Education Secretary John Swinney has announced that Highers will be cancelled in 2021. This decision follows an earlier decision to cancel National 5 exams.
The deputy First Minister announced the move at Holyrood today (8 December) - stating that too many pupils had missed out on schooling as a result of the ongoing pandemic.
Pupils will now receive grades based on teacher assessments of classroom work throughout the year. No mention has been made of the use of computer modelling: this summer, the SQA and Scottish government were targeted by protests and criticism after a statistical model used by the SQA led to many pupils having their estimated grades downgraded - losing out on university places as a result - before a U-turn reversed the controversial decision.
In his statement, Mr Swinney said: "There will be no Higher or Advanced Higher exams in 2021. Instead we will adopt the new model that has been developed and base awards on teacher judgement of evidence of learner attainment.
“This is safe. It is fair.
“And it better recognises the reality of the disruption so many pupils have already had to their learning.”
He added: “I will not stake the future of our Higher pupils – whether they get a place at college, university, training or work – on a lottery of whether their school was hit by Covid.
“Exams cannot account for differential loss of learning and could lead to unfair results for our poorest pupils.
“This could lead to pupils’ futures being blighted through no fault of their own.
“That is simply not fair.”
