A Rough Guide to the Scottish (and English) Schools System: Ideal for parents
With the English exam results out now as well as the Scottish ones at the beginning of August – I thought a rough guide to the Exam systems could be of some use to parents who don’t know the difference between a Foundation Standard Grade and an Advanced Subsidiary Level. I am fortunate, as I have experienced both the Scottish and the English system.
In Scotland children start Primary education at either 4 and a half or 5 years of age depending on when their birthday lands. They go through Primary 1 to 7 (referred to as P1-P7). At the age of 11 or 12 the child will go to a Secondary school. Most secondary schools have a large catchment area of local primary schools.
When at Secondary School the first two years (S1 and S2) act as a kind of introduction to Secondary School. In S3 the child will start a two year course of either Standard Grades or Intermediate 1/2s, both are equal in level of knowledge required. Standard Grades have 3 levels, Foundation, General and Credit. Everyone must take General and are therefore assigned to either a Foundation/General or a General/Credit class. On average each child takes 8 subjects – normally comprised of English, Mathematics, a Science, a Language and four other subjects of their choice. However, the Standard Grade system means that everybody must take two exams for each subject. Either the Foundation exam followed by the General exam or the Credit exam followed by the General exam. The idea being that you have a fall-back in case you fail an exam. It also means that everyone leaves school with some form of qualification even if it is extremely basic. So in the summer of S4 they will take 16 Standard Grade exams.
Intermediates are starting to supersede Standard Grades as they follow on very well to Higher courses – meaning there is less of a gap between them, in format of exam and level expected to achieve. Even though an Int 1 or Int 2 only has one summer exam in the 2nd year of the course, the fall back would be the continuous assessments completed throughout the course. At the end of each topic within a course a NAB (National Assessment Bank) test must be passed. The score is not important at this stage only a pass mark – but you only get one second chance. So if the child really under performs in the final exams the average marks of the NABs can be taken into consideration for an appeal.
In the English system GCSEs (General Certificates of Secondary Education) are taken. Again generally 8 subjects are chosen. These are the equivalent of a Scottish Standard Grade or Intermediate.
After either Standard Grades or Int1/2s or GCSEs have been completed, the child is free to leave compulsory full time education if they wish to do, as long as they are 16 years old. However, it is generally advised that they stay on to complete Highers or AS-Levels.
At this stage I moved to a Private School that did both Scottish Highers and English GCE Advanced-levels. I took a combination of them.
Most people are advised to take 5 subjects, normally Mathematics and English plus three subjects the student wishes to continue with. However, most Universities and Colleges only look for an applicant to have 3 Highers or 3 A-Levels – but by taking 5 you have more chance to get 3 very good grades in case you underperformed in the other two. It also allows for the student to leave with a broader spectrum of knowledge. A Scottish Higher has the same format as an Intermediate with NABs but is more advanced.
The English A-Level system is made up of two halves to make the final grade, generally taken over two years. The first half being an AS-Level (50%), the equivalent of a Higher taken in S5 or 6th year in the English system. An AS-Level is said to be slightly harder than a Higher however Universities and Colleges consider them to be equal. In the AS-level system there is continuous assessment as well – generally in the form of essays that can be used for appeals later, if needed. The final exam for AS-level is normally taken in January so that the child can start straight away with the second half of the A-Level, known as A2 (50%). However, if the child has performed poorly in the January exam they can resit it in June while studying the A2 course.
The A2 year (7th year or S6 in the Scottish system) is a lot more advanced and people are generally advised to take only 3 subjects. The same goes for S6 in a Scottish school when Advanced Highers, obviously harder than a Higher.
This takes us up to the next stage – higher education or to find work. If the child wants to continue with the former, this means UCAS (University and College Application Service).
The National Qualifications in Scotland are controlled by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). “National Qualifications are Scotland’s qualifications for students in secondary schools and colleges of further education.” More…
The English A-Level system has various Examination Boards such as AQA, OCR, Edexcel, WJEC and CCEA – these are generally chosen by the school.
For more information on Pre-University education and qualifications the International Staff.ac.uk website provides a very comprehensive coverage.
NB. The image (above) has been used for year on exam results day and was taken at my old school. She has probably finished university by now!
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