The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has extended the deadline to submit priority appeals from 16 August to 24 August, after teachers voiced concerns that the previous deadline would have meant them working during the summer holiday.
In a communication to schools and colleges, the SQA acknowledges that there needs to be “sufficient time after the start of the new session for centre staff to submit priority appeals and the required supporting evidence, without interfering with their summer holiday”.
The SQA says it recognises that schools and colleges “begin the new term at different times, and we want to ensure there is enough time to support requests once staff have returned to work”.
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The SQA message, sent on Friday, adds: “To help address these challenges, and after discussion with education stakeholders, we are extending the centre priority appeal submission deadline from Monday 16 August to Tuesday 24 August.”
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It says that extending the deadline has been made possible because the SQA has decided to accept learner evidence digitally, which “gives back time” to schools and colleges, and also because the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) has extended its timescales, with the outcomes of priority appeals now being processed by 8 September for higher education providers.
This year Scottish students will have a direct right of appeal that is free of charge, although the children’s commissioner still has concerns about whether the process for awarding grades this year is capable of taking into account the extraordinarily difficult year that some young people have faced.
Students have been given from 25 June to 12 August to register their intention to make a priority appeal. However, if they miss this window, they can ask their school to submit an appeal on their behalf.
For priority appeals, schools were originally told they could do this up to 16 August, but that deadline has now been extended to 24 August.
The dates for all other appeals remain unchanged: learners can register directly with the SQA from 25 June to 12 August, or they can ask their school to submit an appeal on their behalf until Friday 27 August.
The change to the submission date for priority appeals will be welcomed by teachers, given that in Edinburgh, for example, the summer break previously mirrored exactly the period students had been given for making a priority appeal. The school holidays in Edinburgh begin on 25 June, with teachers returning on 16 August.
Despite this, students were being advised by the SQA that, once they had received their results on Tuesday 10 August, they “should have another discussion about your options with your teacher or lecturer, as you did before 25 June, and hear their professional view as to whether an appeal is in your best interests”.
One headteacher told Tes Scotland: “Promising an in-depth conversation with staff that are going to be on holiday is yet another example of how out of touch the SQA are.”
In its update last week to schools, the SQA said: “These changes to priority appeal dates give learners more time to have conversations with their teacher or lecturer before confirming their priority appeal request. It also ensures there is sufficient time after the start of the new session for centre staff to submit priority appeals and the required supporting evidence, without interfering with their summer holiday.
“We will be asking centre staff to scan learner evidence for any priority appeals they have and submit these to us when they return from the summer break. We will provide further information on the arrangements for practical subjects in our centre operational guidance, which will be available before the service goes live on Tuesday 10 August.”
