Schools should look at lessening the importance of final exams such as Highers and Advanced Highers because they skew the picture of ability, said Keir Bloomer, a former education director and chief executive of Clackmannanshire Council.
“I think there is a sense in which the upper part of secondary school is very focused on a form of grading young people, the main purpose of which is to allow others to make judgements about their suitability for a variety of purposes including employment and entering into higher education.
“I don’t think that is one of the main purposes of education and it gets in the way of serious educational work with young people in their mid-teens in a way which I think is seriously distorting.”
Mr Bloomer told a conference organised by the Reform Scotland think-tank that Curriculum for Excellence, which was meant to broaden learning and ease the burden of assessment, had not made a significant difference in terms of how pupils were viewed.
“We have now shifted to a situation where the purpose of assessment has become judgemental and decides whether someone is suitable for university, college or a job.
He added: “Colleges and universities should be doing that work themselves and they would probably do a better job of it, but we provide them with a system that is temptingly easy to use as a substitute.”
Jim Thewliss, general secretary of School Leaders’ Scotland, which represents secondary headteachers, said the current exam system was held in high regard and served as an important benchmark.
“(But) there is room for taking account of the wider spectrum of attainment of a pupil. It may be we need to develop a profile of achievement in future that includes exam results as well as other measures.”
Eileen Prior, executive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said the evidence that over-assessment and testing do not support good learning was overwhelming, yet “we are testing and assessing our children more than ever.
“We also know it is not only academic results that determine how likely a young person is to succeed in later life, and exam results in themselves often do not prove anything about learning, just an ability to pass exams.”
Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, said admission to higher education was already partly dependent on factors other than good exam results and school assessments.