The first candidates out of about 65,000 pupils will sit the exams next spring, but both Labour and the Conservatives, as well as the country’s largest teaching union, the EIS, have voiced concerns about lack of readiness in some schools.
National 4 and National 5 are replacing Standard Grades, which were introduced in the 1980s, but some secondaries have delayed their prelims until four weeks before the final exam, though they are usually sat this month or in December.
Kezia Dugdale, Scottish Labour education spokeswoman, said the SNP government had not heeded teachers’ warnings.
Education minister Mike Russell was “ploughing ahead with their reforms” regardless of any misgivings, she said.
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