The Higher history marking review - promised after the pass rate for the subject dropped dramatically this year - is several weeks overdue, with no new publication date given.
The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) made public its commitment to carrying out a review on Friday 20 September, promising it would conclude the following week.
The review has, however, yet to appear and with the October break coming up - many schools will break up from tomorrow, for two weeks in some parts of Scotland - it seems likely that the wait is set to continue. But little clarity is forthcoming from the body as yet.
Review is ‘ongoing’ and ‘substantial’
When asked for an update, an SQA spokesperson said the review was “ongoing” and was “a substantial piece of work”.
They added: “While we recognise the importance of concluding the review as soon as possible, we also owe it to learners to ensure the review is robust and rigorous.
“The findings will be subjected to independent external review and the final report will be published.”
The review - being conducted by SQA’s head of standards, malpractice and complaints, Margot McKerrell - was instigated after just 65.7 per cent of students sitting Higher history this year attained an A-C grade, a fall of 13.1 percentage points on 2023.
Tes Scotland first raised concerns about the drop in the pass rate with the SQA in August, just after the exam results were published. It said there was “no change to the approach or standard of the Higher history question papers”, but that there was “a drop in learners’ performance in the question papers”.
However, SQA markers and teachers dispute this. Concerns centre around paper two, which focuses on Scottish history; they say there were changes made to the marking standards this year, with students required to give more detail than in previous years in order to gain full marks.
On average, students sitting paper two in 2024 picked up less than half the available marks (15.2 points out of 36); last year, on average, students got 57.2 per cent for paper two (20.6 points out of 36).
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