Plockton High School is a National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music. But while it produced students who can play traditional instruments such as the clarsach (or Scottish harp) and sing to a very high standard, it struggled to demonstrate parity with pupils coming out of classical music centres of excellence.

That hasn't been ideal for the centre's director, Dougie Pincock. "There's been some gentle but consistent probing from people wondering what it is that students actually get from their time here," he says. "And I understand that once you take traditional music into the formal education world, you have to play to the same rules."

Now the centre has taken a major step forward in putting learners of traditional music on a par with their classical counterparts in terms of certificated assessment.

Working with Trinity Guildhall in London, the centre has devised new grade examinations for the clarsach as well as performers' certificates which, so far, have given students of Highland bagpipes, accordion and fiddle a post-Grade 8 qualification. Traditional musicians have until now been able to achieve grade examinations through the RSAMD, but only up to Grade 5.

In addition, and of importance to the centre, much of whose work concentrates on ensemble playing, the performers' certificate also applies to group work.

The first performers' certificate examinations took place in April and produced outstanding results, with 11 individual students and two groups between them achieving two passes, five merits and six distinctions.

Pincock, a former member of the top Scottish folk group Battlefield Band, said: "It's fantastic to see this finally happen."

He praised Karen Marshalsay, the centre's clarsach tutor, who has been responsible for developing both the clarsach grade examinations and the performer's certificates, along with Nicholas Keyworth, the external examiner from Trinity Guildhall.

Pincock added "It's been three years in planning and the results are a tribute not only to the students' talent and commitment but also to the huge amount of work that Karen and Nick have put in."

"Our students should have the same chances of assessment with the same status as classical music students and the powers that be want to see validation of the work that we all do up here. These examinations go a long way towards achieving both these things and backing up the proof, if you like, that exists on the CDs of student performances we produce every year and the tours we undertake each summer."

Pincock and Marshalsay, who as well as being a teacher is herself an experienced composer and working musician, chose Trinity Guildhall as partners in the project because of Trinity's open-minded approach.

"There are specific problems in teaching traditional music in that the music itself places great value on variation and ornamentation," says Marshalsay. "Rather than re-creating a standard composition, the players should be able to create a unique performance every time. It's also the player's job to communicate with the listener and to decide what to convey in terms of a wide variety of emotions, stories and a sense of place, which are all part of the music's character."

Trinity Guildhall, she says, took this on board from the start. As well as being devisers of the world's first classical music grade and diploma examinations, which are now recognised in over 50 countries and have set the standard for more than 130 years, Trinity works in other music, including jazz and Indian music, where improvisation and spontaneity are key components.

At the same time, notating music and sight-reading are important assets for working traditional musicians, so a balance was established.

The clarsach grade students are assessed jointly by their own tutor and an outside assessor from Trinity, based on criteria similar to classical examinations, and performance certificates are judged by the external examiner. The marking scheme for the latter consists of a possible 22 marks for each of four pieces of music, six marks for programme planning and notes, and six marks for stagecraft and presentation, making one hundred marks in all. Sixty per cent gives a pass, 75% a merit, and 87% a distinction.

Having achieved success with the initial examinations, Pincock and Trinity Guildhall hope to roll out the certificate exam structure at other centres where traditional music is taught and to include flute/whistle, cello, song and guitar and piano accompaniment in future examinations at Plockton.

The success has also given Plockton a pleasant problem. "Grade 8 takes students to conservatoire audition level and since the performers' certificates are post-Grade 8, that means we can have students on our course who are working at first and second year university level," says Pincock. "We have one piper who has just earned a distinction and he's only in third year at secondary school and although there are a raft of advance piping exams, we might have to consider developing some sort of diploma for him to work towards. But decisions like that I don't mind, because it's further validation of what we do."