Lower Still

gnulinux: While England seems to have grasped the nettle of exam standards, the emerging Scottish N6 exams appear to be continuing along the dumbing down route.

Dominie: One of the reasons for my concern re CfE implementation is the impact on the Higher. CfE was supposed to leave Higher as the “gold standard”. Not in my subject, if the proposals I’ve seen are put into effect. The focus on S2S3 is camouflaging some very dangerous changes.

gnulinux: Some schools have effectively got rid of subjects, computing being a prime example. Faculties were created, we were told, as an essential vehicle for the delivery of CfE. Where computing was Fac’ed with business studies, in a number of cases that I know of, computing has been edited out of the picture. In the 3+3 model, that will increasingly be the case for other minority subjects.

Jane the stressed: The school I am at is removing several subjects from the option choices. The reason for this is that they want classes up at 30 to free up teachers’ timetables so they are always available for “please takes”.

airy: The SQA doesn’t seem to have decided the exact form of assessment, so it’s hard to tell if it’s easier or harder. I have, however, spoken to several other subject specialists who insist that the new Nat 5 is incorporating content and skills currently taught at Higher.

www.tes.co.ukscotland.