By John Swinney, Deputy First Minister and Education Secretary

IT is that time of year. With the sun finally shining, spare a thought for the thousands of senior pupils who are currently in the middle of revising for exams or completing coursework.

For many it will be a stressful time, with the pressure to succeed coming from all corners – their parents, their teachers, their peers and themselves.

As a society we have a tendency to measure success in numbers and grades, passes and fails. As a young person thinking about the future, it can be a challenging time.

Politics likes numbers too. Over the last few weeks we’ve seen the debate focus around a dizzying array of statistics – the numbers of qualifications at S4, the number of subjects being studied, the number of Advanced Highers and what year you start university.

These are important issues but they miss a fundamental point. Education is important in preparing children for a successful life. Qualifications matter, but primarily as a route to lead to the next opportunity and the careers of your choice.

For many of us enjoying the sunshine, our own exam period is probably a distant memory – but it is likely that we remember it as a crucial time in our life. That, rightly, still remains the case but we should also not forget that the school system has changed a lot since then.

Since the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), the senior phase of school is a three-year experience which starts in fourth year. Gone are the days of seeing school years in isolation, teaching to the test and measuring success purely on academic achievement alone. We don’t tell pupils at the end of S4 that they have either passed or failed their time at school. Our schools offer much more than that.

First, the traditional subject selection at S2 has been replaced. S3 pupils now take a broader range of subjects, at a higher level, than under the previous curriculum.

At the senior phase, pupils study for traditional qualifications over those final three years. Schools work with colleges, employers and youth workers to offer a wide ranging curriculum, including work-based qualifications, skills-based awards and support to move in to apprenticeships.

Whatever a young person wants to be in life, they are helped to plan the journey or route that will let them achieve those goals; matching it to their skills, aspirations and abilities as well as getting them the qualifications they need for their next steps. That might mean fewer subjects at S4 alongside work placements and leadership development activities. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. Nowadays, the achievements that young people leave their senior phase with matters most – not how many subjects they pack into individual years.

But since numbers are important, here are a few that matter: more young people are staying on at school beyond S4 than ever before; Higher passes in 2017 have exceeded 150,000 for the third year in a row; the number of 18 and unders being accepted to study at university is increasing and Scotland’s youth unemployment rate is lower than the rest of the UK’s.

So, Curriculum for Excellence is working. Things have changed. And, for many young people, they have changed for the better. Our young people now leave school as more rounded individuals, with the confidence, skills and attributes needed to respond to a changing society and economy.

We know there is more to do to raise attainment for all and close the poverty-related gap. Our education reforms are designed to maximise the chances and choices of every young person, no matter their background or circumstances. To close the attainment gap for good, we need to look forwards not backwards.