Students who failed to get the expected grades in this year’s Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) exams can only check their papers and coursework have been marked correctly - and cannot appeal on the basis of past performance.
That has been described as “appalling”, lacking compassion and a situation that “flies in the face of closing the attainment gap or any kind of equity agenda”, says Scotland’s secondary school leaders’ organisation.
Last year, students disappointed with their grades were able to appeal to the SQA on the basis of evidence gathered by teachers over the course of the year.
Performance in preliminary exams - widely known as prelims, the mock exams sat before the external SQA exams in the spring - made up part of this evidence.
This year, however, there is no recourse for those who underperformed on the day of the exam - beyond being able to check their papers have been marked correctly. And according to incoming School Leaders Scotland (SLS) general secretary Graham Hutton, it is students from disadvantaged backgrounds who will suffer most.
He says the decision is “appalling and has undoubtedly affected the exam results this year”.
He adds: “We would say it also flies in the face of closing the attainment gap or any kind of equity agenda as pupils from deprived backgrounds always face challenges which are more likely to affect them on a day-to-day basis, for example, noisy home life the night before an exam, lack of breakfast and so on.
“The inability to ask for reconsideration of a candidate who was passing and passing well all year, and then had a bad day on their third exam of the week and failed, has removed some of the compassion and pupil-centred thinking that Scottish education has been proud of and continues to champion in the recently published ‘national discussion’ review paper.”
Mr Hutton is not alone in criticising the approach to appeals this year.
Labour education spokesperson Pam Duncan-Glancy has said that it “is not really an appeal process at all” and “hugely unfair for pupils”.
Willie Rennie, Liberal Democrat education spokesperson, said that to claim to be taking a sensitive approach to qualifications this year but then ignore prelim results “seems harsh”.
Essentially, this year, the SQA has reverted to a system akin to that in place before the Covid pandemic. It enables schools and students to request a marking review of the exam and coursework. However, this year, in many subjects, coursework was removed to allow more time for learning and teaching.
This means that the SQA will ensure that all elements contributing to the final grade have been marked, that marking meets national standards, and that total marks are accurate and entered correctly on systems - but a student’s predicted grade and performance throughout the year, including in prelims, is not taken into account.
That ability to query a student’s result on the basis of past performance was scrapped in 2014 when a new approach to appeals was introduced, along with financial charges. The changes were made in response to the ever-increasing number of appeals the SQA was receiving, with the system struggling to cope.
This year, while the SQA has reverted to the so-called post-results service, charging has not been reintroduced and students can request a marking review directly, instead of having to go through their school.
The SQA says it consulted on this year’s approach and that its own research found that the system in place last year - which did allow appeals to be made on the basis of alternative evidence - added to teacher workload and led to over-assessment of students.
However, Mr Hutton says that while the SQA consulted “the usual stakeholders”, SLS is “not convinced that the various views were listened to”.
He adds: “The impression is that SQA was determined to return to the status quo of 2019.
“The SLS view is that the process used during 2022 should have continued for this year, too, given the impact of the pandemic on young people’s learning.
“The 2023 appeals procedure would seem to underline the impression that the current SQA is more or less of the view that it’s performance in a one-off exam that matters most. They need to trust the profession more, as happened during the pandemic.”
The SQA said that “on balance” members of the National Qualifications 2023 Group - of which SLS is a member - had agreed the arrangements put in place this year were “the most appropriate service for 2023”.
The spokesperson added that feedback on the 2022 appeals service showed most respondents were concerned about “issues relating to perceptions of fairness and equity” and that there was “also some evidence that the 2022 service led to an increase in the overall amount of assessment for learners and workload for teachers”.
They said: “The agreed approach was announced in February 2023. Since then, it has been regularly and clearly communicated to learners, their parents and carers, to schools and colleges, and to the wider education community.
“This includes an explainer booklet for the service, posted out to every learner across the country in advance of results day, to ensure they had the information they needed.”
This year’s appeals process opened on SQA results day, 8 August, and will close on Tuesday 29 August.
The SQA spokesperson said there was an “exam exceptional circumstances service running” to support students unable to sit an exam or whose performance was affected by personal circumstances.
Applications to this service were made soon after exams, so that grades could be issued on SQA results day, at the same time as results for all other students. The SQA spokesperson said around 5,000 entries were processed through this service, under 1 per cent of all 2023 exam entries.
