Chief inspector and exams boss hit back at MSPS over reforms

SCOTLAND’S chief schools inspector and the boss of its exams body have hit back at MSPS in the wake of a Holyrood vote which backed sweeping education reforms and described their organisations as “not fit for purpose”.

Opposition politicians last month teamed up to support Liberal Democrat proposals which would see schools watchdog Education Scotland (ES) broken up and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) overhauled.

The agencies were also accused of letting down staff, pupils and parents during the Covid pandemic.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said at the time: “We need the organisations in charge of Scottish education to get out of the way of teachers, and in must come an education system overseen by people with current and direct teaching experience.

“In this crisis teachers have been creative, dedicated, full of good ideas. They know what their pupils need. We can’t say that of Education Scotland and the SQA.”

The success of a Libdem motion calling for changes also marked a heavy defeat for Education Secretary John Swinney, who branded MSP attacks as “gratuitous and unfounded”.

Yesterday, HM Chief Inspector Gayle Gorman and SQA chief executive Fiona Robertson firmly rejected the criticisms.

Speaking during a meeting of Holyrood’s Education and Skills Committee, Ms Gorman said: “We did, of course, follow the debate with interest and, actually, with disappointment, because Education Scotland ... has restructured, been redesigned, has a new delivery model, a new approach and a new corporate plan for [the] recovery phase.

“And, actually, the work of the Education Scotland team has been to support and deliver improvements across Scottish education during these challenging times.”

Ms Gorman, who is also ES chief executive, added: “Our subject support has continued over every single subject, support for remote learning, wakelets, subject webinars, subject guidance, and our direct support to individual schools, local authorities and regional improvement collaboratives, working alongside, supporting, adding capacity, supporting strategic leadership, and developing contact with schools across Scotland, has absolutely been fed back as making a significant difference.”

Ms Robertson said she and her colleagues were “very aware” of the political debate, adding: “I would just like to highlight that I’m very proud to lead a dedicated team of public servants, many of whom are teachers and lecturers themselves, to deliver on what has been a very challenging brief over the last year with the cancellation of exams just weeks away from exams being held in 2020, and as we’ve worked very much with the system in 2021 to deliver an alternative certification model.”

She went on: “We continue to work with teachers in developing the approach and we get really positive feedback about the work that we are doing. We’ve had to review almost everything that we do in very short order and with a huge amount of scrutiny, perfectly acceptable scrutiny, but we’ve had to be very fleet of foot to ensure that we can continue to deliver ... I think I share that sense of disappointment about some of the commentary on the work that’s been undertaken.”

Separately, Ms Robertson confirmed that a public consultation would soon begin which will look at the possibility of allowing direct appeals from young people. Responding to Scottish Labour’s Iain Gray, she said: “We intend to issue a public consultation in relation to our appeals service and we will be pursuing many of the issues that you’ve highlighted in your question ... including young people being able to appeal directly and the grounds for any appeal which may apply.”