John Swinney should sack Scottish exams body board, demand Greens

The board of the exams quango the SQA should be sacked due to their mishandling of the exam results scandal in August last year, the Scottish Greens have said.

Writing to education secretary John Swinney, Scottish Greens’ education spokesperson Ross Greer said the SQA had lost the trust of teachers, pupils, Parliament and the public and called for a complete refresh of its leadership.

The SQA was heavily criticised in August following the announcement of exam results, which led to 75,000 pupils seeing their teacher-estimated grades lowered by the exams body in a controversial moderation process.

John Swinney has come under pressure to sack the board of the SQA

The scandal led to a no-confidence vote in Mr Swinney and an embarrassing U-turn by the Scottish Government in which they reinstated each of the original teacher estimates for every pupil.

Mr Greer likened the move to remove the SQA’s board to a similar move in 2000 when the entire board resigned following thousands of incorrect Higher certificates being sent out to pupils via post.

He said: “The SQA’s board of management is not fit for purpose. If it were, many of the scandals in recent years might have been avoided and the consistent decline in teacher confidence in the authority would have been addressed.

"The current board just don’t have the educational expertise needed for this important role, so I have asked the education secretary to request their resignations.

“While the arrogant ‘we-know-best’ attitude and lack of transparency probably doesn’t originate with board members, they are ultimately responsible. It’s time the Scottish Government cleared out the current board and forced a fresh start, populating its replacement with people who actually understand education.”

The Greens also proposed a new board structure that would include a majority of qualified teachers or lecturers.

In response, a Scottish Government spokesperson said: “SQA board members have a wide range of skills and experiences that allow them to function effectively with the SQA management team.

"They are appointed by ministers in accordance with an open, fair and merit-based public appointments process with all roles advertised and the appointment process independently regulated.

“The approach to assessment this year has been developed by the National Qualifications 2021 Group, which is led by SQA and brings together key education stakeholders. SQA also consults with practitioners, learners and others to help inform decisions.”

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