Exam league tables will be scrapped

Education Minister Peter Peacock has announced an end to the present system of publishing school exam results in league table form.

The Conservative said that parents needed the facts to be able to make decisions about schools.

The Scottish National Party welcomed the announcement, saying it was a "massive U-turn" by the executive.

Correct facts

The education minister said that league tables belonged to a "past time" and were now "meaningless".

Mr Peacock said the league table system of publishing exam results did not give a true picture of a school and instead he is to make a wider range of information available to parents.

Lord James Douglas Hamilton: Against scrapping league tables

The Conservatives' education spokesman, Lord James Douglas Hamilton, said: "We have no objection to consultation and the case for improving league tables, but not for scrapping them.

"We believe that the parents do need the correct facts.

"They do need to know those facts, taking all the circumstances into account and the overall pictures.

"And if they are scrapped they will not get the whole picture."

SNP education spokeswoman Fiona Hyslop said: "This is a clear victory for the SNP's education policy with yet another massive U-turn from the Scottish government.

"The SNP has been calling for the scrapping of league tables for many years and now the minister has admitted that these tables are totally meaningless, which shows that the Scottish government has been pursuing a meaningless policy for the last six years."