Why one school in Cumbernauld has introduced journalism

It all feels more like a mix between a workplace and the college classes I used to teach than what you might expect in a high school serving a decidedly mixed catchment area in North Lanarkshire.

But that’s not the only thing that’s different about this class.

The course they are studying is not a National 5, Higher or Advanced Higher, but rather a National Progression Award (NPA), a type of qualification that, although increasingly popular across the country, remains fairly niche. NPAs are available across a wide range of subjects and levels, and are designed to expand a key range of skills in the context of a specific, specialist area.

In 2023, some of the most popular NPAs included Level 6 Exercise and Fitness Leadership, Level 5 Computer Games Development, and Level 4 Bakery, while at the other end of the scale small numbers gained awards in Tenancy and Citizenship, Aquaculture, Contemporary Gaelic Songwriting and Production, or Racehorse Exercise and Performance.

The diversity of topics and range of levels means that NPAs can be a good choice for lots of different pupils, and their increasing adoption is a sign that schools are trying to find new options for senior phase students. This is particularly important for those who have already completed most or all of the National 5s or Highers that they need to move on to their chosen job, college place or university course – they could do more Highers, or some Advanced Highers, but perhaps there’s an NPA better suited to their interests?

For headteacher Nicola Cunningham, introducing the NPA Journalism was very much part of that ideal: she wanted her school to offer more choices to young people while also responding to the increasing focus on skills that go beyond the ability to recall and reproduce information in an exam hall. She is keen to stress, however, that the driving force behind this particular offer has been the “brilliant English department.”

But having that sort of support from management still makes a big difference. A common issue around courses like this one is that they can sometimes be seen as something additional, rather than the core business of a school, and this can lead to a squeeze on the amount of teaching time that is made available on a week-to-week basis. As with Advanced Higher, it’s not unusual to hear that provision for these courses is just shoe-horned into the timetable, often in the same slot as something else, leaving teachers or even students to sort out the details.

Here, things are different: the NPA Journalism class takes place three time a week, and all of those sessions are fully-timetabled double periods. It is also primarily offered to S6 students who have already completed Higher English, although some exceptions are made. Combined, these factors mean that there is an opportunity to adopt very different teaching and learning strategies.

“I was a bit daunted by the amount of choice,” says Mrs McHugh, the school’s Head of English and the main driver behind the introduction of the journalism award. “Traditional courses are more structured and students have to fit into that. But my slight discomfort in teaching something so open has actually turned to being quite freeing.”

She contrasts the possibilities within the NPA structure with the far more restrictive structures of typical National 5 and Higher courses, where a combination of course specifications, exam requirements, and classroom logistics mean that, even in a subject like English, there are far fewer opportunities for innovation. It’s also quite possible to get students through those courses by doing little more than exam coaching for much of the year. In programmes like a National Progression Award, the expectations are different.

Mrs McHugh points out that the course requires “much more independent learning than a Higher”, as well as great level of maturity from students.

There is another major difference: the NPA does not have an external exam, is not graded, and a pupil’s result is not affected by the performance of other people undertaking the same award. Like many other courses available to schools and colleges, students instead submit work that is then judged against a set of requirements – if all of the criteria are met, then the student achieves the award. In this case, young people need to demonstrate their understanding in key areas, produce different forms of journalistic writing, and get to grips with the ins and outs of photography.

For the students, the alternative assessment structure is a key part of the appeal of the journalism course, but perhaps not for the reasons that you might expect.

One tells me that the lack of an exam makes things “less stressful”, and another says that the more open structure makes a big difference to them personally: “I can go at my own pace which really helps.”

But despite being more relaxed, they don’t believe that a course with no exam is therefore easier – quite the opposite:

“There’s no exam, but that means you put more effort into the day-to-day stuff,” one says. “Exam subjects build up to one day at the end – in here, you know that all of it will matter.”

Another agrees: “In other areas I’m maybe not really learning – just memorising for the short term. This is different.”

As for the content, that helps too. I speak to a pupil who started a school paper at primary and ultimately wants to work in film and television. I ask why he has enjoyed the course so much: “I actually have an interest instead of being forced to read Romeo and Juliet.”

It may sound flippant, but Mrs McHugh tells me that addressing that sort of attitude was always one of her goals. With so many students now staying on until the end of S6, but few progressing on to English degrees, she “wanted an alternative to Advanced Higher for students – something maybe a bit more practical.”

And although she insists that it’s all “a bit of a work in progress”, to me it already looks like a huge success.