Scotland’s exam body put in place a number of measures last year in a bid to compensate for the disruption to education caused by the coronavirus pandemic, including modifying courses and assessment to make them less demanding and taking what it described as “a more generous approach to grading”.
Back in April the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) confirmed that modifications to courses and assessment would continue this school year - today, however, it revealed that more generous grading, achieved by adjusting grade boundaries, might not.
The SQA’s chief executive, Fiona Robertson, told the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee today: “We have confirmed modifications to assessment; we need to reflect on the experience of 2022 in relation to generous awarding.”
Ms Robertson also said that next year, in 2023-24, she favours a return to pre-pandemic assessment arrangements and courses.
She said that in many subjects it was the coursework element that had been pared back or removed to free up more time for learning and teaching. But she added that there was “a lot of support for coursework” and for ensuring that young people have the ability to undertake practical work, and she would like “to see that move back as soon as we can”.
What will SQA exams look like next year?
Seamus Searson, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, recently made the case for retaining the modifications. He argued that, given that the SQA is due to be replaced following the 2024 exam diet, there was little point in returning to the old system for just one year - especially as retaining the changes would give schools and students stability.
Ms Robertson made her comments during a session in which she refused to accept that the SQA was being closed down and replaced because it had failed Scottish students.
She said the SQA had done all it could to address disruption caused by the pandemic.
The SQA was criticised when the 2022 exam results were published in August, showing that the disadvantage-related attainment gap had widened - albeit the gap was narrower than in 2019, the last time full national SQA exams were held.
Ms Robertson said: “My job is to ensure that we have fair and credible assessments. On that we have played our part in addressing disruption to learning over the last couple of years, and that is what we have done.
“Issues in relation to differential disruption to learning and some of the different experiences that young people faced are matters for the wider education system to consider.”
Ms Robertson said that the SQA had carried out an evaluation of the “alternative certification model” (ACM) that was in place in 2021 - when schools were responsible for assessing and grading students - and said that the results would be “published soon”.
She said an analysis of the 2022 approach to assessment would also be carried out by the body.
Both of these pieces of work will feed into the independent review of assessment and qualifications by Professor Louise Hayward, she said.
However, Labour’s education spokesperson, Michael Marra, questioned how genuine the ongoing education reform could be, given that the qualifications delivery board - which had its first meeting last month - was dominated by SQA managers.
He said that would fuel concerns that “what we are looking at is a rebrand here rather than actually a replacement or a substantive reform”.
Mr Marra said: “I’ve been passed a list of the membership of the new qualifications delivery board. There are seven members of that board, six of whom are SQA managers.”
The SQA’s Michael Baxter, who was also giving evidence today and who chairs the board, said there were “a number of non-SQA members” and that it was not “about SQA marking its own homework” or “about the status quo”.
Following the meeting, Mr Marra told Tes Scotland: “The reform process cannot just be a rebrand. Stuffing the delivery boards that are leading reform with the people that are leading the failed organisation is totally unacceptable.
“The Scottish government must publish the remit and review the membership of these boards immediately, otherwise this will be nothing more than the cosmetic rebrand the management are clearly working to achieve.”
In response the education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said Mr Marra was “incorrect” and “only seven out of 15 members of the delivery board for the new qualifications body are SQA managers”.
She added: “The board also includes external voices to ensure critical challenge at all times. Final decisions on structure, culture and design of the new body will be made by me.
“I am determined that our three new education bodies will be underpinned by new values and governance - delivering real and substantial change to improve outcomes and build trust in Scotland’s education system.
“This renewed system will reflect the culture and values we want to see embedded throughout; it will be a system that puts learners at the centre and provides excellent support for our teachers and practitioners.”
Ms Robertson also spoke to the committee about planned strike action by SQA staff represented by the union Unite, saying she shared concerns that it could disrupt the appeals process. She said standard appeals now numbered 55,000 - almost five times as many as the body received in 2019.
This afternoon Unite confirmed that strike action would be going ahead tomorrow and a further six days of walkouts had been added to the three dates highlighted previously.
