Youngsters ‘left in dark’ over grading

A youth campaigner has claimed pupils are being “systematically excluded” from the grading process of this year’s exams.

Joel Meekison is leading a group of five young people – including former Harris Academy pupil Abby Lang – who have written to the Scottish Government calling for rights of young people not to be forgotten on results day.

The campaign group argues that young people have been “left in the dark” over how exams are being marked this year and have urged the government to set up an inquiry into the SQA’s alternative grading process.

Joel said: “Pupils haven’t been able to speak to their teachers about this because they are the graders, so feel like they are in the dark.

“Young people’s voices have been systematically excluded and they are in a limbo between what they want to achieve and how much they understand about the process.

“They have been left with no one to answer their questions and there is a genuine worry about what to expect.”

In March, Education Secretary John Swinney announced the “unprecedented” decision to cancel this year’s exams, the first time in history such a thing had ever happened.

Consequently, pupils’ final grades will now be based on estimates by teachers who have been asked to rank candidates, say what grade they think a candidate would get and then place them in a particular band for each grade.

These will not simply be the result of the prelim exams pupils sat before schools shut earlier this year.

Joel, who was named Ambassador for the Year of Young People in 2018, added: “Young people’s voices have been removed from this whole process and it’s so intangible what they are assessing this year.

“When we are looking at this year’s exam results, if they have done a lot better than previous years then there will probably be an inquiry launched into the grading.

“It won’t have the same robustness and that’s a total shame and really unfair.”