Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Exam results helpline extended
Scotland’s exam results helpline is staying open for an extra two weeks as students wait for their changed grades to be reissued.
The annual phone service run by Skills Development Scotland ( SDS) had been due to close yesterday.
However, it will now stay open on weekdays until next Friday, August 28.
It follows Tuesday’s announcement by education secretary John Swinney that all SQA results across the country are to be reissued with candidates being awarded the results predicted by their teachers – instead of the moderated results which saw a quarter of candidates marked down and which disproportionately affected deprived areas. Figures from the North Lanarkshire Council administration showed that nearly half of all Higher candidates in the area had been affected by downgrading, with 4164 of the individual subject grades originally issued in North Lanarkshire last Tuesday being lower than the overall A, B or C grades that had been predicted by teachers.
The SDS helpline can be contacted on 0808 100 8000 and is open from 9am until 5pm on weekdays.
Advice is also available at myworldofwork. co. uk, and direct messages to the My World of Work Facebook page will continue to be answered during this time. Expert advisers “will be available to support young people and their parents and carers at this unique time [and] to help them understand what changes to their results mean, explore their options and consider next steps”.
Explaining why it was felt necessary to extend the service to young people and their families, team leader Pauline Graham said: “We know that some young people and their parents and carers may be feeling worried and uncertain at the moment.
“We felt that it was important to extend the results helpline so that people can continue to get expert advice on their options before deciding on what is best for them.”