Teachers: We warned there would be an outcry... the SQA had no faith in us

Call for overhaul of exam quango – amid warnings over NEXT YEAR’S tests

EXAM chiefs have ‘tarnished’ their relationship with teachers following the fiasco over grades, according to union bosses.

They accused the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) of failing to listen to serious concerns raised by the profession ahead of the publication of pupil grades last week.

Following John Swinney’s dramatic U-turn, unions and teachers yesterday launched a blistering attack on those behind the original decision to downgrade pupils’ results based on their school’s previous performance.

Teaching union the Educational Institute for Scotland (EIS) and the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) led the criticism, warning that the row and failure to recognise students as individuals had caused additional stress and upset for thousands during an already uncertain time.

They also branded the Education Secretary’s claims that exams are due to go ahead as planned in 2021 as ‘woefully complacent’.

Following the cancellation of exams, teachers had been asked to submit a grade for each pupil based on their performance over the year and in prelims and to rank students in order.

Their decisions were then ‘moderated’ by the SQA.

But the process sparked outrage after almost 125,000 grades were overturned by SQA bosses.

Yesterday, EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said the nation’s teachers had been ‘extremely dilidiet gent’ in making professional judgments on pupil grades, claiming that they ‘even went the extra mile asked of them by the SQA in subdividing bandings and rankings’ for youngsters, despite their ‘concerns’ over the process.

He said the EIS had warned that ‘overturning these estimates’ using statistical modelling from previous years ‘would lead to an outcry – exactly what has happened’.

Mr Flanagan hit out at the lack of engagement between the SQA and teachers – claiming that bosses ‘refused’ to hold professional dialogue with the profession.

He added: ‘Its standing amongst teachers is undoubtedly tarnished by its role in these matters.’

Mr Flanagan believes the SQA needs to be ‘more accountable to the teaching profession, parents and pupils’ rather than the Scottish Government and ministers must address how the exam system ‘regularly fails children through operating notional quotas’.

The union chief warned that a contingency plan should be in place in case exams are cancelled again next year.

Mr Flanagan said: ‘The current planning for next year’s exam

By Rachel Watson

Deputy Scottish Political Editor on the basis of business as usual seems woefully complacent. Scotland’s young people and their teachers must not suffer the same fiasco again.’

Mr Flanagan’s anger was echoed by Rozanne Foyer, general secretary of the STUC.

She said: ‘There was never going to be a perfect solution given the crisis we were in, but further disadvantaging young working-class people at this time of multiple stress and uncertainty would have been a crime.’

Miss Foyer accused the SQA of having a ‘lack of faith in the judgment of teachers’ and said the downgrading of pupils was ‘totally unacceptable’.

She said: ‘Teachers were tasked to use their judgment and professionalism to predict young people’s grades.

‘A timely and robust process was followed by schools to ensure they got it right for the young people in their care and that no young person would be disadvantaged as a result of exam cancellations.

‘The wholesale downgrading of pupils and lack of faith in the judgment of teachers – who know their pupils best – because of the schools in question was totally unacceptable.’

The deadline for urgent appeals to be made – for youngsters hoping to go to university – was set for August 14, sparking a rush among teachers to speak to pupils and their families ahead of submitting their grades for a review.

Dorothy MacGinty, headmistress of the independent Kilgraston School, near Perth, said the SQA’s moderation process had led to stress and ‘avoidable unhappiness’ for families across Scotland.

She said: ‘The SQA took a whole tranche of results, especially in English and maths, and downgraded them at Higher level.

‘This caused a huge level of unnecessary stress for pupils and a vast amount of work for teachers this week coming in and working through hundreds of pages of work to appeal.

‘Of course, it’s good that we’ve got the decision turned around but this has caused a huge amount of avoidable unhappiness.’

Speaking to the BBC, Kathryn Neil, an art and photography teacher in Angus, said she was ‘so tearful and so happy’ at the Uturn. She said: ‘It means the world to us. It means the world to them.

‘We know how hard they’ve worked. We know the grade they deserve. We’ve done our job, we’ve got them their grades and that’s what they deserve.’

Although happy with the U-turn, campaigners have claimed it was motivated by fears over the consequences of the fiasco rather than concern for individual youngsters.

Shona Struthers, chief executive of Colleges Scotland, said the Deputy First Minister’s statement had provided ‘clarification’.

She added: ‘We are pleased that the Scottish Government will ensure there are enough places at colleges to enable young people to continue on to further and higher education courses.

‘Colleges will continue to do everything possible to support students with aspirations of coming to college, and we look forward to welcoming all new and returning students back to campuses when the new term starts.

‘We acknowledge the difficulties that the global pandemic has presented us all with, however, colleges have been working hard to ensure that they can continue delivering high-quality learning and teaching safely.’

Erin Bleakley, 17, who organised a protest of around 100 pupils in

‘Its standing is tarnished’

George Square, Glasgow, over how results were reached, said: ‘I did not think this day would come.’

The teenager, who attends St Andrew’s High School in the east end of the city, previously said she ‘crumbled’ when four of her six results were downgraded.

After the U-turn, she said: ‘I think we would all like to say a generous thank-you for not only the apology but the results being reverted back to teacher estimates.’

Joel Meekison, from the SQA: Where’s Our Say campaign, said: ‘I don’t think that it was problems over what people achieved that made John Swinney stand up and change it.

‘I think it was anger and danger over the exam system being perceived as penalising marginalised groups and penalising the most vulnerable and deprived areas.’

A spokesman for the SQA said it acknowledged the strength of feeling ‘among individual learners, their parents and carers – and among wider colleagues in the education system’.