Exam board planning to axe appeals

Janet Brown, chief executive of the Scottish Qualification Authority, claims the move will save money as the number of appeals soars.

The revelations come in the same week pass rates for Standard Grades and Highers hit a record high.

At present, pupils who fail a national exam can call for an inquiry to have the original result overturned.

But, in recent years, the number of appeals has grown as pupils desperately try to secure the marks they need to get a job or go to university. Dr Brown said the increase had created "an awful lot of work and an awful lot of expense".

"We want to look at a broader range of evidence for those sorts of candidates," she said. "Where schools believe a student just has not performed as they should, they could ask for a re-mark or a review of the paper, but that will be the limit."

Last year there were 63,020 appeals against exam grades from pupils compared to 45,475 in 2006 - a rise of 39 per cent.

The process cost the taxpayer 770,578, yet fewer than half the appeals were successful.

But Larry Flanagan, of the EIS union, said: "How can the SQA be certain that a lot of people will not be disadvantaged if the system is changed?"

Ken Cunningham, general secretary of School Leavers Scotland, said: "We have to keep a watchful eye to make sure certain schools are not disadvantaged."