Pupils face restricted choices which could affect their future prospects due to a “postcode lottery” created by the new Curriculum for Excellence exam system, experts have warned.
Fourth year students are being offered vastly different numbers of the new National 5 exams in some council regions, a study by The Courier has found.
Youngsters in schools just a few miles apart are being offered anything between five and eight exams after schools were given the right to decide how many they should sit.
Keir Bloomer, a former director of education and chief executive at Clackmannanshire Council, was one of the architects of the Curriculum for Excellence system.
He said: “There is an obvious danger that their smaller number of passes will make their achievements look less impressive than those of other young people who have been able to sit seven or eight subjects.”
Alan Swankie of Arbroath-based Angus Training Group, which deals with many young job applicants, said: “We are getting a lot of confusion through our application forms on this.”
The warning comes as The Courier begins a week-long investigation into the Curriculum for Excellence as pupils prepare to sit the new exams in a few weeks.
For the first part of our four-day series, see Tuesday’s Courier or try our digital edition.