The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) results revealed an unpalatable truth to anyone who believes in equal access to education. Even as the SQA attempted to defend the impartiality of their algorithm, it became clear that schools in poorer areas had more downgraded results than those in affluent areas.

The aim of education is to develop children to their full potential and children have a right to receive recognition of their achievements. This year we failed to deliver that for many young people.

We had been raising concerns with the Scottish government and the SQA since schools closed. Difficult choices had to be made about exams. Young people were anxious about whether achievements would be recognised and what that meant for their futures, yet they were not being involved in the decision-making or being given information around moderation. Nor was a children’s rights impact assessment available.

In June, our Young Advisors’ Group conducted a rapid children’s right impact assessment of the decision to cancel exams, highlighting concerns.

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Teachers were asked to use professional judgement to estimate each student’s progress. They did so in good faith, drawing on the evidence available and their knowledge of the individual young people. However, once moderated, 75,000 young people’s results were downgraded. Moderation was not based on an assessment of the young people’s abilities and potential but on the historic performance of their school.

The unfairness of this approach is obvious, and its disproportionate impact on children from poorer areas compounds that unfairness. The lack of an appeals system directly accessible to young people, including those who disagreed with their teachers’ estimate, denied students the right to an effective remedy.

Impressive reaction

It was impressive to see the way young people reacted to this injustice. They acted as human rights defenders, organising themselves to make sure that their voices were heard. Apologies from the Scottish government and the decision to reinstate the downgraded estimates soon followed. But some announcements implied that this was an act of goodwill in response to a “feeling of unfairness in the minds of young people”.

The choice of language risks undermining the apology and creating precisely the situation we all wish to avoid, where the reversal of the downgrade diminishes the value of those grades in the eyes of colleges, universities and employers. This was a decision to rectify inherent systemic unfairness, with young people being awarded the grades they deserved.

The SQA must now be open about its methodology and allow proper scrutiny. We cannot change the past, but the discrepancies revealed should be investigated to restore confidence in the SQA and the assessment process. Young people have the right to be involved in decision-making about the future of assessments. Reviews have been announced, but confidence will only be restored if the process of consultation and change is transparent and inclusive.

The Scottish government has committed to “ensure that no one is crowded out of a place that they would otherwise have been awarded”. The UK children’s commissioners have written to Universities UK asking their members to take as flexible an approach as possible to offers.

Covid-19 has created challenges for all of us, including the SQA, but the mistakes made this year created needless anxiety and distress. There was a failure to properly consider young people’s rights and a failure to make the process fair, open and understandable.

Lessons must come from this experience, including a determination to fulfil our commitment to an education that develops children to their full potential, recognises their achievements and ensures that they are never denied opportunities simply because of the school they attend.

Bruce Adamson is Scotland’s commissioner for children and young people