IF we learned anything from last year’s exams fiasco it is that when young people work together they can form a far more effective opposition than any of Scotland’s political parties.
And so it came as no surprise then that both Douglas Ross and Anas Sarwar sought to align themselves with school pupils in their questions to the first minister this week. They might be hoping to learn a thing or two.
Formal exams were scrapped again this year and grades will instead be awarded based on teacher judgments. But in many cases, those judgments have been informed by assessments, which some have described as exams in all but name.
Douglas Ross began by wishing the Scotland men’s team the best of luck in their upcoming games. I hope that Mr Ross’s other three jobs aren’t taking up too much of his time and he’ll be there in his refereeing shorts for at least one of them.
READ MORE: Tory MP's attempt to point-score over Scottish education backfires
He then asked the First Minister if she stood by a statement she made in the chamber, when she said that grades would not be based on "algorithms, statistical models, or historical performances at schools".
She said she did absolutely stand by that statement. Everybody clapped and that was FMQs over for the day.
Just kidding. No such luck, I’m afraid.
In what sounded remarkably like a dig at the Scottish Tories, she spoke of "23 long years of frustration and pain and standing on the side-lines" and then offered her best wishes to the Scotland men’s team too.
On exams she said that no grades will be marked down or up based on a school’s past performance.
"If any learner has demonstrated that, for example, they deserve an A grade, then an A grade is what they will receive." Douglas Ross said that the evidence painted a very different picture to what Nicola Sturgeon had described.
"An Education Scotland Report, published last week, said that three in four councils in Scotland are analysing results based on historical attainment data." He said that this was in direct contradiction to the promises made by the First Minister.
"Once again, young people will lose out based solely on where they go to school.
"This is the same shambles as last year … it’s just more sleekit!"
READ MORE: Lesley Riddoch: Feeble Keir Starmer is enabling habitual Tory rule breakers
Nicola Sturgeon replied: "What Douglas Ross is trying to suggest happens is simply not the case. Awards this year are based on teacher judgment."
She went on to imply that maybe Douglas Ross himself is actually sleekit.
Would it be sleekit of me to turn off now and pretend I watched the whole thing? Probably.
"By all means, raise all of these issues. It is really, really important that they are scrutinised. But don’t try to confuse the different issues to make a point that, actually, doesn’t stand in reality."
"Well I’m GLAD I have PERMISSION from the First Minister that I am allowed to RAISE ISSUES such as EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND AND THE EFFECT IT IS HAVING ON YOUNG PEOPLE RIGHT NOW AND IN THE WEEKS AND MONTHS AHEAD!!" bellowed Douglas Ross, by way of reply.
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