The number of priority appeals received by Scotland’s exam body has risen sharply this year when compared with the last time national external exams were held in 2019.
New figures on the number of appeals have been revealed ahead of the Scottish Qualifications Authority’s appearance before the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee on Wednesday, and as SQA staff prepare to strike on Thursday.
The SQA figures included in papers for the committee meeting show that the body had received 1,414 priority appeals by 24 August. The deadline by which all priority appeals had to be in was 19 August.
The 1,414 figure is more than four times as many as the body received the last time students sat external exams in 2019, when there were 348 requests for “priority marking reviews”. This year, however, the appeals process is quite different: following the 2022 exam diet, students were able to appeal their results directly without going through their school or college, and charges for appeals were waived.
SQA exams: Big rise in priority appeals
Planned strike action by SQA staff is not expected to interfere with priority appeals, given that these are due to be processed before the walkout on Thursday, with further strike action planned for 15 and 16 September.
However, the union behind the industrial action, Unite, has said that up to 22,000 standard appeals are likely to be “severely delayed”.
Assuming that the Unite figure is correct, the number of standard appeals is, again, a marked increase on 2019, when there were 11,138 marking reviews and 42 clerical checks carried out. However, the rate of appeals is well below that experienced by the SQA the last time appeals were free.
In 2013 - the last year before charging was introduced - the authority received around 66,000 appeals.
School support staff, including catering staff, cleaners and classroom assistants, were also due to go out on strike for three days this week, but on Friday - as Scotland’s largest teaching union announced it would be balloting its members on the latest pay offer from councils - the strike action was called off.
The three trade unions that took part in the industrial action - Unison, Unite and the GMB - agreed to suspend strikes in waste services and education.
However, according to Unite, no deal has been reached as yet with the SQA.
A Unite spokesman told Tes Scotland that this strike action is still scheduled to go ahead.
The SQA has said it is working with the Scottish government to improve the pay offer.
Regarding the number of appeals, an SQA spokesperson said today: “This year’s appeals service was free of charge, and part of the wide-ranging package of support developed for learners to help mitigate the impact of Covid-19 disruption. This year, learners could either appeal directly to SQA or through their school, college or training provider.
“All priority appeals have now been reviewed and the outcomes are being shared with schools, colleges and training providers today.”
