Charging schools for exam paper appeals is saving the Scottish Qualifications Authority nearly £800,000 a year, a Tes Scotland investigation reveals.

But the exams watchdog is still operating its “post-results service” at a loss, the findings show.

The SQA accrued £350,000 last year from the appeals system, which sees schools charged £10-£40 if they ask for a student’s exam paper to be checked or reviewed and the grade subsequently remains unchanged.

However, the process cost £390,000 to run in 2017 after 14,536 requests for checks and reviews, leaving the body £40,000 down.

This is a vast improvement though on the cost of the previous system, which was free for schools and in its final year, 2013, cost the SQA nearly £800,000 to manage.

Paying the price

Scottish Labour has long opposed appeal charges. Responding to the latest findings, education spokesman Iain Gray said: “The price is being paid by hard-pressed school budgets being charged hundreds of thousands of pounds by the SQA - and by pupils denied the chance of an appeal.

“It is a disgrace because our exam system should be run in the interests of our pupils, not the SQA’s accountants.”

The new appeals process was introduced in 2014 amid concerns that the SQA was being overwhelmed by speculative appeals. In the final year of the old system, around 67,000 appeals were received, more than four times as many as last year.

However, the change has been controversial due to fears that state schools have been deterred from appealing results because they do not want to incur charges, and that their pupils are being disadvantaged as a result.

Independent challenge

Tes Scotland revealed last year that independent schools are almost three times more likely than state schools to challenge the marks their pupils receive in national exams.

Independent schools appealed 7.4 per cent of exam results in 2017, compared with 2.5 per cent of results appealed by council-run schools.

The patterns mirror those in England: a recent Tes investigation found independent schools were more likely to challenge exam results and be successful.

An SQA spokesman said the current service was introduced after “consultation and agreement with all parts of the education sector”.

He added: “Under the previous system, the number of appeals had been rising significantly and the volume of alternative evidence to support appeals was regarded by the education system as detracting from time for teaching and learning. As part of the new system, that alternative evidence is no longer required.

“It is important that if a school or college has concerns about a candidate’s grades for National 5, Higher or Advanced Higher qualifications, they have the opportunity to query them.”

‘Fairer approach’

He added that the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland had published guidance designed to prevent students being denied access to the service on grounds of cost.

A Scottish government spokeswoman said: “The new system was put in place following wide-ranging consultation between SQA, schools, colleges and other education professionals. The approach is fairer as it focuses on those in most need with genuine exceptional circumstances such as illness or bereavement. 

“No pupil should be denied access to this service on the grounds of cost, whether they attend a local authority or independent school.”

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