CHILDREN NOW FACE A SECOND EXAMS DISASTER

Experts warn system will struggle to cope with avalanche of appeals

PUPILS are facing a fresh exams fiasco amid fears it will be ‘impossible’ for teachers and markers to meet appeal deadlines.

Tens of thousands of youngsters are expected to lodge appeals against lowered grades and experts have warned that exam chiefs will not be able to revise results quickly enough.

That will mean fresh uncertainty for those students who are waiting to learn if they have secured a place at university or college.

It comes as some pupils revealed that they are planning to launch legal action – and as Education Secretary John

Swinney faces mounting pressure to step down over the shambles.

Teachers are expected to lodge a record number of appeals within three days of schools reopening this week.

They must assemble evidence to support those priority appeals within a further three working days – while

helping pupils readjust after nearly five months off.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) says two weeks is enough for its senior examiners to evaluate thousands of appeals – a claim experts dispute.

The crisis was triggered after this year’s exams were cancelled due to the pandemic.

An emergency grading system saw almost 125,000 results estimated by teachers revised down by SQA moderators, provoking a huge backlash.

Results were adjusted according to factors such as the past performance of a pupil’s school – meaning many youngsters received worse marks than expected. Those from the most deprived areas were the worst affected.

The SQA has demanded that ‘priority’ appeals, for those planning to go to university or college, must be lodged by the end of this week.

A further deadline has been set for August 20, by which time schools have been told they must provide evidence to the SQA in the form of prelim papers and course work.

The SQA has said a final judgment on priority appeals will be issued by September 4.

However, a leading education expert has warned that the timescales will prove impossible to meet. Lindsay Paterson,

Professor of Education Policy at Edinburgh University, said: ‘It’s not feasible.

‘Even for a cautious estimate of 60,000 priority appeals, the SQA will need an army of two to three hundred people working non-stop, and that’s giving only 20 minutes to each appeal. I can’t see how that can be done. The timetable will have to be put back.’

Professor Paterson also accused the SQA of presiding over ‘a complete shambles’.

Teacher Mike Corbett, of the NASUWT teachers’ union, said: ‘The timing is definitely going to be an issue, especially that initial deadline. We’re back in school on Monday but we’re going to have two in-service days and they are going to be packed with health and safety matters. I don’t know if there’ll be time for anything else.’

Mr Corbett also raised questions about the number of SQA markers, saying: ‘We don’t know how many teachers they’ve contacted. Most teachers also work full-time.

‘It’s not as if these people are going to be able to dedicate 9-5 for two weeks, they’re going to have to do it in the evenings. It’s a massive challenge.’

One local authority source said: ‘It will be a huge logistical operation and it remains to be seen whether they can deliver on these timescales.’

Scottish Tory education spokesman Jamie Greene said: ‘There is no chance the SQA will manage to deliver for every pupil over the next month. They need more staff urgently drafted in to help.’

Last night, the SQA said: ‘We are confident that we will have sufficient resources in place for our appeals service. We are committed to processing all appeals as quickly as possible.

‘We have delivered fairness to learners, through a consistent, evidence-based approach in the absence of exams.’

‘The timetable will have to be put back’

IF politicians were truly judged on their performance, then the Education Secretary, John Swinney, would no longer be a member of Nicola Sturgeon’s Cabinet at Holyrood.

Once seen as the owner of the safest pair of hands in the SNP, his reputation is now in tatters.

When it comes to the fiasco of this year’s SQA exam results, the buck stops with the Education Secretary.

Nearly 125,000 grades in National 5 and Higher exams – results estimated by teachers – were downgraded by officials who had never seen a single word written by a candidate.

The stress caused to pupils by this shocking state of affairs is incalculable. And things look likely to get worse.

Pupils have been reassured that they can lodge appeals, free of charge, if they feel their grades have been unfairly lowered. But with so many expected to challenge the SQA’s decisions, there are fears the appeals process will collapse under the weight of complaints.

For pupils hoping to move on to university or college, the need for quick decisions on appeals is unarguable.

When Miss Sturgeon succeeded Alex Salmond as First Minister in 2014, she insisted that her mission was to improve standards in Scottish education.

She invited voters to judge her on her success in reducing the attainment gap between children from the poorest and wealthiest backgrounds.

We now know that pupils from the poorest areas are more likely to have had their results downgraded than those from more affluent homes.

The ongoing battle over the constitutional question provides cover for failing SNP Ministers.

The most tribal of supporters will excuse any and every Nationalist mistake to protect the independence mission.

But others – the silent majority – will surely see this scandal for what it is: a demonstration of weak and unfocused leadership, coupled with a failure to anticipate problems caused by the marking system, that borders on negligence. John Swinney is determined to cling to a Cabinet position for which he is clearly unsuited. He may enjoy the First Minister’s support, for the time being, but, as the full effect of the exams fiasco becomes clear, he may find that her loyalty wears thin very quickly indeed.

SNP’s only priority is independence

THOSE wondering why it is that the SNP so often finds itself in a mess of its own creation should pay attention to an interview that Nicola Sturgeon gave to the BBC yesterday.

Despite the misery faced by thousands of pupils and the pressures caused across the country during the coronavirus pandemic, Ms Sturgeon was quite clear about where her priorities lie.

Unsurprisingly, the be all and end all is the break-up of the United Kingdom.

The First Minister’s appeal for Nationalists to put aside their differences over policy is not about serving the interests of voters, it is about ensuring that the pro-independence campaign is not damaged.

Since coming to power, the SNP has shied away from taking difficult decisions across a number of policy areas on the grounds that the independence issue is more important.

SNP spin might have it that Ms Sturgeon is a more thoughtful and unifying figure than Alex Salmond.

But the reality is that she is every bit as divisive as her predecessor ever was.