‘No easy solution’ after students ‘left in limbo’ by SNP failure on 2020 exams
John Swinney and the SNP have been criticised for leaving students in “limbo” and with no route of appeal for their exam results as another scandal begins to brew.
Following the decision to awardteacherestimatesasofficial grades in August, the education secretary said the only route of appeal required the agreementoftheschool–adecision that has left a small cohort of students with low grades with no route of appeal.
The education secretary has, for eight months, said the situation is “under review”.
With the 2021 exams around the corner, the Children and Young Person’s Commissioner of Scotland (CYPCS) warned anotherscandalwasbrewingif lessons were not learned by the Scottish Government.
Nickhobbs,theheadofadvice andinvestigationsatthecypcs, saidtheissuehighlighteda“systemic failure” in the Scottish Government’s exams process for last year.
Dr Tracy Kirk, a humans rights academic who supports the youth-led SQA Where’s Our Say campaign group, told The Scotsman the failure by Mr Swinney to decide whether toprovideadirectappealsroute was “difficult to justify”.
The Priestley Review, which examined the failures of the exams system in 2020, concluded in October that a review of the appeals process was required to ensure compliance withtherightsofyoungpeople.
However, the situation has notchangedsinceaugust2020, leaving students worried they will be forgotten as the next cohort of students are assessed and new problems emerge.
Only the Scottish Government can direct the SQA to accept such appeals, but it has notyetdoneso.thereisalsonot yet any clarity on the nature of
theappealsprocessforthe2021 exams.
Crista Arthur missed out on a place at university due to lowerthanexpectedgradesfollowing her sixth year at St Modan’s High School.
The Stirling teenager had been predicted ABB and said personal circumstances and her historically stronger final
examperformanceleftherfeeling treated “like nothing”.
The 18-year-old had hoped to study dentistry, but was hit by a double whammy by the SQA withheroriginalgradeshaving been downgraded to DDC by the infamous algorithm before being returned to their original teacher estimate of BCC.
Unable to appeal after her
school turned her application down on the basis that it had no “grounds”, Ms Arthur is part of a small group of students left in limbo due to Scottish Government inaction for at least eight months.
"I cannot believe that I am actually having to fight in a democracy to get the results that I was due,” she said.
Responding, Mr Swinney said: “Snpministershavetriedtofind a way forward that provides some basis for an appeal that would be valid, but the reality is there is no easy solution given the common absence of evidence and fundamental disagreement with the judgment of school and teachers.”
A Scottish government spokesperson said: “As has previously been said, we have asked the SQA to review their appeals system from 2021 to ensure it best meets the needs of young people in line with the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.”