SQA secrets 'a recipe for disaster'
SQA plans to publish methodology behind this year’s awards moderation on the day results come out is a ‘recipe for disaster’, the Scottish Greens have said.
The exams body has informed the Scottish Parliament’s education committee of this intention by letter.
The letter also confirms an equalities impact assessment on the proposals, which will see pupil grades moderated up or down depending on what school they go to, has not yet been completed.
Commenting, Scottish Green education spokesperson Ross Greer said: “Public confidence in this year’s grading system is critical, so keeping its details a secret until results day is a recipe for disaster.
“How can teachers and pupils make informed judgements about appeals for example, when they don’t know the model the SQA has used to change a pupil’s grade?
“What is clear now is that the SQA came up with a grading system and announced it publicly before conducting an equalities impact assessment. What are their intentions if the EIA concludes, as appears to be obvious, that the use of a school’s historic exam results will put pupils from disadvantaged communities at an unacceptable disadvantage?
“As I’ve come to expect, this latest update from the SQA raises more questions than answers.”