National 5 assessments cut as John Swinney pledges to 'declutter' education

Education Secretary John Swinney has pledged to 'declutter' Scottish education, including removing the assessment burden on National 5 qualifications and streamlining guidance for teachers.

In a keynote speech to the Scottish Learning Festival, Swinney said he was “delighted” to be taken out of his “comfort zone” in finance to take on the education brief.

However Scottish education has been “cluttered”, he conceded, promising “literally thousands of pages” of guidance for teachers would “disappear”, as well as a reduction in assessments in the National 5 qualifications and Highers.

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"I am pleased to announce a new concrete proposal to further significantly reduce workload associated with the qualifications. This includes removing the current mandatory requirement for unit assessment at National 5 and Higher and replacing it with enhanced course assessment. This will include a strengthened final examination and coursework to ensure course coverage," he said.

Teachers, too, must "take the steps" to lower their workload burden, he added.

Furthermore, a national competition to encourage Scottish primary schools to use technology more effectively is to be supported by some of the world’s biggest computing firms.

A new Digital Schools Award Scotland programme, which will be backed by HP, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Microsoft and Intel.

The programme will form part of a new digital learning strategy which will see the curriculum updated to reflect advancements in digital technology, Swinney announced ahead of the festival.

Government hopes the strategy will give more primary pupils more access to digital learning in the classroom.

“Technology can be a powerful and engaging tool to enrich learning. We are determined to support Scotland’s teachers to use technology to its best potential so children can improve their educational outcomes and develop skills that will be vital for their life, learning and work,” Swinney said.

Improving attainment was, he said, his “clarity of purpose” as education secretary.