Chamber and committees

Petitioner submission of 7 July 2021

PE1875/B - Public inquiry into the Scottish Qualifications Authority

Firstly, I thank the Scottish Government for its submission to the petition. However, I really don’t think a 70 odd page report is going to change the state of Scottish Education.

Back when the SNP came into Government, The First Minister said she would do everything she could to close the attainment gap, yet somehow it’s now wider than ever! We have seen multiple failings by this government with nothing but “sorry but we did our best”. Sometimes your best isn’t good enough! The Scottish Government have said repeatedly that it cares about young people. If they do they have a funny way of showing it! Pupils and students have been let down two years in a row. We have seen blame being passed to pupils for leaking assessment papers, the blame being passed to teachers and no sign of the government stepping up to put an end to it. When will it all end?

We need to build back better if we are getting rid of the SQA, listen to young people who are saying exams aren’t working! After all, your education time is done! It’s not you who has to live and suffer with the pressure, anxiety and fear of sitting exams. Introduce an end-of-unit assessment method for all SQA courses which mean that students can focus on actually learning what they are being taught. Let’s be honest how many children could tell you they learned something from school?

Co-design is important on every policy area, education being one of them! Having 1 young person to represent over 100,000 young people across Scotland on a National Qualifications Group is not co-design, that’s just throwing someone in the deep end and hoping they can swim! Every single learner should be involved or have a say in their education. We are no longer 18/19th century! We are 21st century with access to technology, incredible skilled experienced teachers but none of that seems to be used. We cannot revert back to old ways, if reform is what we are having then make sure reform is what we get. Changing the management and name will not make a difference. Take the views from those sitting the qualifications themselves rather than just assuming you know best!

Now, while the SQA is being scrapped I still think there needs to be a public enquiry into the Education Secretary’s handling of this policy area during the last two years. I would have maybe let the public enquiry slip if the issues were resolved last year but we see the same happening again, just worse! Let’s look at appeals, another shambolic area! There are three grounds for appeal:

1. Unfair Academic Judgement
2. Discrimination
3. Unresolved Administration Error

There are no grounds for appeal on exceptional circumstances, so all of those young people who have possibly lost loved ones or friends due to COVID-19 cannot appeal, this is also the case for mental health issues? Some people may have been suicidal yet all your saying to them by not providing exceptional circumstances is “Grow up, it’s only an exam”. Yet it seems like so much of our future depends on that piece of paper! Why should young people have to live in fear and uncertainty of what the future holds for them at the fault of this government?

Thanking teachers and pupils is no longer satisfactory. They deserve much more than a video saying how well they have done! They have been overworked, lied to, ignored and used with no apology. The Government should write to each learner and teacher and apologise for the stress and anxiety caused over the last few days - time and confidence in the Government is running out!

So will the committee consider hearing evidence from young people about how the SQA Fiasco has impacted them over the last few years or will our calls for change fall on deaf ears yet again?