Secondary
Tuesday
SQA maps out priorities for new qualifications body
As SQA prepares to change into Qualifications Scotland in late 2025, it says it wants to ‘win back trust’ among teachers and students and use technology to ‘streamline’ services
Heads challenged to show alternatives to toxic male role models
How boys perceive masculinity can profoundly affect their lives in school and beyond – so they need non-judgmental spaces to explore their identities, School Leaders Scotland told
Teenage girls drive rise in truancy
An increase in truancy in English-speaking countries since Covid is being fuelled by girls skipping school, research shows
Friday
Pupil Equity Fund status quo unsustainable, Gilruth tells heads
Changing use of PEF money shows that schools are asked to do too much to fix societal problems, says education secretary at School Leaders Scotland annual conference
‘Pivotal’ year ahead for Scottish education, says new SLS president
Secondary headteacher Pauline Walker is ‘deeply optimistic’ about the year ahead – as long as reform of Scottish education taps into teachers’ ‘insight into what works best’
Wednesday
Ministerial statement demanded over handling of Higher history review
The SQA marking review was published after the Higher history pass rate dropped by more than 10 percentage points – but Scottish Labour says ‘huge questions’ remain unanswered
Youth club closures affected GCSE results, think tank warns
Headteachers’ leaders urge government to restore local authority funding for community services, or risk leaving schools to ‘pick up the pieces’
Wednesday
Education Scotland early pandemic support ‘poor to non-existent’
When the first lockdown hit, schools were ‘left on their own’ and Education Scotland was found ‘wanting’, heads tell Covid inquiry
Higher history review finds marking standard did not change
SQA internal investigation states the sharp drop in Higher history passes was down to ‘the poor standard of responses’ from students, especially on the Scottish history paper
