Douglas Ross: Scottish government has 'lost its way' on education
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The Scottish government has "lost its way on education" and has "no real vision", Conservative leader Douglas Ross has said.
Mr Ross said this was underlined by Nicola Sturgeon insisting she had full confidence in the SQA exams body weeks before announcing it would be scrapped.
The first minister said it was "perfectly consistent" to back the work of the SQA and also want it reformed.
She said careful thought would be given to whether exams are used in 2022.
However she said she would not make a "knee-jerk, ill-considered" decision while the country is still in the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Major reforms are planned for Scottish education in the wake of an independent review by the OECD, with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) to be replaced by a new agency.
However changes may take some time to be drawn up, with Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville saying would not happen "overnight".
Speaking in the Scottish Parliament, Mr Ross highlighted that the changes had come weeks after Ms Sturgeon had told MSPs she had full confidence in the qualifications authority.
He said the "damning report" by the OECD and the first minister's "change of mind" was "just another example of a government that has lost its way on education, that says one thing and does another and has no real vision of where it's going or how to get there".
Ms Sturgeon replied that she was "frustrated at the inability of our political discourse to engage in nuanced arguments".
She said it was "perfectly consistent" to have confidence in the work the SQA is doing but also to think the time had come to reform it.
And she said the government would "consider carefully the nature and detail" of changes, and that this was how people would expect a "grown-up, responsible government to behave".
Nicola Sturgeon and Douglas Ross clashed over the Scottish government's record on education
Mr Ross also pressed Ms Sturgeon for answers on whether traditional exams would be held in 2022, if the replacement for the SQA is not set up by then.
There has been criticism of how grades have been awarded after exams were cancelled two years in a row because of the pandemic.
The first minister said she would "absolutely have to consider the place of traditional exams very carefully", but said decisions on what happens next spring would depend on whether Scotland makes its way out of lockdown as planned.
She said: "It is right and proper we take these decisions in proper order - we have to take account of the wider Covid situation."
Mr Ross said that after 14 years in government and pledging to make education her number one priority, "I think people in Scotland would expect the first minister to be able to say if she's for or against exams".
Ms Sturgeon replied that she thought exams were "important", but that "we shouldn't fear debate" about the best way of grading pupils.
She said: "What I think is the most important principle is that we have a robust and respected system for awarding qualifications to young people.
"But it is the case whether I like it or not that there is a debate about the right balance between traditional exams and continuous assessment in ensuring we have that robust system."