Scottish pupils face ‘mental health crisis’ due to lack of exam support

Unions and young people urge incoming education secretary to take immediate action over ghost exams'

Scotland's incoming education secretary is being urged to take immediate action over so-called ghost exams" - where pupils face high stakes testing up to three times a day with none of the usual support - as high school assessments fall into chaos for the second year running.

With a post-election reshuffle expected by the end of the week, and current incumbent John Swinney expected to be moved on after a barrage of criticism, young people have described a looming mental health crisis after National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher exams were cancelled because Covid disruption had made it impossible to ensure consistency of learning, in particular for pupils from less advantaged backgrounds.