The deadline for schools submitting their teacher estimates to the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has been extended by a further week to 25 June to give schools more time to “consolidate learning” as students return to the classroom.
The original deadline for submitting teacher judgments of students’ grades at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher was Friday 28 May but that was changed to Friday 18 June last month. Now schools have been given another week to get their estimates in, with a new deadline of Friday 25 June having been announced.
However, it remains unclear when more senior students will be able to return to school after the coronavirus lockdown. As of Monday 22 February, small numbers of S4-6 students can return to complete practical work associated with qualifications. However, first minister Nicola Sturgeon warned in her Covid update yesterday that it is “unlikely that there will be any further return to school before 15 March”.
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One teacher on Twitter pointed out that the deadline for teacher-estimated grades cannot be delayed any further because of the summer holidays.
The timeline for submitting SQA grades
Schools in Edinburgh are in on Friday 25 June but in Fife and Glasgow teachers are supposed to start their holiday the day before, on 24 June.
The update came from the National Qualifications Group, which includes the SQA and other key stakeholders such as education directors, headteachers and the EIS teaching union.
It said: “The Group appreciates that teachers and lecturers are working hard to ensure the best remote learning experience possible for their learners and that time will be needed to consolidate learning once they are back in the classroom. The final date for submitting provisional results has therefore been extended to Friday 25 June 2021.”
The group published the revised timeline for certification of qualifications in full (see below), which highlights that the SQA plans to carry out quality assurance of estimates in May to ensure estimates are “accurate and consistent” across the country.
However, the update stresses that in carrying out that quality assurance, “assessment evidence can be partial or incomplete” and the SQA will only be looking at “one or two pieces of key evidence from a small number of learners in the subjects selected”.
It adds that in practical subjects “where capturing and submitting assessment evidence is not possible, sampling activity will be replaced by a professional discussion held between the school, college or training provider and a SQA senior appointee”.
The revised timeline is now as follows:
Stage 1: Ongoing until April 2021 Teachers and lecturers access subject-specific guidance, assessment resources and understanding standards materials and webinars from the SQA.
Stage 2: April to May 2021 School, college, training provider and local authority quality assurance continues. During May, the SQA requests, reviews and provides feedback on assessment evidence from each school, college and training provider.
Stage 3: The end of May to 25 June 2021 Schools, colleges, training providers, local authorities and the SQA work through the final stages of local and national quality assurance and feedback, to reach provisional results that are consistent, equitable and fair.
Stage 4: By 25 June 2021 Schools, colleges and training providers submit quality assured provisional results to the SQA.
Stage 5: Appeals process for 2020-21 - to be advised following consultation.
The full update can be found here.
