The EIS gave some very cautious welcome to the recent statement made by Cabinet Secretary Jenny Gilruth in response to the Hayward Review on Qualifications Reform. The independent Hayward Review was well received by the teaching profession in Scotland and provided a route map to the delivery of an improved model of qualifications and assessment which would better meet the diverse needs of learners across Scotland.

The Scottish Government response to the review, announced today, whilst somewhat reflecting a few of the key aspirations of the Hayward Review recommendations, stops short of being the comprehensive and committed response that the teaching profession had hoped for.

We need to do more as a country in support of our young people and our educators.

Commenting, following the Cabinet Secretary’s announcement at Holyrood, EIS General Secretary Andrea Bradley said, “The EIS welcomes the general tone of some elements of the Cabinet Secretary’s statement on the Hayward Review today: the need for culture change in education and for the teaching profession to be front and centre of reform; the need for less reliance on high-stakes exams and over-assessment of students; and, critically, the need to address teacher workload if the profession is to be enabled to meaningfully take forward future work on qualifications reform. Concerns over the annual two-term dash to qualifications through exams are a long-standing issue, particularly with regard to the impact on young people from less advantaged backgrounds, as is the lack of parity of esteem between ‘academic’ and ‘vocational’ qualifications.

Today’s long-awaited statement does not go far enough to remove these concerns or to map out a clear route towards a better future for the Senior Phase of the kind envisaged by the Hayward Review. We need to do more as a country in support of our young people and our educators.”

Ms Bradley continued, “Although the Cabinet Secretary’s statement stops short of being the clear and committed response to the significant recommendations of the Hayward Review that the EIS had hoped for, we remain willing to work with the Scottish Government and other education stakeholders, in the interests of securing a better educational experience for learners, especially the most disadvantaged, and a better professional experience of the Senior Phase for the teachers and lecturers who deliver it.

“The EIS very much welcomed the urgency with which Ms Gilruth spoke about the delivery of the manifesto commitment to reduce teacher class contact time. This will be key in the delivery of a system that can meet the diverse needs of Scotland’s learners, while also avoiding placing even more workload pressure on already heavily burdened teachers.

“This is not a process which can be delivered without additional resources and additional investment in our schools and in teachers, and it is essential that all involved remain fully cognisant of that fact.”