SQA chief expresses ‘regret’ but

The chief executive of Scotland’s exams body yesterday failed to apologise for the moderation process that saw thousands of pupils downgraded, and defended her organisation’s methodology for scoring this year’s grades.

Fiona Robertson said results day was always one of “joy and disappointment” as she was questioned by Holyrood’s education committee about the process which saw the Scottish Qualifications Authority mark down more than 124,000 grades, as the body grappled with a new system in the light of the cancellation of exams during the Covid-19 lockdown.

However, despite the SQA’S grading process being overturned by Education Secretary John Swinney on Tuesday, in what was described as a humiliating climbdown for the Scottish Government, Ms Robertson said the SQA had achieved what it was tasked with doing by ministers: to maintain standards.

She admitted there had been “anomalies” but stressed that the appeals system was expected to deal with those. She also denied that school postcodes had played a part in how results were adjusted.

Asked directly by Scottish Conservative education spokesman Jamie Greene if she should say sorry, as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Mr Swinney have done, Ms Robertson said: “Of course it was difficult to see the reaction to last week’s results. But we were asked to fulfil a role and part of that was to maintain standards across Scotland.

“While I fully understand the strength of the feelings of young people, it is important that I explain the basis of what we did … it was a commission from ministers in extraordinary circumstances and I think we did our best to deliver.

“I fully appreciate young people felt their achievements had been taken outwith their control and I regret how young people have felt about this process. However, I’ve had many messages from young people saying how pleased they are with the outcome.

“It’s important to temper the strong feelings of young people who feel they’ve been unfairly treated with the delight from others who feel they have been rewarded for their achievements.”

Again, asked if she thought it was fair that the SQA used a system “which ignored individual pupils performance and moderated grades based on a school’s previous performance”, she said she couldn’t “accept that characterisation”.

She also refused to answer directly whether Mr Swinney’s decision had undermined the examination system.

Ms Robertson said teacher estimates had been treated with the “utmost respect” and as a result 75 per cent were accepted. However, she said the SQA had evidence that past accuracy of teacher estimates was below 50 per cent, so there was a “clear and unequivocal case” for moderation.

“The moderation was based on data – it was the only evidence we had,” she said.

“The extraordinary circumstances of the year meant we were awarding on a basis that was not ideal because the cancellation of exams was unprecedented.

“We tried to create a process which was not based on historic performance entirely, we allowed flexibility, but without that data we wouldn’t have been able to do any moderation at all, and the outcome showed a narrowing of the attainment gap.”

Scottish Labour’s Iain Gray said the outcome had been “that young people in our most deprived communities were twice as likely to have their grades downgraded because of only taking historic performance of centres into account”.

He asked: “Isn’t the problem here that the SQA did not trust the estimates made by teachers? That you were moderating teachers, not the pupils?”

Ms Robertson said: “No, we accepted 75 per cent of the teachers’ estimates but we had a responsibility to make sure that estimations across schools was consistent; that the results wouldn’t be judged on the school a pupil went to but the data available to us, including historic data.

“It’s a subtle argument but an important one.”

When pressed by SNP MSP Alex Neil about the “human cost” of the fiasco – he said one of his constituents’ daughters did not eat for three days – Ms Robertson admitted there had been a “very significant” personal cost.

She added: “But it is also important to say disappointment is part of results day. There were unique differences this year which magnified the sense of disappointment and I appreciate that.”

Ms Robertson said she “understood” why Mr Swinney – who faces a vote of no confidence today – had now rejected the SQA’S grades and she would “fully comply” with the decision to reward grades based on teacher estimates.

The SQA would also play a full part in the reviews Mr Swinney had announced.

After the committee hearing, Mr Greene said it was “gobsmacking” Ms Robertson had not apologised and said Mr Swinney now had more questions to answer about his involvement in the process.

Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Beatrice Wishart said the SQA needed “root-andbranch reform” to make it fit for purpose.