Jack McConnell has called for “a clear out at the top” of Scottish education to ditch problems that have been around for more than a decade and restore confidence in the exams system.
Speaking ahead of John Swinney’s statement to Holyrood on the exams fiasco the former Labour First Minister said the episode highlighted the need for a major shakedown in Scottish education.
McConnell, now a peer in the House of Lords, previously demanded that Swinney resign if he cannot fix the exams scandal this week.
He has now called on Swinney to set up a task force to fix the higher results that have gone wrong.
McConnell said: "If he shows that degree of urgency and a proper action plan then he might just save his job this afternoon."
The Labour peer also said the Scottish government needs to move urgently onto restoring pupil and parent confidence in the exams system as the Labour government had to in the wake of a previous exams debacle.
McConnell said: “I think there’s a real need for either the minister to take a completely fresh approach to start listening more to parents and to pupils and to have a clear out at the top and get some new people in terms of leadership.”
McConnell, a former teacher, called on the SNP government to come forward with “a proper plan for fixing the problems in the curriculum, rebuilding confidence in the teaching profession and then obviously getting the exams right next year".
McConnell, who became Education Secretary in the wake of an exams marking scandal in 2000, said it was possible to turn the situation around.
He told Times Radio: “In 2000 we were in real difficulties with our reputation. It took a lot of hard work to fix that.”
“We did a lot of work to rebuild the confidence in the teaching profession, and to engage with the pupils and that’s what needs to happen now”.
McConnell added: “There needs to be a concerted effort over this autumn to rebuild the confidence of the system to fix the problems that have been around now for perhaps up to a decade. We need to make sure that next year by next summer the next cohort of pupils going through exams can come out with their head high and build on their school education for the rest of the lives.”
