The outgoing president of School Leaders Scotland has praised schools for how they responded to a series of bomb hoaxes earlier this year. Andy Smith, headteacher at South Lanarkshire’s Carluke High School, said that school leaders’ crisis-management skills were “tested on a daily basis” but that this new threat was “absolutely terrifying”. He added: “And yet we continue to deal with such incidents in a calm and professional manner, reassuring our communities, staff and pupils.”

A project designed to address the urgent environmental problems facing humanity has reached 50,000 pupils. Geobus, run by the University of St Andrews, was launched in 2012 to bring Earth science to schools. Project director Ruth Robinson said the subject was “not included sufficiently” in the secondary curriculum, even though it addressed climate change, energy problems and the scarcity of resources.

Concerns have been raised about the future of geography in the curriculum. Mike Robinson, chief executive of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, told the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee that the “implementation of National courses has proved overly rigid”. Guidance from the Scottish Qualifications Authority had been “unclear”, he added. Mr Robinson said he feared a “deterioration in the integrity and popularity of our subject”. Meanwhile, in a survey by the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers, many respondents described this year’s Higher paper as the “worst ever”.

A survey has been launched to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework. The SCQF is designed to help “people of all ages plan their learning journey”, while supporting education providers and the authorities. It aims to find out how the SCQF is used and what impact it has had. The survey will be open until 9 December.

@Henry_Hepburn