Tes Scotland has heard from school leaders who are unhappy about the number of strong exam appeals being rejected, and who have suggested that a reluctance to see pass rates changing significantly is trumping the merit of individual appeals.
The headteachers have expressed concerns that the ongoing Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) appeals process has not delivered on promises to reflect teacher judgement and to take into account Covid disruption.
However, School Leaders Scotland (SLS) has stressed that it remains too early to deliver a definitive verdict on the success or otherwise of this year’s appeals process.
This year, the appeals process has changed significantly: following the 2022 exams, students were able to appeal their results directly, without going through their school or college, and charges for appeals were waived. Candidates were only able to appeal if their teacher-estimated grade was higher than the grade achieved in the exam; Tes Scotland understands that the SQA advised schools that learners should know their estimated grades.
One headteacher, who had recently met with a number of other heads from around the country, told Tes Scotland that there was ”a genuine anger around the whole appeals process” as it was “not matching up with the SQA’s promise that appeals were to ensure a fairness applied to youngsters affected by disrupted learning during Covid”.
The head added that markers were being instructed to “treat appeals in the traditional manner” and that “no consideration was given at all to the unique experiences faced by those sitting their first exams over the last three years of disrupted learning”.
The same head said there was some concern among school leaders that teacher judgement and school-based evidence used for appeals had been “completely ignored”.
“This leads to a couple of conclusions,” said the head. “Either the SQA 2022 appeals strategy, as outlined by their leadership initially, hasn’t filtered down the ranks into practice; or the SQA has no trust in teacher judgement and has ignored teacher judgement based on school-based evidence.”
The head said that, in a “limited” sample of priority appeals, only 70-80 per cent of appeals appeared to have been unsuccessful, but that it was too early to get an overall picture.
The head added that school leaders were concerned that appeals’ success might be determined by “statistical need rather than earned attainment” - in other words, that the priority was to ensure pass rates did not change substantially rather than to consider each appeal on its own terms - although they said it was not yet possible to substantiate this.
Another headteacher said the 2022 appeals process was supposed to be one of the “key mitigations” against the exceptional circumstances of an exceptional, Covid-blighted year - offering reassurance that pupils “get what they deserve”.
However, there was “nervousness” among schools about the apparent unwillingness of SQA to share data on how many students had had a successful priority appeal. The headteacher had spoken with other heads and found that “quite a number” had been unsuccessful.
The headteacher said, “That’s a problem”, if it showed there was a lack of trust in the evidence supplied by schools. It led to one of two conclusions: either, “there is a real problem with the understanding of standards in the profession, which of course SQA is supposed to have been supporting us to understand”, or the SQA is “not doing exactly what was said on the tin about trusting teacher judgement”.
The head added: “If the number [of appeals] not given is high, I can imagine parents and young people being really angry. And they’re either going to be angry that the school has not provided evidence appropriately, or that SQA has not considered the evidence appropriately.
“Either way, if the numbers are high there are going to be some issues.”
Another headteacher who has canvassed a number of fellow headteachers said the success rate of priority appeals appeared to have varied from about 25 to 50 per cent.
The head said that the SQA had “shown itself to be unable to assess Scotland’s pupils” and that “teacher’s judgements have shown up this failing”.
Jim Thewliss, general secretary of School Leaders Scotland (SLS), said he is aware that a number of heads are concerned about appeals, but that it is too early to say how representative this is. He said heads’ concerns have been around cases where they believe students had compelling cases for a higher grade but this was not awarded.
He added that the anticipated workload concerns around appeals had arisen, and that some students had told the National Qualifications Group of their impression that Covid disruption is not being taken into account as had been promised.
However, Mr Thewliss stressed that the full picture around this year’s SQA appeals process had yet to emerge. He said that, overall, up to now, “the process has been robust and has held up”.
An SQA spokesperson said: “Each individual appeal is considered carefully by the experienced teachers and lecturers appointed by SQA as markers and assessors, with teacher judgement at the heart of the process. There is no predetermined number of successful appeals.
“The appeals service was put in place to support those learners who did not perform as expected in the exam element of their assessment, and for whom schools and colleges have provided valid and reliable alternative evidence of demonstrated attainment.
“This, combined with the significant package of support put in place by SQA and the wider education system, helped to ensure fairness and mitigate the ongoing effects of the global pandemic.”
