support for Learning legislation. Ms Morgan said the Hayward Review recommendations are consistent with her own, published in 2020.  

Ms Morgan said: “Scotland’s focus on exams and qualifications as sole indicators of success is damaging to children and young people whose learning needs and style are different, making them and the dedicated professionals who work with them feel like failures. The number of children in Scotland identified as needing additional support is over a third of the school population and is increasing year on year. What this tells us is not that a significant number of children are flawed and lacking; it tells us that we need to fundamentally reform a service which is designed as fit for only two thirds of the population it serves. The recommendations of the Hayward Review, and those from the Muir and Morgan Reviews must be implemented in full. Otherwise, we will see more Reviews, reiterating the same conclusions, whilst yet more of Scotland’s children and young people are denied their right to fully flourish within our education system.”

Professor Ken Muir published recommendations in 2022 as the Chair of an Independent Review which included reform of educational agencies. Professor Muir said: “The Hayward recommendations present a unique opportunity to make a paradigm shift in the culture and mindset within Scottish education. Part of that shift must involve placing much greater emphasis on listening to, and acting on, the voices of children and young people in the governance arrangements arising from any structural changes to national bodies.”

Today’s statement was the Scottish Government’s official response to the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment report published in June 2023. Led by Professor Louise Hayward, the Review made a number of recommendations to improve young people’s experience of assessments, including the end of exams in S4 and a wider range of assessment methods used in Highers and Advanced Highers; adopting the Scottish Diploma of Achievement as a graduation certificate for all senior phase educational settings; and the creation of personalised pathways for all learners to record personal achievements, identify and plan future learning.  

The Scottish Government has said it will make some changes to exams and assessments, but has not committed to fully address the ‘two term dash’ towards exams that leaves many young people anxious and seriously impacts their mental health.  

The Children’s Commissioner pointed to mental health as an issue that children and young people consistently link to exams stress. One young person told the Commissioner that: “School contributes to my mental health in a bad way, my anxiety goes up on a daily basis.”

Commissioner Nicola Killean said: “We are living with a difficult economy but that cannot be the reason for not taking forward what young people need to thrive in their education – this is an issue that impacts a wide range of children’s rights. The Scottish Government has invested in a number of thoughtful and challenging independent reviews of the education system and now it must take urgent action.”   

ENDS.