CALLS for an urgent review of a controversial qualification have been rebuffed by Scotland’s Deputy First Minister.

John Swinney, the Education Secretary, said any changes to National 4 needed to be “carefully thought through”.

When National 4s were introduced in 2014 as part of the scrapping of Standard Grade the SQA said they would be seen as the equal of other qualifications.

However, teachers and parents have warned the qualification had led to groups of pupils viewing themselves as “second class citizens” because there is no final exam.

New figures from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) show an 11 per cent decline in interest since 2015 with entries dropping from more than 130,000 to just over 116,000 this year.

Seamus Searson, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, said National 4 had now “reached the end of the road” and called for it to be scrapped.

However, writing in The Herald, Mr Swinney said: “I am aware a number of professional associations have raised their concerns about the National 4 qualification.

“While there is some consensus on the need to review this, there is no agreement on either the specifics of any changes nor the timetable for introducing these.

“Any review of any of our qualifications must be carefully thought through, taking into account the broad range of views of our education bodies, teachers, pupils and parents.

“Any action taken on this must be done sensibly to ensure that all of our qualifications maintain their credibility and that we build on the excellence and achievement in Scottish education.”

Professor Mark Priestly, deputy dean of the faculty of social sciences at Stirling University, said anecdotal evidence suggested teachers were choosing National 5 “by default”.

He said: “The decline in enrolment may be due to a loss of credibility for the new National 4 qualification which was controversially structured to exclude a final exam, in contrast with National 5.

“However, there is substantial anecdotal evidence suggesting the great majority of enrolments are at National level 5 by default, with students who fail subsequently given the choice of re-presenting at National 4 level. This largely accounts for the decline in level 4 enrolments between 2016 and 2017.

“Common-sense would suggest that a wholesale reduction of the range of subjects available for study will also reduce the number of enrolments overall, and I am concerned about a narrowing of the curriculum at this crucial stage in compulsory education.”

The Education Institute of Scotland (EIS) has previously argued the decline was because teachers were no longer entering pupils for both National 4 and the more advanced National 5 as Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) qualifications bedded in.

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS, said the current decline was therefore a natural consequence of pupils being put forward for the right qualifications.