The Scottish Certificate of Education (or SCE) was a Scottish

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

certificate, used in schools and sixth form institutions, from 1962 until 1999. It replaced the older Junior Secondary Certificate (JSC) and the

Scottish Leaving Certificate The Scottish Leaving Certificate was established in 1888 by Henry Craik, permanent secretary of the Scottish Education Department The Scottish Government Education Directorates were a group of the civil service The civil service is a collecti ...

(SLC), and it was the Scottish equivalent of the

General Certificate of Education The General Certificate of Education (GCE) is a subject-specific family of academic qualifications used in examination board, awarding bodies in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Education in the Crown dependencies, Crown dependencies and a few ...

(or GCE), used in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. One primary distinction between the Scottish Leaving Certificate and the Scottish Certificate of Education was that the latter had less strict regulations in terms of compulsory subjects and workload of the individual curricula.

Levels of Award

The SCE was intended to cater for the increased range of subjects available to pupils since the raising of the school leaving age from 14 to 15. It initially included examinations and awards at both Ordinary Grade ('O-Grade') and

Higher Grade In the Scottish secondary education system, the Higher () is one of the national school-leaving certificate exams and university entrance qualifications of the Scottish Qualifications Certificate (SQC) offered by the Scottish Qualification ...

('Higher'). The Ordinary Grade award was replaced with the

Standard Grade Standard Grades were Scotland's educational qualifications for students aged around 14 to 16 years. Introduced in 1986, the Grades were replaced in 2013 with the Scottish Qualifications Authority's National exams in a major shake-up of Scotland's ...

award, and the Higher Grade award was revised, during second half of the 1980s. These changes placed increased emphasis on

coursework Coursework (also course work, especially British English) is work performed by students or trainees for the purpose of learning. Coursework may be specified and assigned by teachers, or by learning guides in self-taught courses. Coursework can e ...

and the application of knowledge within tests. The now-obsolete Certificate of Sixth Year Studies (a qualification taken by many in their final year after passing the subject at Higher Grade) was not a part of the Scottish Certificate of Education. However, both were awarded by the Scottish Examination Board (and its successor, the

Scottish Qualifications Authority The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA; Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic: ''Ùghdarras Theisteanas na h-Alba'') is the Scottish public bodies, executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for accrediting educationa ...

Successors

The Scottish Certificate of Education was replaced by the

Scottish Qualifications Certificate The Scottish Qualifications Certificate (SQC) is the successor to the Scottish Certificate of Education and the Record of Education and Training, and is the main educational qualification awarded to students in secondary, further, and vocational ...

(SQC) which was first issued from January 2000, after the last examinations of the Scottish Certificate of Education in 1999. The SQC also incorporated the CSYS (although this was in the final stages of being replaced with the

Advanced Higher The Advanced Higher (Scottish Gaelic: ''Sàr Àrd Ìre'') is an optional qualification which forms part of the Scottish secondary education system brought in to replace the Certificate of Sixth Year Studies (CSYS). The first certification of Advan ...

) and the Record of Education and Training (RET). The SQC certifies the new qualifications that were introduced in 2014. These include the new National 3, 4 and 5 qualifications, revised Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications as part of the Curriculum for Excellence.

References

Educational qualifications in Scotland Secondary education in Scotland Secondary school qualifications History of education in Scotland 1962 establishments in Scotland 1962 in education {{Scotland-hist-stub

Levels of Award

Successors

See also

References