Scottish exam chiefs have removed Robert Burns as a standalone author for pupils taking Higher English, sparking a furious backlash from fans of the national poet.
The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) defended the move, pointing out that of 35,000 students who sat Higher English last summer, only 83 chose to answer a question on Burns.
Burns, along with other established greats such as Lewis Grassic Gibbon and George Mackay Brown, is being effectively downgraded in schools in favour of “more modern and diverse works”.
Although the SQA said it recognised the “cultural significance and value” of the Ploughman Poet, his work can only now be studied as part of an anthology of writers.
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Professor Gerard Carruthers, the Francis Hutcheson chair of Scottish literature at the University of Glasgow, criticised the controversial move. He said: “It is vitally important that we provide our young people with endless opportunities to study Burns. He possesses a genius with words that’s almost freakish; similar to Shakespeare, Joyce and Blake.”
Writing in Scottish Field magazine in an article published just a few days before Scots around the world toast the Bard on Burns Night, Carruthers added: “Burns creates the Scottish canvas and it’s a huge one.”
Robert Burns
(Image: Reach PLC)
Grassic Gibbon’s masterpiece Sunset Song, repeatedly voted Scotland’s most loved book and lauded by Nicola Sturgeon as her favourite novel, has been removed from the Scottish set text list for Higher English. Fewer than 60 candidates chose to answer questions on the book last year.
Other removed texts include The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil by John McGrath, the 1970s play that examines Scottish history through a radical socialist lens, and The Cone Gatherers by Robin Jenkins.
The SQA said its updated list of Scottish set texts was the result of a consultation which received more than 2,500 responses. “The feedback we received was clear,” Robert Quinn, the SQA’s head of English, said. “Teachers and lecturers wanted to retain the most popular texts, but they also wanted a list that is diverse and relevant for learners.
“From learners we heard them say they wanted to see more modern and diverse texts that had challenging themes and strong emotional content.”
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New titles include Duck Feet by Ely Percy, a coming-of-age novel set in a Renfrewshire school; the Gaelic anti-war play Sequamur and poems by Imtiaz Dharker, who was born in Pakistan but grew up in Glasgow.
Michael Peck, the head of English at Lourdes Secondary School in Glasgow said: “It’s definitely time for some fresh choices and new additions. It’s a good opportunity to ensure that the reading options reflect the changing demographics within our schools.”
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