SQA warned it may not be able to award Highers in 2021 as Covid pressures spiked

Exams were cancelled for the second year in a row in 2021.

Exams were cancelled in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The SQA warned it may not have been able to award results for Highers, Advanced Highers and National 5s due to escalating pressures caused by the pandemic including a failure to end remote learning quickly enough, it can be revealed.

Chief executive of the qualifications agency Fiona Robertson told the then education secretary John Swinney that Covid-19 and remote learning posed a real danger to whether students would receive any awards at all after a shift to what was known as the ‘alternative certification model’ in 2021.

Students were left furious the year before after the SQA’s use of an algorithm to artificially deflate grades, a decision which nearly lost Mr Swinney his job and was reversed amid escalating anger from pupils.

Fiona Robertson with Leith Academy headteacher Mike Irving

The new information comes after a two year transparency battle with the Scottish Government who was found to have partially breached freedom of information laws by keeping parts of a letter from Ms Robertson to Mr Swinney secret.

In the letter, sent on January 21, 2021, the SQA chief executive warned of the increased pressure remote learning would have on the ‘alternative certification model’ which saw grades awarded based on ‘demonstrated attainment’ in schools, subject to quality assurance from the SQA and local councils.

One possible option on the table at this point was a “system wide decision to push back timing of the whole model”, allowing for higher quality quality assurance being undertaken.

This could have delayed certification to allow for teaching and quality assurance to take place over a longer timeframe and see certification take place in December 2021, several months late.

This did not come to pass, however the SQA was clear about the risks of giving students and teachers more time to catch up on lost learning and deliver in-school assessment.

Ms Robertson warned: “The combination of a delay to the submission of results, any further refinements to the published model and any protracted delay in a return to face-to-face learning creates challenge, risk and uncertainty.

"Given the risks I have identified, there may come a point beyond Option 1 above where I conclude that SQA cannot properly and fairly exercise its statutory functions to determine the entitlement of individuals to national qualifications – and to award those qualifications.”

Such a warning was never made public and was wrongly kept secret until now.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government’s priority during the pandemic was to ensure that our young people were kept safe and supported to achieve fair and credible grades that demonstrated their full potential.

“The Alternative Certification Model in 2021 was delivered in a period of unprecedented challenge for the education system and was developed by SQA, taking into account advice from the National Qualifications 2021 Group – including representatives of teachers, parents and young people – and was designed to ensure that the hard work of pupils and students was recognised fairly.

“The provisional results in 2021 were pushed back to the latest possible date considered feasible to allow the maximum time for teaching and learning whilst still enabling certification in August so as not to impact young people’s progression onto further learning or employment. A later contingency arrangement was available for pupils who experienced particularly significant disruption.

“The Scottish Government respects the outcome of the appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. Consequently, the required information requested has been disclosed.”

A spokesman for SQA said: “The correspondence states that SQA was ‘fully committed to certification in August 2021’ and SQA subsequently delivered on that commitment.

“The correspondence reflected the views of the National Qualifications (NQ) Group*, which had explored a number of options, with a clear preference for the one that allowed for as much time as possible for learning and teaching while still delivering results for learners in August that year.

"The option of a delay to awarding was included 'in extremis', given the highly uncertain nature of the pandemic at the time. It was incumbent on SQA and the NQ Group to outline all possible options to Ministers."